Standing on the shoulders of giants! Denny Hamlin won his 19th race in the Sprint Cup series in the 11 car on Sunday, and with that win pushed the 11 past the 43 in the number of victories in NASCAR's highest series. The 11 has seen victory lane 199 times in NASCAR's history, edging the 43 driven most often by Richard Petty. (Petty didn't always drive the 43, however, which is why it's a different total than his 200 career wins.) Jayski.com was kind enough to do the heavy lifting on this angle, and here's how the wins on the 11 break down:
? Cale Yarborough (55)
? Ned Jarrett (49)
? Darrell Waltrip (43)
? Denny Hamlin (19)
? Junior Johnson (11)
? Bill Elliott (6)
? Geoff Bodine (4)
? Terry Labonte (4)
? Bobby Allison (3)
? Buddy Baker (2)
? A.J. Foyt (1)
? Mario Andretti (1)
?� Parnelli Jones (1)
Man, that's a number with some serious pedigree. Other numbers currently running in NASCAR with some long history: Trevor Bayne's 21 (91 wins, 4th all-time), Jeff Gordon's 24 (85 wins, all by Gordon, 5th all-time), Brad Keselowski's 2 (71 wins, 8th all-time), Juan Pablo Montoya's 42 (69 wins, 9th all-time) and, yes, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 88 (66 wins, 10th all-time).
Note: 25 numbers have never won a Sprint Cup-level race. And no, "13" isn't one of them; Johnny Rutherford won the 1963 Daytona 500 with that number. Please tell me you're not psychopathic enough to want to know what the orphans are. (Go here if you do.)
