Saint Patrick is celebrated by the Irish as the one who ministered Christianity to Ireland. He is said to have died on March 17, 493 A.D., and the day is remembered in honor of him as St. Patrick’s Day. NASCAR has observed the unofficial holiday on the same date every year since its inception in 1949 (except in 2008).
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Ten races have been held on St. Patrick’s Day thus far. The first one was in 1957 and was won by Ralph Moody. Moody is the iconic driver and engine builder who later partnered with John Holman to create Holman-Moody, a race car manufacturing and auto racing company. His victory came at the Wilson Speedway in North Carolina.
The legendary Cale Yarborough won on the day at Bristol in 1974. Bill Elliott, arguably the most popular driver in NASCAR history, won at the Atlanta Motor Speedway on St. Patrick’s Day in 1985. He was a driver for Melling Racing at the time and finished the season as runner-up. The victory was one of his eleven wins that year.
More than 15 years later, Sterling Marlin won at the Darlington Raceway on St. Patrick’s Day in 2002. It was one of his two wins that year, the other one coming at Las Vegas. He finished 18th in the driver standings. Following him, Kasey Kahne won at Bristol on March 17, 2013. The last two drivers to win on the day were Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.
Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, won his second title in 2019. One of the victories that helped him achieve the feat fell on St. Patrick’s Day. He won at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana a week after conquering the Phoenix Raceway. He went on to win three more races that season en route to his championship.
Hamlin had a particularly great regular season in 2024. The first of his three wins came at Bristol on St. Patrick’s Day. He later won at Richmond and Dover to extend his number of victories to three. He finished the season eighth in the driver standings. In 2025, NASCAR did not race on St. Patrick’s Day.
In 2008, the day was moved to March 15 instead of March 17 to avoid conflict with the second day of Holy Week. The Vatican approved the date to let the scheduled activities proceed without interruption.
