NASCAR 75: One of a series of 75 stories that helped define the first three quarters of a century of NASCAR.
RacingOneGetty Images- From March of 1981 through April of 1984, Darrell Waltrip did the unthinkable, winning seven consecutive NASCAR Cup races at Bristol Motor Speedway.
- Every win during this streak came with Hall of Fame car owner Junior Johnson.
- Waltrip led 44% of all the laps run during that time, 1,542 out of a possible 3,500.
- That run of dominance accounted for seven out of a career total 12 Bristol wins for Waltrip.
Darrell Waltrip accomplished many amazing things over the course of his long and historic NASCAR career, including winning three Cup championships, the 1989 Daytona 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte five times.
Despite his winning record on the big ovals at Daytona and Charlotte, Waltrip was especially dominant on short tracks, having grown up racing in Kentucky and across the southeast region of the United States.
Case in point are his record seven consecutive wins at Bristol Motor Speedway.
From March 29, 1981, to April 1, 1984, Waltrip won anything and everything in the NASCAR Cup Series at Bristol. This included four spring races plus three summer night races, in which he led 1,542 of the possible 3,500 laps during these years, or 44%.
The 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee called he and his team “unstoppable” during this stretch.
Darrell Waltrip started his string of eight consecutive Bristol wins in 1981.
RacingOneGetty Images
Waltrip began racing for car owner Junior Johnson in 1981. The pair was incredibly successful during their tenure together from 1981-86. Waltrip won 24 races in 61 starts and captured two Cup championships in his first two years with Johnson.
The seven race wins at Bristol for Waltrip weren’t the only races the short track ace won at “The Last Great Coliseum.” Waltrip won twice at the Tennessee track before going on this run of dominance and would also win three more times before the end of his remarkable career, for a total of 12 wins at Bristol.
It was a magical streak of races for Waltrip during the early ’80s, but the 84-time Cup Series winner is not the only driver to win seven consecutive times at a single track. Richard Petty was the first driver to accomplish that, at Richmond Raceway from 1970-1973.
Seven consecutive wins at a track is an accomplishment that no driver has been able even come close to ever since. Along with Waltrip and Petty, six other drivers in NASCAR Cup history have posted four consecutive wins at a single track. That list includes Fred Lorenzen (Nashville, 1963-65), Cale Yarborough (Bristol, 1976-77), Bill Elliott (Michigan, 1985-86), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Talladega, 2001-03), Jimmie Johnson (Charlotte (2004-05) and Kevin Harvick (2013-15).
Keyword: Darrell Waltrip's Unbreakable 1980s NASCAR Record at Bristol