5 NASCAR facts that sound made up, but are true

5 NASCAR facts that sound made up, but are true

By: Brian Cotnoir

In its 70+ years of existence NASCAR has gone through many changes.  From regulations regarding the races and the cars, to the points system and how many races are run in a season, to rules regarding races and the drivers!   In that history some surprising and unbelievable things have happened.  Some of these moments are so unbelievable that you swear they were made up, but in fact are true.  Here are 5 NASCAR facts that you are going to swear a made up, but are 100% true!

1.)  Joe Gibbs has more wins as a NASCAR team owner than as an NFL Coach

Coach Joe Gibbs is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in addition to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  During his 14 years as head coach of the Washington Football Team (formerly known as the Redskins), Gibbs won 3 Super Bowls and 171 Football games (regular season and playoffs) as an NFL coach.   

What Surprised me is that he has more wins as a NASCAR Cup Series owner then he does as an NFL Coach.   Gibbs presently (11/30/2021) has 194 wins as an owner in the NASCAR Cup Series.    Why I find this so surprising is because in football Gibbs has a 50% chance of winning an NFL game (either he wins or he doesn't), but in NASCAR, he owns 4 cars with a max field size of 40 Cars in the Cup Series, which gives him a 1-in-10 average of winning the race.  Another interesting fact was Joe Gibbs racing ran a single car team for the first seven seasons of existence, which gave him an even more challenging 1-in-43 chance of winning a Cup Series Race! 

2.)  Jaguar has won a race in NASCAR

When you mention Jaguar Racing most people associate the British luxury car company with the XJR Sportscars that dominated sportscars in Europe throughout the late 1980's and early 1990's, or in modern times the Formula E team.  Some people even might remember that short lived Jaguar Formula One team that raced between 2000-2004 before being sold to Red Bull.  However, Jaguar has also raced in NASCAR too.    Long before Toyota become the first major foreign motor company to compete in NASCAR, a driver named Al Keller made a start in NASCAR driving a Jaguar.

Al Keller made 29 starts in NASCAR between 1949-1956.   In his brief NASCAR career, he won 2 races, his second win came in 1954 at the Linden Airport in Linden, New Jersey behind the wheel of a Jaguar.  Keller led 28-of-the-50 laps driving a Jaguar owned by American Big Band Leader, Paul Whiteman.    This would be Whiteman's only win as an owner, and Jaguar's only win in NASCAR.  In fact, Jaguar has won more races in NASCAR then they have won in Formula One. 

3.)  Richard Petty's first start in NASCAR happened in Canada

NASCAR is a race that has really strong roots in North Carolina.  The majority of teams are based in NASCAR are based in North Carolina and many drivers and tracks are also located in the Tarheel State.  With all the tracks in North Carolina that NASCAR raced at in the early days, you'd expect NASCAR legend Richard Petty--a Native North Carolinian--would have made his debut at one of those legendary tracks, but in fact his first race in NASCAR happened north of the border in Canada.  At 21-years-old, Richard Petty made his NASCAR debut at the Jim Mideon 500 in Toronto, Canada inside Exhibition Stadium.   Petty wound finishing 17th out of 19 entries in the race, while his father Lee went on to win the race. 

4.)  Brett Moffit won a truck race without leading a single lap

This one happened more recently at the 2019 M&M's 200 at the Iowa Speedway Brett Moffit finished 2nd place in the truck race to Ross Chastain.  Chastain, who dominated the race, was eventually disqualified after the race after his truck failed post-race inspection for being too low.  Chastain's team, Niece Motorsports appealed the disqualification, but NASCAR upheld it giving the win to native Iowan, Brett Moffit.    What was most surprising is Moffitt hadn't led one lap all race, making him the first (and so far,) only driver in NASCAR's top 3 series to win a race without leading a lap.

5.)  Narain Karthikeyan was voted Most Popular Driver in the Truck Series despite only making 9 career starts.

Every year NASCAR gives an award to the Most Popular drivers in the Top 3 series as voted on by the NASCAR fans.  In the Cup Series, it's typically the same driver year after year, but in the Grand National and Truck Series it's typically a young up & comer or a championship favorite, but in 2010 the winner of the NASCAR Truck Series Most Popular Driver Award didn't even run half a season!

Narain Karthikeyan is an Indian-born racecar driver.   He spent 2.5 seasons in Formula 1, where he was the first driver from India.  His only remarkable achievement in Formula 1 was finishing 4th place at the controversial United States Grand Prix where he finished 4th-out-of-6 drivers who actually started the race.   After 3 lackluster seasons in A1 Grand Prix, Karthikeyan decided to give NASCAR a try in 2010.   Like in Formula 1, Karthikeyan was the first driver of Indian descent in NASCAR History.  He made 9 starts in the NASCAR Truck Series for Wyler Racing.  His best career finish was 11th at Texas Motor Speedway.  Karthikeyan didn't even win Rookie of the Year that season, but was voted Most Popular Driver.  Those 9 starts in the Truck Series were Karthikeyan's only starts in NASCAR, before returning to Formula 1 for two abysmal seasons at HRT Racing.