Today in History (cont'd)

• May 31 -- 1968: For the last time in an illustrious career that ends in 1992, Richard Petty leads all the laps of a race. On this day, it's all 300 laps at one-third-mile New Asheville Speedway in Asheville, N.C. Buddy Baker finishes second, a lap back, and Bobby Isaac is third, four laps back.

• May 30 -- 1950: Bill Rexford, who goes on to win the 1950 championship, wins his only NASCAR race, a 200-lap event on the half-mile dirt track of Canfield (Ohio) Speedway. Rexford leads 80 laps and finishes two laps ahead of second-place Glenn Dunnaway.

• May 29 -- 1994: In his 14th Cup race, "Front Row" Joe Nemechek starts on the front row for the first time, qualifying second for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. The pole winner is a 22-year-old named Jeff Gordon, who goes on to win his first Cup race.

• May 28 -- 1994: Phil Parsons wins the Nationwide Series Champion 300 at Charlotte by nearly 11 seconds on Mark Martin for his final NASCAR victory. Parsons finishes his career with one Cup and two Nationwide victories.

• May 27 -- 1956: Owner Carl Kiekhaefer wins two Cup races in one day. On the three-quarter-mile dirt track of Charlotte Speedway, Speedy Thompson leads a 1-2-3 sweep for Kiekhaefer. Junior Johnson finishes second and Buck Baker third. On the other side of the country, Herb Thomas wins a 150-mile race at half-mile Portland (Ore.) Speedway.

• May 26 -- 1996: Dale Jarrett wins his only Coca-Cola 600, beating Dale Earnhardt by a whopping 11.982 seconds. The only other cars on the lead lap are Terry Labonte and Jeff Gordon.

• May 25 -- 1986: Richard Petty makes his last start in a car other than the No. 43, when he buys D.K. Ulrich's ride -- the No. 6 Chevrolet -- and finishes 38th in the 1986 Coca-Cola 600. Petty crashed during a practice session and wasn't permitted by NASCAR to go to a backup car.

• May 24 -- 1970: Donnie Allison wins the World 600 at Charlotte for his fourth career victory and first without brother Bobby finishing second. Cale Yarborough finishes second, two laps back. Bobby completes 17 laps before his engine fails, and he finishes 39th in the 40-car field.

• May 23 -- 1954: Lee Petty wins the only Cup race run at Sharon Speedway, a half-mile dirt track north of Youngstown, Ohio. The scheduled 200-lap race is shortened by 40 laps because of rain. Buck Baker is second and Dick Rathmann third.

• May 22 -- 1955: Tim Flock wins the Richmond 200, finishing ahead of brother Fonty and Lee Petty, but that's not what makes the results of this 200-lap race on a half-mile dirt track interesting. Finishing last in the field of 28 cars is Jimmie Lewallen, who drops out after three laps. The reason given for his DNF: mud.

• May 21 -- 1950: Curtis Turner wins at Martinsville to become the first driver to win consecutive Cup races. The 150-lap race is the fourth race of the season. The third race, at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway, was almost five weeks earlier.

• May 20 -- 2005: In his eighth Truck Series start, Kyle Busch becomes the youngest winner in the history of the series (20 years, 18 days). Busch beats Terry Cook to the line by .15 seconds in a green-white-checked finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Ted Musgrave finishes third.

• May 19 -- 2002: Mike Bliss beats Jason Leffler to the line by .33 seconds to win the Truck Series race at Pikes Peak International Raceway. It is the final Truck race run at the one-mile track in Fountain, Colo. It hosts its last Nationwide race in July 2005.

• May 18 -- 1958: Junior Johnson wins at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway for his first victory on a paved track. It is his sixth of 50 NASCAR victories. Twenty-three of those wins come at dirt tracks.

• May 17 -- 1981: D.K. Ulrich finishes fourth at Dover for the only top-five finish in his 273-race Cup career. In another "only" in the race, Jody Ridley gets his only Cup victory in 140 starts.

• May 16 -- 1971: Brothers Donnie and Bobby Allison, charter members of the Alabama Gang, finish 1-2 in the Winston 500. It is Allison's sixth victory and the fourth and final time Bobby finishes second. Donnie finishes his career with 10 Cup wins.

• May 15 -- 1970: Bobby Isaac wins the Beltsville 300 on half-mile Beltsville (Md.) Speedway for his first of 11 victories in 1970 en route to his only Cup championship. The win comes in the 14th race of the 48-race season. Richard Petty wins a season-high 18 races but finishes third in the standings behind three-time winner Bobby Allison.

• May 14 -- 2004: Less than two weeks past his 19th birthday, Kyle Busch wins the Nationwide Series race at Richmond for his first NASCAR victory. Busch leads 236 of the 250 laps and beats Greg Biffle to the line by .15 seconds. Kevin Harvick is third.

• May 13 -- 1967: Richard Petty wins the Rebel 400 for his 55th Cup victory, passing his father, Lee, as the winningest driver in the Cup Series. Richard retires in 1992 with 200 wins. Lee's 54 wins are ninth all time.

• May 12 -- 2001: J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, finishes 23rd in the Truck Series race at Darlington for his best career finish in eight starts from 2000-02. Gibbs also started five Nationwide races (1998-99).

• May 11 -- 2002: Bobby Hamilton Jr. wins a Nationwide Series race for his first NASCAR victory. Hamilton beats Todd Bodine by 2.547 seconds at New Hampshire. Jack Sprague is third.

• May 10 -- 2008: Michael Waltrip becomes the 14th driver to start 700 Cup races when he takes the green flag at Darlington. Waltrip finishes 24th. No driver has reached 700 starts since.

• May 9 -- 1998: Roy Jones, better know as Buckshot Jones, gets his final NASCAR win, beating Tony Stewart by 2.143 seconds in the Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire. Jones finishes his NASCAR career with two wins in 147 Nationwide starts and none in 56 Cup starts.

• May 8 -- 1982: The smallest field for a Nationwide Series race, 17 cars, lines up at .395-mile Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va. Winner Jack Ingram is the only car on the lead lap. Sam Ard and Phil Parsons finish one lap down.

• May 7 -- 1995: Dale Earnhardt wins at Sonoma for the only road-course win of his Cup career. Mark Martin dominated, leading 66 of 74 laps, but finishes second by .32 seconds. Earnhardt leads the final two laps.

• May 6 -- 1984: The Winston 500 at Talladega features 75 lead changes -- a record for the Cup Series that still stands. The 75th lead change came on the last lap, with Cale Yarborough taking the checkered flag by two car lengths over Harry Gant.

• May 5 -- 2002: Driving a Pontiac, Tony Stewart wins the rain-delayed Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond. It is the last of four times a Pontiac wins the Pontiac-sponsored race. Pontiac also won with Stewart the previous year, in 1989 with Rusty Wallace and in the inaugural year, 1988, with Neil Bonnett.

• May 4 -- 1962: Jimmy Pardue wins a 200-lap race on three-eighths-mile Southside Speedway in Richmond, Va., for his first Cup victory. He leads 66 laps. Jack Smith is second, the only other car on the lead lap, and Richard Petty is third, the only car a lap down. Pardue wins two races in 217 Cup starts.

• May 3 -- 1992: Buddy Baker makes his 700th and final Cup start, finishing 31st in the Winston 500 at Talladega. Baker leaves the race after 176 laps with a broken wheel bearing. Davey Allison gets the win by two car lengths over Bill Elliott.

• May 2 -- 1993: Ernie Irvan holds off Jimmy Spencer to win the Winston 500 at Talladega, but the bigger story is Rusty Wallace's wreck as Irvan takes the checkered flag. Dale Earnhardt touches Wallace and sends him airborne and flipping wildly down the frontstretch. Wallace actually crosses the start-finish line in the air in sixth place. By the time his car comes to a stop, almost all the sheet metal has been stripped from the car.

• May 1 -- 1994: Greg Sacks, the surprise winner of the 1985 Pepsi 400 at Daytona, picks up his 20th and final top-10 of his 263-race Cup career with a sixth-place finish in the Winston Select 500 at Talladega. In addition to his win, Sacks finished in the top five two other times. (Continued)