Welcome to the fourth installment of Sportscasting’s 10-episode series, “The 101 Greatest NASCAR Cup Series Drivers by Car Number.”
If you just joined us, what we’re doing here is what we’ve been doing before with our “101 Greatest NFL Players by Uniform Number” series. But instead of uniform numbers, we’ll take 101 numbers used on NASCAR Cup Series cars (0, 00, 1-99) and name the best driver each represents.
Easy enough, right?
If you missed the first three episodes or just want a reminder of the ones called the best cars numbered 00-29, head over to the series hub page, where we have the entire collection of articles.
Let’s continue with the largest to drive Nos. 30-39.
No. 30: Michael Waltrip
Using some of our earlier logic on the list, we have should give the number 30 slot to Speedy Thompson, the only driver to ever take it to Victory Lane. But since Thompson’s October 1955 win at Martinsville was one of only two times he used it, and the other was a seventh-place finish at North Wilkesboro a week later, we thought that wasn’t quite right.
Instead, we went with the driver to drive the most races in the number 30, Michael Waltrip, who made 265 starts with the number from 1987 to 1995. Despite not taking a win, Waltrip scored 15 top-fives and 56 top 10s . The only other driver with more than 100 starts in the No. 30 was Walter Ballard (161).
No. 31: Jeff Burton
This was actually harder than you might think, as we heavily considered Robby Gordon here, who took three checkered flags for Richard Childress Racing in the No. 31. Gordon broke into the number’s 565 winless streak with his season-ending win in New Hampshire. 2001 and took a few wins in 2003.
But it was often all or nothing with Gordon and our pick in this slot, Jeff Burton, was much more consistent overall. While Burton took four wins in the No. 31, he did so in 324 starts. Gordon took his three wins in just 118, giving him a 2.5% to 1.2% lead.
However, Burton has much wider margins in both the top-five percentage, 13.3% to 6.8%, and the top-10 percentage, 32.1% to 19.5%.
No. 32: Ricky Craven
To be fair, No. 32 doesn’t have the sexiest list of drivers to choose from. So with all due respect to Ricky Craven, he is essentially the winner as he is the only driver to ever bring the No. 32 to Victory Lane and also the only driver to have over 100 starts in it.
Craven drove the number 32 for Cal Wells, who later teamed up with Michael Waltrip, from 2001 to 2004, the final seasons of his Cup Series career. Craven took his first win in 2001 in Martinsville and his second in 2003 in an instant classic in Darlington, beating Kurt Busch by just 0.002 seconds.
No. 33: Harry Gant
The number 33 is a no-brainer as Harry Gant has already earned 18 of his NASCAR Cup Series wins with the double three in this slot, including a historic four-race win streak in 1991 at the age of 51. .
Gant made 397 starts in No. 33 from 1981 to 1994, taking 16 poles and noting 111 top-fives and 181 top-10s. Clint Bowyer is the only other driver to have multiple wins with the track, with only four drivers taking it to Victory Lane.
No. 34: Wendell Scott
Of the five drivers who drove No. 34 to Victory Lane, none have done it multiple times. There are some big wins in it, including Michael McDowell’s surprise win at the Daytona 500 in 2021. But even a Daytona 500 win can’t beat Wendell Scott’s historic victory at Jacksonville’s Speedway Park in 1964.
Scott was one of the first black drivers in NASCAR and the first to win a Cup Series. Though he never picked up a checkered flag again, the Virginia native made a total of 469 starts in the No. 34, by far the most in Cup Series history, scoring 20 top-fives and 143 top-10s.
No. 35: Benny Parsons
Well, we have another standard winner here, as no driver has ever taken a checkered flag in the No. 35 NASCAR Cup Series. In fact, only eight drivers have made 10 or more starts with it.
So with that in mind we go with Benny Parsons in this slot. Parsons only used the number one season with Hendrick Motorsports in 1987, his penultimate year in the Cup Series. And while he obviously didn’t take a win, he racked up six top fives and nine top-10s in 29 starts.
No. 36: Tommy Irwin
As with the previous entry, we can’t use wins as some sort of yardstick for the No. 36 because he’s never been to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series. We took a quick look at Ken Schrader, the only driver with over 100 starts in the No. 36, but he never made a single top five with it.
But our pick in this slot, Tommy Irwin, had 14 such finishes, the most of all drivers. And he did that in just 36 starts. The next driver in that division is Larry Thomas, who had 13 in 97 starts. Also helping Irwin is the fact that he took the only second-place finish in the No. 36 and finished second at Columbia Speedway in June 1959.
Irwin, who owned the 1959 Thunderbird he drove, led 63 of 200 laps that day, but ended up finishing five car lengths behind Lee Petty.
No. 37: Bobby Isaac
Simply put, like the two numbers before it, the No. 37 doesn’t have the richest history in the NASCAR Cup Series. Only six drivers have more than one top five finish, most are three of a trio of drivers – Jeremy Mayfield, Tiny Lund and Bobby Isaac.
And since Isaac was the only one to ever bring a checkered flag, he’s our pick at number 37. Isaac only made seven starts in number one, one in 1967 and six in 1968. But he finished in the top 10 in five of those races and three times in the top five, including a dominant win at Columbia in April 1968, a race in which he led 186 of 200 laps.
No. 38: Gwyn Staley
While most would probably fill this slot with Elliott Sadler, who drove the No. 38 for Robert Yates Racing for nearly four full seasons and took two checkered flags, here we go with an upset special in picking Gwyn Staley.
Yes, Sadler has two wins and has the most top-five (12) and top-10’s (40). But Staley took three wins in the No. 38 in just 14 starts. He recorded those three wins in a four-race stretch during the 1957 season, a campaign in which he earned seven top-fives.
Staley took two more top fives, bringing his tally to nine during the 1958 season, which actually began in November 1957. Just eight days after finishing second at Fayetteville’s Champion Speedway, he was tragically killed in a NASCAR Convertible Division race at Richmond.
No. 39: Ryan Newman
The easy call at number 39 is Ryan Newman, the only driver to ever take him to Victory Lane and one of only two to have over 100 starts. The other was Friday Hassler, who went winless in 116 races.
Newman ran 180 races in the No. 39 from 2009 to 2013, taking four wins, including the 2013 Brickyard 400, as well as achieving 30 top-fives, 78 top-10s and eight poles.
Statistics courtesy of Racing reference
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