When 40 cars run at full throttle around NASCAR’s ovals, battling three or even four-wide, the stakes are extremely competitive. Everyone fixates their eyes on that one coveted cruise down the victory lane. Hence, winning a race is all that the drivers dream of. And what’s better than winning a race on one’s birthday? Perhaps, nothing. As a matter of fact, it did happen not once, not twice, but five times throughout the history of NASCAR.
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Let’s take a deeper dive into the times a driver has won a Cup Series race on their birthday.
Back in 1977, Cale Yarborough won at North Wilkesboro Speedway on his birthday, which was on March 27, where he dominated, leading 320 of the 400 laps. He also achieved the same feat again a few years from then in 1983, when he emerged victorious at Atlanta Motor Speedway, holding off Neil Bonnett.
The second driver to have won a top-tier race is none other than Kyle Busch. And just like Yarborough, Busch was able to do it twice. Rowdy won the Cup Series race at Richmond in 2009 against his then-teammate Denny Hamlin.
Despite dominating the race and leading 124 laps, Busch took the lead during the closing laps of the 400-lap long event. It took him 12 years to win again on his birthday at Kansas Speedway in 2021.
The only other driver to have won a race in the Cup Series on their birthday is Matt Kenseth. The Wisconsin native won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2012. It was a fruitful season for Kenseth as he won seven races en route to a runner-up championship run.
Only 10 drivers have won multiple NASCAR Cup Series races before turning 25
Needless to say, it is a pretty interesting line-up. Three legendary NASCAR Hall of Famers, among the best talents in motorsport history, Jeff Gordon, Richard Petty, and Jimmie Johnson. Next are two active drivers and one retired speedster, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, and Kurt Busch respectively.
The other four are Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, and Erik Jones. Another interesting statistic is that only 15 drivers have won exactly one race before their 25th birthday.
This list is pretty diverse as well. It has a few Indy legends, Parnelli Jones and Johnny Rutherford; Hall of Famers Fireball Roberts and Bobby Labonte and a Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner, Ryan Newman, among the others.
