Today in History (cont'd)

• Oct. 31 -- 2004: Martin Truex Jr. finishes 37th in the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in his Cup Series debut. Truex also gets his first DNF that day when his engine dies after 259 laps of the 325-lap race.

• Oct. 30 -- 1966: The Allison brothers, Bobby and Donnie, compete in the same Cup Series race for the first time. In their 231 common races, Bobby finishes in front of his brother 146 times. On this day, however, Donnie beats his brother, finishing ninth in the American 500 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. Bobby finishes 41st in the 44-car field, retiring after 57 laps with a blown engine.

• Oct. 29 -- 1950: Lee Petty wins the final race of the Cup Series season for his only victory in 1950. The win at Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C., is significant because it enables Petty to have at least one win in each of his first 13 seasons.

• Oct. 28 -- 1951: Danny Weinberg wins his only Cup Series race in his fifth start, taking the checkered flag in the in a 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track at Marchbanks Speedway in Hanford, Calif. All 17 of Weinberg's Cup starts, from 1951 to 1964, are in the West -- 15 in California and two at Phoenix. He finishes his Cup career with seven top-fives and nine top-10s.

• Oct. 27 -- 2002: One week after winning at Martinsville, Cup Series rookie Kurt Busch wins the NAPA 500 at Atlanta for his second consecutive victory. It is the only time in his 10-year, 19-win career Busch has won consecutive Cup races.

• Oct. 26 -- 2002: Two weeks after winning his first Cup Series race in his second start, Jamie McMurray wins his first Nationwide Series race, the Aaron's 312 at Atlanta. He leads only the final lap -- when race leader Joe Nemechek runs out of gas -- and wins by 10.796 seconds over Michael Waltrip.

• Oct. 25 -- 2000: Dale Earnhardt wins the 76th and final race of his Cup Series career, coming from 18th place in the final laps of the Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Kenny Wallace finishes second and Joe Nemechek third in cars owned by Andy Petree.

• Oct. 24 -- 1999: The Burton brothers, Jeff and Ward, finish 1-2 for the third time in the 1999 season. Jeff wins all three, including a .337-second victory on this day in the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham.

• Oct. 23 -- 1955: In his seventh Cup Series start, Joe Weatherly finishes fourth in the Wilkes 160 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway for his first top-five finish. Weatherly wouldn't get his first victory until 1958 on his way to 20 wins in 230 starts before his death at Riverside in 1964.

• Oct. 22 -- 2000: Sterling Marlin makes his 500th Cup Series start and finishes 33rd in the Pop Secret Microwave 400 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. Marlin completes 328 laps, finishing 65 laps behind winner Dale Jarrett.

• Oct. 21 -- 1984: Bill Elliott beats Harry Gant in a photo finish of the Warner H. Hodgdon American 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway for his first of four Cup Series victories at the Rock.

• Oct. 20 -- 1968: Charlie Glotzbach wins the National 500 at Charlotte for his first Cup victory. Glotzbach finishes 7 seconds ahead of Paul Goldsmith. David Pearson finishes third, the only other car on the lead lap. Glotzbach makes 124 starts from 1960 to 1992 and finishes his career with four Cup wins and 12 poles.

• Oct. 19 -- 1958: Richard Petty finishes second-to-last, 23rd, in the No. 2 Oldsmobile, in the Wilkes 160 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. It is his fifth and final start in the No. 2. Petty will not start a race in a single-digit car again until 1986 in Charlotte when he finishes 38th in D.K. Ulrich's No. 6 Chevrolet.

• Oct. 18 -- 1998: Dennis Setzer wins the Dodge California Truck Stop 300 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., for his first Truck Series victory. Setzer beats Jack Sprague by .99 seconds in the 300-lap race on the half-mile track. Stacy Compton finishes third.

• Oct. 17 -- 1982: Jack Ingram wins for the third time at Hickory (N.C.) Speedway in the Nationwide Series; one of six Nationwide races at Hickory in 1982, the inaugural Nationwide season. Morgan Shepherd, John Settlemyre and Tommy Houston win the other three races at the .363-mile track.

• Oct. 16 -- 1955: In his second start, Norm Nelson wins his only Cup Series race, a scheduled 200-lap race on the 1-mile dirt track of Las Vegas Park Speedway. Darkness shortens the race to 111 laps, and Nelson leads the final 106. Nelson, 32 at the time, returns to race three more times in the 1960s, and he closes out his NASCAR career with three top-10s in five starts.

• Oct. 15 -- 1950: NASCAR runs two Cup races on the same day for the first time. Herb Thomas wins a 200-lap race at Martinsville, and Lloyd Moore wins a 200-lap race at Funk's Speedway in Winchester, Ind. Both tracks are half-mile dirt tracks.

• Oct. 14 -- 1990: Rick Mast wins the NE Chevy 250 at New Hampshire for his ninth and final Nationwide Series victory. Mast beats Bobby Labonte to the line by .64 seconds for his third victory of the season. Mast makes 243 starts in 12 seasons from 1982 to 1998. In 15 seasons in Cup racing, Mast is winless in 364 starts.

• Oct. 13 -- 2001: Randy LaJoie wins the Sam's Town 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park for his 15th and final Nationwide Series victory. LaJoie, a two-time Nationwide champion, starts 350 races in 19 seasons (1986-2006).

• Oct. 12 -- 1975: Darrell Waltrip records his first win at Richmond, beating Lennie Pond by more than a lap in the Capital City 500. Waltrip finishes his career with six Cup wins at Richmond, making it his fifth-most successful track. Waltrip's best tracks: 12 wins at Bristol, 11 at Martinsville, 10 at North Wilkesboro, eight at Nashville and six at Charlotte and Richmond.

• Oct. 11 -- 1998: Boris Said picks up his first, and so far only, NASCAR victory, winning the Kragen/Exide 151 Truck Series race at Sonoma. Said, a road-course ace, wins by 6.549 seconds over Mike Bliss. Tony Raines finishes third. Said has made 35 starts in the Cup Series, 20 in Nationwide and 65 in the Truck Series.

• Oct. 10 -- 1954: Buck Baker wins the first Cup race at Memphis-Arkansas Speedway in Lehi, Ark., the Mid-South 250. Baker is the only driver to complete all 167 laps on the 1.5-mile dirt track. Dick Rathmann finishes second, five laps back, and Lee Petty is third, six laps back.

• Oct. 9 -- 2005: Denny Hamlin finishes 32nd in the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway in his first Cup Series start. Hamlin starts the last seven races of the season and scores three top-10s. The next year, his rookie season, Hamlin wins twice, makes the Chase and finishes third.

• Oct. 8 -- 1983: Ricky Rudd makes his third and final start in the Nationwide Series, finishing 34th in the Miller Time 300 at Charlotte. Rudd closes out his Nationwide career with one top-10 finish, a win in his first race, at Dover. Rudd's three Nationwide starts are quite a contrast to his Cup career: His 906 starts are second only to Richard Petty's 1,184.

• Oct. 7 -- 1951: Herb Thomas wins his first NASCAR race from the pole, winning a 150-lap race on the 1-mile dirt of Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C. Leonard Tippett is second, a lap back, and Joe Eubanks is third, another lap back. Nineteen of Thomas' 48 wins come from the pole.

• Oct. 6 -- 2002: Subbing for injured Sterling Marlin, Jamie McMurray makes his first Cup Series start, finishing 26th in the EA Sports 500 at Talladega. As excited as McMurray undoubtedly was, it's nothing compared with the next week when he shocks everyone by winning the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte in his second Cup start.

• Oct. 5 -- 1996: Mark Martin wins the All Pro Bumper to Bumper 300 at Charlotte for his 25th career Nationwide Series victory. Bobby Labonte is second and Sterling Marlin third. Martin is the all-time leader with 48 wins. Kevin Harvick is second with 34.

• Oct. 4 -- 1997: Tony Stewart finishes third in the All Pro Bumper to Bumper 300 Nationwide Series race at Charlotte for his first top-10 finish in NASCAR. Jimmy Spencer wins the race and Mark Martin is second. Stewart competes in five Nationwide races in 1997, the same year he wins the IRL championship.

• Oct. 3 -- 1953: Herb Thomas wins the only Cup race at Bloomsburg (Pa.) Fairgrounds. Dick Rathmann finishes second in the 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track. Buck Baker finishes third.

• Oct. 2 -- 1983: With Darrell Waltrip behind the wheel, Junior Johnson picks up his 100th victory as an owner in the Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Dale Earnhardt finishes 2.7 seconds back, and Bobby Allison is third. In 30 seasons as an owner, Johnson wins 132 races, 115 poles and six championships -- three with Waltrip and three with Cale Yarborough.

• Oct. 1 -- 2006: Dale Jarrett finishes fourth in the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway for his only top-five finish of the season and the 163rd and final top-five of his 24 seasons of Cup racing. Jarrett, the 1999 Cup champion, retires in 2008 with 32 victories and 260 top-10s in 668 Cup starts. (Continued)