When he took the checkered flag Saturday night at Bristol, Denny Hamlin scored the 200th win for the No. 11 car in the Sprint Cup Series, the most wins for any car number.
Say what, you say? Doesn't Richard Petty have 200 wins? And didn't he drive the No. 43 car? Yes and yes. But Petty won 192 races in the 43; with six wins coming in the No. 41 and two in the No. 42 for Petty Enterprises. The No. 43 has 198 wins, and its last win was John Andretti at Martinsville in 1999.
That meant that Hamlin's win at Kansas earlier in the season pushed the No. 11 to the top of the list. The winningest driver in the No. 11 is Cale Yarborough, who scored 55 wins with the number and Ned Jarrett is second with 49. Heck, the entire roster of winners in the 11 is practically a who's who of racing history and includes five NASCAR Hall of Famers. Check it out:
Cale Yarborough, 55 wins
Ned Jarrett, 49 wins
Darrell Waltrip, 43 wins
Denny Hamlin, 20 wins
Junior Johnson, 11 wins
Bill Elliott 6 wins
Geoff Bodine, 4 wins
Terry Labonte, 4 wins
Bobby Allison, 3 wins
Buddy Baker, 2 wins
A.J. Foyt, 1 win
Mario Andretti, 1 win
Parnelli Jones, 1 win
At one point, it wasn't unfathomable to think that the No. 43 would never have been caught as the most victorious car number. But coupled with Hamlin's 20 wins in 6+ seasons and an over 12 year winless drought for the 43, it's reasonable to think that the No. 11 could extend it's lead and stay at the top of the list for a while. (The No. 3 is a distant third place with 97 wins.) What do you think? Will Hamlin keep racking up the wins or will the No. 43 get its mojo back in the near future and reclaim the top spot?
