Cale Yarborough was one of the toughest and most successful NASCAR drivers to have ever lived in the modern era. He won the Daytona 500 four times and the Southern 500 five times. But there’s one more stat from his illustrious career that goes to underline his greatness, in this instance, over names like Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, and Jeff Gordon.
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That stat is of the percentage of laps led in the modern era. This is a list that Yarborough tops. While 7x Cup champion like Dale Earnhardt and 4x champion Jeff Gordon have 12.7% and 10.8% respectively of laps led in the modern era, the three-time Winston Cup champion Yarborough boasts one of 26.5%, a number matched by no other driver, past or present.
Percentage of laps led (Modern Era)
1. Cale Yarborough – 26.5%
2. David Pearson – 20.5%
3. Sonny Hutchins – 19.6%
4. Mark Donohue – 17.6%
5. Bobby Allison – 13.2%
6. Dale Earnhardt – 12.7%
7. Jeff Gordon – 10.8%
8. Bobby Isaac – 10.5%
9. Kyle Busch – 1.4%
10 Rusty Wallace – 9.7% pic.twitter.com/ISALUHBubB— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) December 31, 2023
Needless to say, the Timmonsville native was one of the toughest competitors in the arena of stock car racing. In his career spanning over three decades, Yarborough never needed a relief driver. And he was proud of it. There is no other speedster with a minimum of 500 Winston Cup starts who could have made that claim.
In 558 races, the legendary driver had amassed 83 impressive wins, a number that left him with a whopping 14.87 winning percentage. Indeed, a great achievement for any racecar driver.
Besides that, he also stood in the third spot in the highest number of pole wins of all time (70). According to Yarborough, running second wasn’t good enough. “Running for the pole was like running for a win. I always tried to win. No one remembers who runs second,” he would say.
Cale Yarborough didn’t care for comfort, he just cared to win
A driver complaining about their car not being comfortable enough? Now that’s something that Cale Yarborough absolutely hated. As a racer to have driven an array of poor-handling cars throughout his career, Yarborough didn’t really care if the car he drove was comfortable or not.
“I know it has to be just right for most of the (drivers),” he stated. “I was hired to drive a race car, and I drove it to the best of my ability. I didn’t care how it felt. It didn’t make any difference. The car had to get the job done, whether it was right or wrong. So I just drove it.”
So it goes without saying that William Caleb Yarborough was arguably one of the most successful drivers in the history of NASCAR. As racing enthusiasts and NASCAR fans, we extend our thoughts and prayers to his friends and family as the whole of the NASCAR world mourns his sad passing.
