On Wednesday, NASCAR announced the 20 nominees that will be up for consideration for election to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The nominees are highlighted by five new candidates. Those new candidates are:
Davey Allison: 19 career Cup Series wins, finished third in championship in 1992.
Red Farmer: Long-time racer of indeterminate age whose career began in 1949. Won three straight NASCAR Late Model Sportsman championships (1969-1971) and the NASCAR Modified Championship in 1956.
Joe Gibbs: Four-time Cup championship-winning owner, 140 Cup victories, 132 XFINITY Series wins and two championships.
Roger Penske: 2012 Cup championship-winning owner (via Brad Keselowski), 101 Cup victories.
Bobby Labonte: 2000 Cup Series champion, 1991 XFINITY Series championship, 21 career Cup Series wins
These five new nominees will join the existing 15 nominees that failed to garner enough votes for induction last year. Those nominees are:
Buddy Baker: 19 career Cup Series wins, including the fastest Daytona 500 ever run (177.602 mph average)
Red Byron: NASCAR’s first Strictly Stock Champion (1949)
Ray Evernham: Three-time Cup Series champion crew chief (1995, 1997-1998 with Jeff Gordon)
Ray Fox: Legendary car owner and crew chief, 19 career victories including the 1964 Southern 500 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Buck Baker.
Ron Hornaday Jr. – Four-time Camping World Truck Series champion; All-time wins leader in the series.
Harry Hyde – 1970 Cup Series champion crew chief; legendary wrench
Alan Kulwicki – 1992 Cup Series champion driver/owner
Hershel McGriff – 1986 West Series champion, won four Cup races in 1954, raced into his 80’s
Larry Phillips – Only five-time NASCAR Weekly Series champion
Jack Roush – Two-time Cup Series champion car owner (2003 with Matt Kenseth, 2004 with Kurt Busch), 135 wins. Two-time XFINITY Series championship car owner (2002 with Greg Biffle, 2007 with Carl Edwards), 138 wins. Camping World Truck Series champion truck owner in 2000 (via Biffle), 50 wins
Ricky Rudd – 23 career Cup Series wins, Won a race in 16 consecutive seasons (1983-1998).
Ken Squier – Legendary commentator, helped bring the Daytona 500 to CBS for live, flag-to-flag coverage. One-half of the namesake of the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence. Owner/Operator of Thunder Road Speed Bowl in Barre, Vt.
Mike Stefanik – Won nine NASCAR championships. These came in the Whelen Modified Tour (1989, 1991, 1997-1998, 2001-2002 and 2006) and the Busch North Series (now K&N Pro Series East, 1997-1998).
Waddell Wilson – Legendary crew chief; Won three championships as an engine builder
Robert Yates – 1999 championship winning car owner (via Dale Jarrett) and won another title as an engine builder.
In addition, the NASCAR Hall of Fame also announced the five nominees for the Landmark Award. They are:
Jim France – NASCAR Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors/Executive Vice President
Janet Guthrie – Made 33 career Cup Series starts, best finish of sixth at Bristol in 1977
Alvin Hawkins – NASCAR’s first flagman; Brought NASCAR to Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Ralph Seagraves – Served as President of RJReynolds’ Special Events Operations; Key to bringing Winston into NASCAR in the early 1970’s.
Ken Squier – See above.
Nominees for the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence will be announced at a later date. The Squier-Hall Award winner will be announced at a later time than the rest of the nominees. In recent years, the announcement has been made during the Coke Zero 400 weekend at Daytona International Speedway in July.
Voting for the five members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2018, plus the Landmark Award will take place on May 24 during the lead-up to the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte. The members of the Voting Committee will gather at the NASCAR Hall of Fame to watch vignettes of the candidates and deliberate before voting.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
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Roush also won the Xfinity championship with Chris Buescher in ’15
And ’11 and ’12 with Stenhouse