Comments Off on NASCAR drivers with at least 500 consecutive starts
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Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle will join an elite club on Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, where he will make his 500th consecutive NASCAR Premier Series start.
Biffle made his first start at Auto Club Speedway on April 28, 2002, finishing 13th. That year, Biffle made seven starts, but he has started every race since the 2003 season began.
Here are the 16 drivers who have 500 or more consecutive NASCAR Premier Series starts:
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Jamie McMurray, 506
McMurray got his first start subbing for the injured Sterling Marlin at Talladega in October 2002. A week later, he won at Charlotte.
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Richard Petty, 513
The seven-time champion started every race from the beginning of the 1972 season until March 26, 1989, when Petty failed to qualify for a race at Richmond.
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Tony Stewart, 521
The three-time Premier Series champion competed in every race from his rookie season of 1999 until August 2013, when he was injured in a sprint car race in Iowa.
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Kevin Harvick, 530
In 2002, Harvick missed a Premier Series race at Martinsville Speedway. Since then, he’s had a perfect record of competing in every race.
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Ryan Newman, 538
Way back in 2002, Newman defeated Jimmie Johnson for Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. And he’s been in every race since then.
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Jimmie Johnson, 538
Although he did not win Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in 2002, Johnson has gone on to put together a remarkable career. He is contention for his seventh Premier Series championship.
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Matt Kenseth, 571
The 2000 season saw Kenseth move to the NASCAR Premier Series. His streak of consecutive starts was snapped last year when he was suspended for two starts.
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Ken Schrader, 579
The popular Missouri racer saw his consecutive-start streak end when he failed to qualify for the 2003 Brickyard 400.
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Mark Martin, 621
After his first go-round in NASCAR didn’t pan out, Martin hooked up with Jack Roush at the start of the 1988 season and didn’t miss a race until he went to a part-time schedule in 2007.
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Jeff Burton, 626
Another alumnus of Roush Fenway Racing, Burton competed in every race from the start of the 1997 season until the end of the 2013 campaign.
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Dale Earnhardt, 648
Tragically, Earnhardt died in a last-lap crash at Daytona in 2001. Prior to his death, the last time Earnhardt had missed a race was in 1979.
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Terry Labonte, 655
Known as “Iron Man,” Labonte’s streak started with the first race of the 1979 season and ended in the 2000 Brickyard 400.
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Rusty Wallace, 697
Impressively, the 1989 Premier Series champion ran every race from the start of the 1984 season until the end of 2005, when he retired.
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Bobby Labonte, 704
Another tough Texan and the 2000 Premier Series champ, Labonte’s streak ran from the start of the 1993 season until he missed a race at Kentucky in June 2013.
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Ricky Rudd, 788
One of NASCAR’s toughest drivers, Rudd once ran the Daytona 500 with his swollen eyelids literally duct-taped open following a vicious crash in the Busch Clash. His streak stretched from 1981 to 2005.
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Jeff Gordon, 797
Gordon made his Premier Series debut in the final race of the year at Atlanta in 1992, where Alan Kulwicki won the championship in a five-way shootout and Richard Petty ran his last race. Gordon didn’t miss a single race until he retired at the end of 2015.
