This Week in NASCAR History: July 6-12
by Tom Jensen July 06, 2020
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won big, while Richard Petty captured one of NASCAR’s shortest races and Rusty Wallace triumphed in the Granite State.
Tim Flock won his first of two premier series championships in 1952. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center.
July 6, 1952
Hall of Famer Tim Flock (2014) and his Hudson Hornet had it going on in 1952. At Michigan’s Monroe Speedway, a 0.500-mile dirt track about 40 miles southwest of Detroit, Flock won $1,000 after capturing a 200-lap race ahead of fellow Hall of Famers Herb Thomas (2013) and Lee Petty (2011). It was Flock’s second victory in three days and one of eight wins he would post en route to his first premier series championship.
At just 90.5 miles, the Albany-Saratoga 250 was one of the shortest races on the 1970 NASCAR schedule. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center.
July 7, 1970
The 1970 NASCAR season is best known for the aero wars among the manufacturers that took place on the big tracks like Daytona and Talladega. But there were still 25 short-track races on the 48-race schedule, including the Albany-Saratoga 250, a 250 lapper on the tiny 0.362-mile Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, N.Y. Hall of Famer Richard Petty (2010) lapped the field, leading 136 of 250 laps to pocket the $1,500 winner’s share of the purse. Petty won 18 races in 1970.
Despite winning 15 races, Ned Jarrett (L) came in second to Richard Petty in points in 1964. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center.
July 8, 1964
The Old Dominion 400 at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia, was a runaway for Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett (2011), who lapped the field in victory. Driving Bondy Long’s 1964 Ford, Jarrett led 359 of 400 laps in collecting the $1,100 first-place prize. Although he did not win the premier series title in ’64, Jarrett had a great season, winning a career-high 15 races and finishing second in points to another Hall of Famer, Richard Petty (2010).
The Festival 250 at Atlanta was Fred Lorenzen’s third and final victory of 1961. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center.
July 9, 1961
The second premier series race staged at Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) was captured by Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen (2015). Lorenzen lapped the field in the Festival 250, leading 52 of 167 laps in his No. 28 Holman-Moody Racing Ford. A crowd of 18,000 witnessed the race at the Georgia track, and Lorenzen collected a purse of $7,085 for his triumph. Lorenzen won three races in 15 starts during the season.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. came up big at the right time at Chicagoland Speedway. Photo courtesy of Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images.
July 10, 2005
At Chicagoland Speedway, Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2021) took his only lead on Lap 257 of 267 and held on over the final 11 circuits to win the USG Sheetrock 400 in his No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc.-owned Chevrolet. The victory paid a handsome $325,033 to Earnhardt and his team. It was Earnhardt’s lone win during the 2005 season and one of 26 premier series victories he would score during his career.
Rusty Wallace put Roger Penske’s Pontiac in Victory Lane in NASCAR’s first premier series race in New Hampshire. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center.
July 11, 1993
The first premier series race ever run at New Hampshire International Speedway (now New Hampshire Motor Speedway) was dominated by Hall of Fame drivers and owners. The big winners were driver Rusty Wallace (2013) and his team owner, Roger Penske (2019). The second through fourth-place finishers were all Hall of Fame driver/owner combos, too: Mark Martin (2017) was runner-up in Jack Roush’s (2019) Ford, followed by Davey Allison (2019) in a Robert Yates (2018) Ford and Dale Jarrett (2014) in a Joe Gibbs (2020) Chevrolet. The victory was worth $77,500.
In his breakout second full season, Dale Earnhardt won five premier series races and his first championship. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center /CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images.
July 12, 1980
It was all Hall of Famers in the top six finishing spots in the Busch Nashville 420 at Nashville Speedway. Dale Earnhardt (2010) topped Cale Yarborough (2012), Benny Parsons (2017), Darrell Waltrip (2012), Richard Petty (2010) and Bobby Allison (2011). Earnhardt, who earned $14,600 at Nashville, would go on to win his first of a record-tying seven premier series championships, driving for Rod Osterlund. Earnhardt’s other six titles came driving for Hall of Fame owner Richard Childress (2017).
Plan your visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and purchase tickets by visiting nascarhall.com/tickets.
