Today in History (cont'd)

• Sept. 30 -- 1995: Mike Bliss wins his first NASCAR race, the Truck Series Lowe's 150 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. Butch Miller finishes second, 1.14 seconds back, and Geoffrey Bodine is third.

• Sept. 29 -- 1996: Jeff Gordon wins the Tyson Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The field is 37 cars, the last time fewer than 40 cars start a Cup race. It also is the 93rd and final Cup race run at North Wilkesboro. Dale Earnhardt finishes second, and Dale Jarrett is third.

• Sept. 28 -- 1958: Joe Eubanks wins a 110-lap race at Orange Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C., for his only Cup Series victory in 159 starts from 1950 to 1961. Eubanks leads the final 12 laps on the .90-mile dirt track, and Doug Cox finishes second, the only other car on the lead lap. Buck Baker is third, one lap back. For his career, Eubanks finishes in the top 10 81 times, 37 times in the top five, and wins four poles.

• Sept. 27 -- 1981: In his fifth start, 22-year-old Mark Martin records his first top-five, finishing third in the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville. After the first race of the 2009 Chase, Martin has 253 top-fives and 40 wins. He has the eighth-most top-fives in the history of the Cup Series and the fourth-most in the modern era (since 1972). Richard Petty has the most top-fives, 555, and Dale Earnhardt has the most in the modern era, 281.

• Sept. 26 -- 1954: A season-high 64 cars are in the field for a 250-lap race on Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway's 1-mile dirt track. Not surprisingly, all 250 laps are led by drivers starting in the top four with polesitter Herb Thomas leading 163 laps and getting the win. Two other drivers finish on the lead lap, second-place Lee Petty and Hershel McGriff. Also not surprisingly, many cars don't finish the race. Twenty-nine cars are not running at the finish.

• Sept. 25 -- 2004: Shane Hmiel wins the Las Vegas 350 truck race for his only victory in NASCAR's top three touring series.

• Sept. 24 -- 2000: Kurt Busch finishes 18th in the MBNA.com 400 at Dover in his first Cup start. He finishes two laps behind winner Tony Stewart.

• Sept. 23 -- 1984: Sam Ard starts the only Cup race in his storied career, finishing last in the 31-car field of the Goody's 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Ard lasts one lap before retiring with steering problems. Ard competed in the then-Busch Series from 1982 to 1984, winning championships in '83 and '84.

• Sept. 22 -- 1998: Happy 21st birthday, Colin Braun, who is fifth in the Camping World Truck Series points standings and picked up his first win this year at Michigan.

• Sept. 21 -- 2002: After going winless in his first 62 Nationwide Series races, Scott Wimmer wins the MBNA All-American Heroes 200 at Dover to begin a stretch of four wins in eight races.

• Sept. 20 -- 1997: Joe Bessey wins his only Nationwide Series race in a career spanning 15 seasons, beating Randy LaJoie by .495 seconds in the MBNA 200 at Dover. Bessey finishes his career with four top-fives and 20 top-10s in 163 starts.

• Sept. 19 -- 1999: In his 180th Cup Series start, Joe Nemechek wins the Dura Lube/Kmart 300 at New Hampshire for his first Cup victory. He wins under caution; Tony Stewart is second and Bobby Labonte third.

• Sept, 18 -- 2004: Ricky Craven, a two-time winner in the Cup Series, makes his debut in the Truck Series, finishing 31st in the Sylvania 200 at New Hampshire. His day ends after 82 laps because of an accident. Travis Kvapil gets the win, followed by Jack Sprague and Johnny Benson Jr.

• Sept. 17 -- 1988: Driving a car owned by his brother Darrell, Michael Waltrip wins his first Nationwide Series race, beating Tommy Ellis by .685 seconds in the Grand National 200 at Dover. Morgan Shepherd finishes third.

• Sept. 16 -- 1984: Sam Ard wins his 22nd and final Nationwide Series race, beating Tommy Houston by three car lengths in the Coca-Cola 300 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. Jack Ingram finishes third, the only other car on the lead lap. Ard leads 148 of the 150 laps; Houston leads the other two.

• Sept. 15 -- 1968: Richard Petty wins the Hillsboro 150, the final Cup race on the nine-tenths of a mile dirt track of Orange Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C. The track was the site of 32 Cup races and Petty, his father, Lee, and Buck Baker each won a series-high three races at Orange.

• Sept. 14 -- 1965: Dick Hutcherson wins the Pennsylvania 200 by eight laps over G.C. Spencer in the final Cup race at Lincoln Speedway in New Oxford, Pa. Richard Petty leads the first 78 laps on the half-mile dirt track and Hutcherson the final 122.

• Sept. 13 -- 1970: Richard Petty leads 488 of 500 laps to win the Capital City 500 at Richmond (Va.) Fairgrounds Raceway by two laps on Bobby Allison. It starts a streak of seven consecutive wins at Richmond for the King on the .542-mile track. From September 1970 through February 1975, Petty wins nine of the 10 Cup races at the track.

• Sept. 12 -- 1987: Mark Martin wins the first of a record five Nationwide Series races at Richmond. L.D. Ottinger finishes second in the Freelander 200, and Geoffrey Bodine is third.

• Sept. 11 -- 1999: In his 25th start, Tony Stewart wins his first Cup race in dominating style. Stewart leads 333 of 400 laps and beats Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Bobby Labonte by 1.115 seconds in the Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 at Richmond. It is the most laps Stewart has led in a Cup race.

• Sept. 10 -- 1994: Ted Musgrave completes a pole sweep at Richmond but fails to finish in the top 10 in either race. To date, Musgrave is the last driver to win the pole for both Cup races at Richmond in the same year.

• Sept. 9 -- 1989: Bobby Hamilton wins the Commonwealth 200 at Richmond for his first victory in a national NASCAR series race. It turns out to be his only victory in the Nationwide Series in 86 starts. His career also includes four Cup wins and 10 wins in the Truck Series, including four in 2004 when he won the championship.

• Sept. 8 -- 1984: Sam Ard finishes 11th in the Miller 150 Nationwide Series race at Richmond (Va.) Fairgrounds Raceway, snapping his streak of 42 consecutive top-10 finishes. Of those 42 top-10s, 37 are in the top five, including 14 victories. Tommy Ellis gets the win on this day, followed by Geoffrey Bodine and Butch Lindley.

• Sept. 7 -- 1986: Tim Richmond wins the Wrangler Jeans Indigo 400 at Richmond (Va.) Fairgrounds Raceway. The field is 29 cars, the last time fewer than 30 cars start a Cup race. Dale Earnhardt finishes second and Morgan Shepherd is third.

• Sept. 6 -- 1992: Darrell Waltrip wins his only Labor Day weekend Cup race at Darlington Raceway, finishing ahead of Mark Martin and Bill Elliott in the rain-shortened Mountain Dew Southern 500. Waltrip leads only the final six laps before the race is called after 298 of 367 laps.

• Sept. 5 -- 1957: Gwyn Staley wins the third and final Cup Series race at New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. Starting from the pole, Staley leads the first 62 and final 28 laps on the 1-mile dirt track and beats Lee Petty by nearly two laps. Bill Walker finishes third. Jim Reed, who finishes 12th in the field of 24, leads the other 10 laps.

• Sept. 4 -- 1994: Bill Elliott wins the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington to give Junior Johnson his 132nd and final win as a car owner. Johnson's 30th and final season as an owner comes in 1995. Johnson wins six championships as an owner -- three with Cale Yarborough and three with Darrell Waltrip.

• Sept. 3 -- 1962: Larry Frank wins the Southern 500 at Darlington for his only Cup Series victory. Frank wins by 5 seconds over Junior Johnson, and Marvin Panch finishes third. Frank starts 103 races from 1956 to 1966.

• Sept. 2 -- 2001: Ward Burton, starting 37th, wins the Mountain Dew 500 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. It is one of the deepest starts for a winner at Darlington. Johnny Mantz holds the record, winning the first Southern 500 in 1950 from 43rd on the grid; 75 cars were in that field. Burton is tied for second with Bobby Labonte, who also started 37th when he won the race in 2000.

• Sept. 1 -- 2002: Jeff Gordon wins the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington to become the quickest driver to 60 Cup victories. The win comes in Gordon's 318th race, just ahead of the previous best of 321 races by Darrell Waltrip. (Continued)