Stock Car Racing on the Timeline

Stock-car racing's defining races, rivalries and champions. Here’s a taste of the Stock Car Racing pack — 372 verified moments and counting.

1. 1947 Bill France Sr. chairs NASCAR's organizing meeting in the Ebony Bar atop Daytona Beach's Streamline Hotel, laying the foundation for organized stock car racing in America.December 14 →
2. 1951 Herb Thomas survives a brutal field at Darlington, the only driver finishing on the lead lap to win the Southern 500.September 3 →
3. 1957 Buck Baker leads the final stretch at Asheville-Weaverville, the only driver to go the full distance, en route to a repeat title.March 31 →
4. 1959 Curtis Turner muscles a Ford to victory on the dirt at Concord Speedway in North CarolinaMarch 8 →
5. 1961 Marvin Panch wins the Daytona 500 in Smokey Yunick's Pontiac after Fireball Roberts blows an engine late.February 26 →
6. 1964 Billy Wade beats LeeRoy Yarbrough at Watkins Glen for his fourth straight victory in ten daysJuly 19 →
7. 1967 Mario Andretti, the Formula 1 and Indy star, stuns the stock-car world by winning the Daytona 500February 26 →
8. 1969 LeeRoy Yarbrough wins the Southern 500 at Darlington to become the first driver to sweep NASCAR's Triple Crown — Daytona 500, World 600, and Southern 500 — in a single season.September 1 →
9. 1971 Bobby Isaac dominates at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in the first NASCAR race ever televised live flag-to-flag, on ABC's Wide World of Sports.April 10 →
10. 1973 Benny Parsons clinches the title with a battered-car comeback after an early Rockingham wreckOctober 21 →
11. 1976 David Pearson wins the Daytona 500 after he and Richard Petty crash on the last lapFebruary 15 →
12. 1978 Benny Parsons wins the Rebel 500 at Darlington Raceway, the track too tough to tameApril 9 →
13. 1980 In his first start for car owner Hoss Ellington, David Pearson wins a rain-shortened race at Darlington — the 105th and final victory of the Silver Fox's career.April 13 →
14. 1982 Bobby Allison wins on the Richmond fairgrounds half-mile in the middle of a season-long championship duel with Darrell WaltripSeptember 12 →
15. 1985 “Million Dollar Bill” Elliott wins the first Winston Million at Darlington's Southern 500September 1 →
16. 1986 Kyle Petty wins at Richmond, making the Pettys the first father-and-son pairing to both win Cup Series races.February 23 →
17. 1988 Bobby Allison wins the Daytona 500 with son Davey finishing secondFebruary 14 →
18. 1990 Derrike Cope steals the Daytona 500 when leader Dale Earnhardt cuts a tire on the final lapFebruary 18 →
19. 1992 A wild season finale: Alan Kulwicki clinches the title, Richard Petty starts his last race, and Jeff Gordon makes his debutNovember 15 →
20. 1993 Rusty Wallace wins his ninth race of the season at Rockingham and closes to within 72 points of Dale Earnhardt with two races leftOctober 24 →
21. 1995 Sterling Marlin wins back-to-back Daytona 500s — the first driver to repeat since Richard Petty.February 19 →
22. 1997 Jeff Gordon becomes the youngest Daytona 500 winner ever, leading a Hendrick 1-2-3 sweepFebruary 16 →
23. 1998 With his cooling system dead and burns on his back, Ricky Rudd wins at Martinsville to extend his streak of consecutive seasons with a victory to sixteenSeptember 27 →
24. 2000 Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins his first Cup race at Texas, leading the final laps to beat Jeff Burton.April 2 →
25. 2001 Jeff Gordon wins the inaugural Cup race at brand-new Kansas Speedway in the heartlandSeptember 30 →
26. 2003 Jeff Gordon becomes the first NASCAR driver to host Saturday Night Live, with musical guest Avril LavigneJanuary 11 →
27. 2004 Matt Kenseth beats rookie Kasey Kahne by 0.010 seconds in the last Cup race ever run at Rockingham.February 22 →
28. 2006 Rookie Denny Hamlin scores his first Cup win from the pole at PoconoJune 11 →
29. 2007 Casey Mears wins the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte for the only Cup Series victory of his careerMay 27 →
30. 2009 Danica Patrick announces at a Phoenix news conference that she will run a partial NASCAR schedule for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s teamDecember 8 →
31. 2010 Jamie McMurray captures the Brickyard 400, becoming only the third driver to win it and the Daytona 500 in the same season.July 25 →
32. 2012 Pushed to Monday night for the first time, the Daytona 500 is halted for two hours when Juan Pablo Montoya slides into a jet dryer and sets the track ablaze, and Matt Kenseth wins near 1 a.m.February 27 →
33. 2014 Kevin Harvick wins the first winner-take-all elimination championship at HomesteadNovember 16 →
34. 2015 Carl Edwards wins as the throwback Southern 500 returns to its rightful Labor Day home at DarlingtonSeptember 6 →
35. 2016 Fog rolls into Pocono and stops the race early, handing rookie Chris Buescher and Front Row Motorsports a stunning first victoryAugust 1 →
36. 2018 Austin Dillon wins the Daytona 500 in the famous No. 3 once driven by Dale EarnhardtFebruary 18 →
37. 2019 Kyle Busch wins the Homestead finale to capture his second Cup championshipNovember 17 →
38. 2021 The Cup Series races on dirt for the first time in over 50 years; Joey Logano wins at BristolMarch 29 →
39. 2022 Rookie Austin Cindric wins the Daytona 500 in the debut of the Next Gen carFebruary 20 →
40. 2023 Kyle Larson dominates the All-Star Race as Cup cars return to revived North Wilkesboro Speedway after nearly three decades away.May 21 →