Another North Carolina-born racer, Bobby Isaac began racing full-time in 1956. However, it wasn’t for seven years and a lot of hard work that he made it to the Grand National division. In the ’60s, Isaac raced Dodges for Nord Krawskoph and took home three NASCAR Cup race wins in 1968.
In 1970, Isaac had his first big win, winning NASCAR’s Grand National Series. He drove the number 71 Dodge Charger Daytona which was sponsored by K&K Insurance. In his 20-year career, he won 37 races in NASCAR’s top series and started from the pole position 49 times. To this day, he still holds the record for the most poles in a single season with 20.
Rusty Wallace- 697 Consecutive Starts
Rusty Wallace had a long career that spanned 25 years. In 1980, Rusty raced in his first NASCAR race in the Atlanta 500. Besides being known for his charismatic personality and for being a close rival to Dale Earnhardt, Wallace also experienced a number of severe crashes.
Rusty Wallace was known as one of the best road course drivers in NASCAR. He had 697 consecutive starts, falling short of Ricky Rudd’s 788. Wallace won only one Cup championship in 1989, however, he longed to win another one until finally retiring in 2005. At the end of his long career, Wallace finished in the top ten in 349 races, winning 55 of them and starting from the pole position in 36 of the races.
Dale Earnhardt- Seven Cup Championships
Another racer born into a family of racers, Dale Earnhardt is widely regarded as one of the best NASCAR racers in history. He had several nicknames during his driving career, thanks to his competitive and fierce driving style. Among them was the “Intimidator.” With seven Cup championship wins, we are sure that he did intimidate. He also won 76 Winston Cup races.
Unfortunately, tragedy struck too early on in his career, taking his life at the young age of 49. Had it not, who knows how many more wins he would have achieved. At the Dayton 500 in February 2001, the “Intimidator” was instantly killed in a three-car crash. His son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced as well and only learned of his father’s death after he finished the race.
David Pearson- 105 Wins
The late South Carolina-born stock car racer, David Pearson, had many wins during his nearly 40-year career. In 2011, he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, achieving this honor just one year after Petty. He had a very notable career, competing in more than 574 races and winning 105 of them.
He holds the record behind Petty in achieving 113 pole positions. He had three Cup championships to his name, which considering that he seldom raced a full season schedule every year makes the wins even more incredible. Imagine if he had raced a full season more, he might just have made the first-place spot here.
Jimmie Johnson- Seven Cup Championships
The third stock car racer to win seven Cup championships, Jimmie Johnson was born in El Cajon, California in 1975 and entered the world of racing after graduating high school. He began stock car racing in 1998 along with his team, Herzog Motorsports. In 2001, Johnson signed with Hendricks Racing, and since then has seen many wins to his name.
To date, Johnson has won seven Cup championships, most impressively five of them being consecutive wins from 2006-2010, becoming the first driver to do so. In 2016, he won his seventh championship, becoming the third person to do so after Petty and Earnhardt.