4 Lesser-Known Records held by Richard Petty

4 Lesser-Known Records Held by Richard Petty

By Brian H Cotnoir

No disrespect to Elvis Pressley, but there's only one man worthy of the title "The King", and his name is Richard Petty!  The King's 85th Birthday is fast approaching (July 2nd) and even 30 years after his final start in NASCAR he still holds his Lionshare of records in NASCAR.   Everyone knows Richard still holds the untouchable mark of 200 Career wins in the NASCAR Cup Series, 123 Career Poles, 7 Cup Series Championships and 7 Daytona 500 Championships, and of course his dominant 1967 season where he won 27 races--including a record 10 in a row!  Many of Richard Petty's Records will never be broken, and I have found several records of his that will also never be broken.

1.)  Most wins at the same track

During his illustrious career Richard Petty dominated many tracks.   He won at the Historic Martinsville Speedway an astounding 15 times!  Petty scored his 2nd career win at the Paperclip track Now remember, the race winner at Martinsville Speedway since 1964 has received a Grandfather Clock.  That means Petty has taken home 12 Grandfather Clocks in his career!  Petty's last win at Martinsville came in 1979.

Petty would match that record at North Wilkesboro winning at that track an impressive 15 times as well.  His first win at the beloved short track came in 1962 and he scored his 194th career victory at the track 19 years later in 1981.

2.)  Wins at the Most Racetracks

Martinsville and North Wilkesboro aren't the only tracks that Petty dominated.  He's also the winningest driver at Columbia Speedway, Richmond International Speedway, Rockingham, and several other tracks.   Petty has actually won a NASCAR Cup Series race at 55 different tracks.

3.)  Most Career 2nd Place Finishes (157 2nd place finishes)

Not only is Petty the winningest driver in NASCAR Cup Series History, but he's also holds the record for most runner-up finishes in NASCAR Cup Series History.  Petty finished 2nd Place an astounding 157 times in his career.  Petty has more 2nd place finishes than David Pearson--2nd All-Time in NASCAR Cup Series wins--has career wins (105)!  

Petty's Win Percentage for his career was 16.8%; had those 2nd place finishes been wins, Petty's career win total would be 357, and his career Winning Percentage would be 30%!  Petty scored his final runner-up finish came at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1986.

4.)  Most Laps Led & Completed (51,406 led; 307,836 completed)

If you're the winningest driver in NASCAR, you must have led a lot of laps; Petty led 51,406 laps in his career.   That's 20,000 more laps than 2nd All-Time in Laps Led, Cale Yarborough.  Petty has also run more laps than anyone else in NASCAR with an impressive 307,836 run across his 1,184 starts in NASCAR.  Damn, it must be good to be "The King".