Top 5 Best Late Bloomers in NASCAR History

Top 5 Best Late Bloomers in NASCAR History.

By Brian Cotnoir

There’s no doubt about it; NASCAR is in a Youth Movement. Over the past 30 years, we’ve seen NASCAR go from a sport run by men in their mid-30s to early-50s, to go on to be dominated by Young drivers.  The 1^st wave of young drivers came in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s with drivers like Davey Allison, Tim Richmond, Rob Moroso, and Jeff Gordon finding success early on in their careers competing with the grizzled veteran drivers of NASCAR.  At the turn of the millennium we saw the new “Young Guns” and names like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, and Ryan Newman come in and dominate the sport.   Now, we’ve got “NASCAR NEXT Generation” of drivers younger than 20 coming into the Cup Series after dominating the lower-tier series.  

No doubt about it, NASCAR is a sport that is embracing a youth culture, but it wasn’t too long ago that the sport was dominated by these so-called “journeyman” drivers.  These drivers weren’t known for winning, and drove for a multitude of teams, but at one point in the twilight of their racing careers something click and they began to have a great deal of success in the sport, and today I am here to honor the 5 Best Late Bloomers in NASCAR History.

5.)  Ward Burton

Ward Burton pulled off a surprising first win in his career towards the end of his 2^nd full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, but he only finished 22^nd in the final points standings.  He’d struggle for 5 long years slowly improving before he notched that 2^nd career win at Darlington in 2000.  He’d win again at Darlington the following year, but this time in the Historic Southern 500.  Just when it looked like, it couldn’t get any better Ward Burton pulled off an upset victory at the 2002 Daytona 500, and would later win the Summer race at New Hampshire…but only finished 25^th in the final driver’s standings.  

Between 2000-2002 were Burton’s most successful seasons, and other than a 9^th and 10^th place finishes in the final point’s standings, he was never really a threat to compete for a championship.  His 5 wins all came while driving for owner Bill Davis, and by 2005, he’d be out of a full-time ride in NASCAR.  When compared to the success of his brother, Jeff Burton, Ward’s career was pretty lack luster, but for a brief time in the twilight of his career, he won some of NASCAR’s Crown Jewel Events. 

4.)  Michael Waltrip

To this day, Michael Waltrip holds the record for most career starts in NASCAR before their first win, with 463 starts, before he scored a bittersweet first win at the 2001 Daytona 500.  Like Ward Burton, Michael Waltrip was the brother of a more successful NASCAR driver.  Michael Waltrip wasn’t a bad driver, he just drove for mid-level teams and over the course of his career never placed better than 12^th in the final point’s standings.   The fact that he scored an impressive 233 Career Top-10 Finishes should attribute how good he could drive with bad cars.  

Waltrip’s best years came when he drove for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, where he and teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. dominated the restrictor plate tracks at Daytona and Talladega.   Of his 4 career wins in the Cup Series, 3 came at Daytona and 1 came at Talladega.  Waltrip was definitely one of the best restrictor-plate drivers at the turn of the new millennium.  He probably could have won several more races too in his time at DEI, but it wasn’t meant to be.

3.)  Bobby Hamilton

Bobby Hamilton was a great driver.   He got his start in the NASCAR Cup Series in one of the strangest ways; as a stunt driver for the Hollywood Blockbuster, “Days of Thunder”.   Interestingly enough…this race happened the day I was born!  Hamilton was actually leading in a car that wasn’t supposed to be competitive, but unfortunately he would not finish the race, and ended up finish 32^nd place.  

Does it get any better than winning for The King?

Hamilton drove around for the underperforming Tri-Star Motorsports team for a few years and spent one season driving for owner Felix Sabates, before landing at Petty Enterprises where he’d have his most success.  Seven Years after he made his Cup Series Debut, he would return to Phoenix score his first Cup Series Win; it would be the first win for Petty Enterprises in 13 years!   He’d follow up that win with another at Rockingham the following season.  In 1998, he’d win a race for the 3^rd season in a row, this time driving for the Morgan-McClure team.   Hamilton’s last win in the Cup Series came at Talladega in 2001 when he won driving for Andy Petree Racing.

What makes Hamilton such a remarkable driver was he didn’t drive for any of the Top Teams, but he still managed to find ways to win at diverse tracks with a multitude of different teams.

2.)  Sterling Marlin

Marlin was the son of a former racer, Coo Coo Marlin, and struggled early on in his career.  He came close on many occasions to scoring his first win, but always came up just short.  Marlin’s day in the sun came at the 1994 Daytona 500 when he held off Ernie Irvan to win his first career Cup Race in his a 279^th career start (a record at the time).   Marlin would repeat his performance the following year and win the 1995 Daytona 500 as well, and would finish 3^rd in the final points standings.   Marlin was one of the most dominant restrictor plate drivers of the early to mid-1990’s and was always competing for wins at Daytona and Talladega.

Marlin’s career went through a Renaissance in the early 2000’s when he brought Dodge back to Victory Lane in 2001 when he won at Michigan and once again matched his career best finish of 3^rd in the final points standings.  In 2002, he had dominated the season early on winning 2 races, and was leading the point’s standings when he unfortunately suffered a season ending neck injury in a crash at Kansas Speedway and was forced to miss the rest of the season.  There is no doubt that Marlin would have most likely won the 2002 Drivers Championship if he had not been injured.  He retired from NASCAR in 2009, and finished his career with 10 wins in the Cup Series and 216 career Top 10’s.

1.) Martin Truex Jr.

Martin Truex Jr. showed a lot of potential early on when he won back-to-back Championships in the Busch Series for drive Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chance 2 Motorsports team.  His promotion to the DEI Cup Team made a lot of sense at the time. 

His Rookie Season in 2006 yielded some very lackluster results with his best finish being a 2^nd place at the Season finale at Homestead.  The following year he would win his first Cup Race at Dover….and then he’d have to wait 8 more years to get that second career win!   In 2013 his team at the time, Michael Waltrip Racing, was involved in the “Spin-Gate” scandal that got him booted form the 2013 post-season, and would also cost him his sponsorship with Napa.

Truex’s only option was to sign with the single-car entry Furniture Row Racing, a team based in Denver, Colorado away from the NASCAR Hub of Charlotte, NC.  After an abysmal first season with the team, he’d come back stronger the next year and finish 4^th in the final drivers’ standings and won his first race Furniture Row.  In 2016 he’d double his career win total winning 4 races including the Coca Cola 600 and the Southern 500.

Then 2017 came, Truex would win a Season high 8 races and his first ever NASCAR Cup Series championship.  Furniture Row would, unfortunately have to shut down due to lack of sponsorship, but Truex was able to continue his winning ways at Joe Gibbs Racing and has since become a weekly threat to win races and championships. 

In the first half of his Cup Series Career he only managed to net 2 wins, and never finished better than 11^th in the final driver’s standings!  Since then he’s won an astounding 24 races and a driver’s championship! (as to date)   There’s no doubt about it, Martin Truex Jr is the Greatest Late Bloomer in NASCR Cup Series History.