NASCAR Cup Series returns to Darlington Raceway on Sunday.
Herb Thomas, part of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2013, is one of five three-time winners on this list. And Thomas, who started just seven Cup races at Darlington, captured his three wins in his first six starts there. He’s also one of just two drivers on this list without a pole at Darlington. Thomas was involved in three crashes during his final start there, pictured at left, before finally calling it a day with a 49th-place finish—in a 70-car field.
Richard Petty leads all drivers in Cup Series starts at Darlington with 65 (retired drivers Buddy Baker, Ricky Rudd and Dave Marcis are next at 58). The King, who won 200 races in his Cup career, won just three times at Darlington. All three came in a stretch of four races in 1966-67. He won twice at Darlington in 1967 as he prevailed a never-to-be matched 27 times in 48 races that season.
Jimmie Johnson, one of just two drivers on the list not in the NASCAR Hall of Fame (don’t worry, that will happen), swept the two races at Darlington in 2004 and waited eight years until his next win at the track. Johnson and Herb Thomas are the only drivers to win at least three times at Darlington without ever winning a pole there. Johnson has qualified second three times.
Buck Baker, from NASCAR’s Hall of Fame class of 2013, dominated his fifth start at Darlington, leading 151 laps in 1953 (pictured) and winning by three laps over Fonty Flock. It was quite a turnaround from his first start at Darlington, when he finished 69th out of 75 cars.
No one was more dialed in at Darlington in 1997 than Dale Jarrett was for the 400-miler, when he won the pole and led 171 of 293 laps. It was one of just two races (2000 Daytona) that Jarrett won from the pole in his career. He also won at Darlington in 1998 and 2001 (pictured).
Harry Gant, who was on the ballot for the 2023 NASCAR Hall of Fame but waiting for that call, won four times at Darlington, including twice at the Southern 500. His win from the pole in the 1984 Southern 500 was particularly impressive, as he led 277 of 367 laps and beat Tim Richmond to the line by two seconds.
Future Hall-of-Famer Denny Hamlin is running up many NASCAR lists these days, and the all-time wins list at Darlington is no exception. He comes into the 2022 season having won at Darlington in back-to-back years. His most recent win in 2021 came in the September race, when he led 146 of 367 laps and nosed out Kyle Larson by .212 second.
In a nine-race stretch at Darlington between September 1971 and the end of the 1975 season, it’s safe to say that Allison had the place figured out. He won four times, finished second once and third another time. He also won at Darlington during his Cup championship-winning season of 1983.
Cale Yarborough won three consecutive Cup Series championships from 1976-78. And while he won 28 races during that run, he only managed one of those wins at Darlington. In 1978, he won the Southern 500 by three seconds over runner-up Darrell Waltrip. Yarborough and Waltrip also finished 1-2 in the 1974 Southern 500 (pictured).
Bill Elliott earned the nickname “Million Dollar Bill” after winning the 1985 Southern 500 and Darlington and with it NASCAR’s first $1 million payday. The payday was a bonus offered by series sponsor R.J. Reynolds for any driver who could win three of four races that season between the Daytona 500, Charlotte 600, Southern 500 and Talladega 500.
Darlington Raceway was a good track for Darrell Waltrip, who posted five of his 84 career race wins there. However, it could have been a great track for him, as he also had eight runner-up finishes. His biggest win there might have been in 1981. He lapped the field to beat runner-up Harry Gant by a lap. Waltrip went on to win his first Cup Series championship that year in his first year with team owner Junior Johnson.
Jeff Gordon won his first Southern 500 in 1995 by half a second over Dale Earnhardt Jr. That kicked off an incredible string of Darlington appearances for Gordon, who won three consecutive races and five of seven between 1995 and 1998 at the South Carolina track. As good as Gordon was on race day, he only won the pole there in three of 36 races.
Not all of Dale Earnhardt’s wins came in the No. 3 Chevrolet. In fact, his first win at Darlington in 1982 came in the No. 15 Wrangler Jeans Ford for car owner Bud Moore. Earnhardt’s other eight wins at Darlington did come in the No. 3 for car owner Richard Childress.
Dominant. Simply dominant. That best describes David Pearson at Darlington Raceway. He not only won there 10 times in 47 starts, he also finished second seven times and was in the top five 24 times. Pearson also won the pole a track-record 12 times, while no one else pulled that off more than six times (Fred Lorenzen). His 1980 win at Darlington was the 105th and final of his Hall of Fame career.
Keyword: 14 All-Time NASCAR Cup Leaders in Wins at Darlington; Only Three Are Not in Hall of Fame