Richard Petty owned the wheel since the late ’50s and competed in 1,185 races over 35 years before retiring. It’s no surprise that Petty is the most adorned NASCAR driver, as it seems that racing runs deep in the Petty family’s blood. Richard was born to the late Lee Petty, who was also a stock car racer.
Richard has an impressive 200 wins under his belt as well as 172 top-ten finishes. He also started in the pole position 123 times. In 1992, Richard threw in the towel and retired from the sport with seven Cup championship wins, and may we mention the first driver to accomplish this number of wins.
Denny Hamlin- 2006 Sprint Cup Rookie Of The Year
A lot of stock car racers get their start racing go-karts at a young age and Denny Hamlin was one of them. He started racing go-karts at only 7 years old. Hamlin first gained recognition when he won Rookie of the Year at the 2006 Spring Cup and qualified for NASCAR Playoffs.
Currently, Hamlin is a full-time racer in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and drives the No. 11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin has won over 30 NASCAR Cup Series races, the biggest being the Daytona 500 in 2016 and 2019. He has been credited as one of the most consistent drivers, and he has won at least one race every year from 2006 to 2017 Cup seasons and another one in 2019.
Kurt Busch- 30 Wins
Kurt Busch won the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the 2017 Daytona 500. He drives the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Chip Ganassi Racing as a full-time racer in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Busch is one of few drivers of who have won races in the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series.
As admirable as his skills and wins are on the track, off of it, Busch has been known for engaging in verbal abuse of his team members and the media. He shared in 2011 that he was working with a sports psychologist on his anger issues. Busch has also been under investigation for physical assault and was caught cheating on his first wife.
Harry Gant- 123 Top Five Finishes
Harry Gant, AKA “Handsome Harry,” began his career in the 1970s in North Carolina. He raced for 22 years and retired from the sport in 1994 with 208 top ten finishes, 18 wins, and 17 pole starting positions. Although he never won a Cup championship, he has enough feats that he is deserving of a place on this list.
After retiring, Gant decided to return to the calm rural life on his ranch where he enjoys riding his motorcycle. He is still somewhat involved in NASCAR and In 2015, he made an appearance at the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. He also has a good hand for carpentry and roofing and enjoys doing that in his spare time.
Junior Johnson- 50 Wins
Although Junior Johnson’s career spanned for only a little over 10 years, he had 50 wins which placed him as the tenth best driver, and ranked 9th in terms of career pole positions. Johnson retired in 1966 but didn’t leave the sport too far behind. Nowadays, Johnson is known as a NASCAR team owner. In total, his drivers have won 139 races.
The real reason that Johnson makes our list, though, is thanks to his discovery of drafting. Johnson discovered that when he moved behind a faster car, his car’s speed increased because faster cars would block its wind resistance. He was able to surpass his competitor car during the race and win despite that his car was slower than other cars.