Yahoo Autos Chevrolet's NASCAR Cup Series History in 10 Cars
Last Sunday, Kyle Busch won his second NASCAR Cup Series race of the season at Talladega Superspeedway. Busch found his way from third to first on the final lap as Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney collided. Busch’s victory is only his sixth career win behind the wheel of a Chevrolet, but it adds to the brand’s total of over 800 wins in NASCAR’s highest division.
Chevrolet’s distinctive bowtie logo has adorned stock cars in NASCAR’s sanctioned races since the organization’s founding in 1949. Chevrolet has had plenty of ups and downs over NASCAR’s 75 years. Seven-time champions Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson have all won at least one title while driving a Chevy. There was also an 11-year period where no driver won a championship with a Chevrolet.
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Thousands of Chevys have been raced in the NASCAR Cup Series. Here are ten cars that illustrate the brand’s history in the championship:
Herb Thomas’ 1955 Chevrolet 150
Chevrolet’s first major NASCAR win came when Herb Thomas won the 1955 Southern 500. The victory was the third Southern 500 win of Thomas’ career, the first driver to do so. Thomas became NASCAR’s first multi-time champion after winning the 1951 and 1953 Grand National Championships with Hudson. He began racing Chevrolets in 1955.
Buck Baker’s 1957 Chevrolet 150 - “The Black Widow”
American manufacturer participation was put in doubt after the 1955 Le Mans disaster. Congress debated banning motorsport in the United States, but Detroit voluntarily ended factory-backed racing to prevent legal prohibition.
To circumvent the automakers’ gentlemen’s agreement, General Motors hired a former Hudson race engineer to start a front business to convert stock Chevrolet 150s into racing machines referred to as Black Widows. Buck Baker won the 1957 NASCAR Grand National Championship in a Black Widow.
According to NASCAR, GM ordered the shadow program stopped during the 1957 season after the Automobile Manufacturers Association formally banned factory racing efforts.
Benny Parsons’ 1973 Chevrolet Chevelle
Chevrolets couldn’t launch a serious season-long effort against Ford, Plymouth and Dodge until General Motors restarted its factory racing involvement in 1970. In 1973, Benny Parsons won Chevrolet’s first NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship since Ned Jarrett in 1961. Parsons won the title with only a single win but had 15 top-five finishes.
Richard Petty’s 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Richard Petty won most of his championships with either Plymouth or Dodge, but the King got his seventh and final title in 1979 with a Chevrolet. Frustrated with the 1978 Dodge Magnum’s uncompetitiveness, Petty switched to General Motors late in the 1978 season. He finished the year without a win but returned to the front with his Monte Carlo in 1979.
Dale Earnhardt’s 1986 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Aerocoupe
The production Monte Carlo Aerocoupe was a homologation special as Chevrolet sold the minimum of 200 cars for its body to be eligible for NASCAR competition. The shorter trunk lid and sloped rear window offer better aerodynamic performance compared to the standard Monte Carlo. In 1987, Dale Earnhardt won a career-high 11 races and his third championship with the Aerocoupe.
