Sprint Unlimited Tidbits

• The number of participants has ranged from a low of seven in 1981 to a high of 28 in 2009 (18 are entered in this year’s event).
• The drivers with the most Sprint Unlimited appearances:
Mark Martin (24)
Bill Elliott (23)
Jeff Gordon (20)
Ken Schrader (19)
Rusty Wallace (19)
• Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon have appeared in the most consecutive Sprint Unlimited races, competing in 20 consecutive events. Martin from 1989-2008 and Gordon from 1994-2013.
• There have been eight multiple winners in the Sprint Unlimited:
Dale Earnhardt won six events, most all-time (1980, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995).
Dale Jarrett won in 1996, 2000 and 2004.
Kevin Harvick won in 2009, 2010 and 2013.
Tony Stewart won in 2001, 2002 and 2007.
Other multiple winners: Neil Bonnett (1983-1984), Ken Schrader, (1989-1990), Jeff
Gordon (1994 and 1997) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2003 and 2008).
Bonnett, Schrader, Stewart and Harvick are the only drivers to win back-to-back                     Sprint Unlimited races. No driver has won three consecutive Sprint Unlimited                       events.
• Buddy Baker (1979), Dale Earnhardt (1980), Jeff Gordon (1994), Dale Jarrett (1996) and
Denny Hamlin (2006) all won the first Sprint Unlimited they competed.
• Only five times in the 32-year history of the race has the winner gone on to win the Daytona 500:
Bobby Allison (1982)
Bill Elliott (1987)
Dale Jarrett (1996 and 2000)
Jeff Gordon (1997)
• There have been three winners from the pole: Darrell Waltrip (1981), Bill Elliott (1987) and Ken Schrader (1989).

Two drivers have swept the Sprint Unlimited, Daytona 500 pole and Daytona 500 from 1979-2013: Dale Jarrett (2000) and Bill Elliott (1987).

• One driver has swept the Sprint Unlimited, Daytona 500 and the Coke Zero 400 from 1979-2013:
Bobby Allison (1982).
• Seven drivers have won the Sprint Unlimited (1979-2013) and the same season’s championship.
Dale Earnhardt is the only one to have accomplished it multiple times – four times.
Tony Stewart (2002)
Jeff Gordon (1997)
Dale Earnhardt (1993)
Dale Earnhardt (1991)
Dale Earnhardt (1986)
Darrell Waltrip (1981)
Dale Earnhardt (1980)
• Four drivers have won consecutive Sprint Unlimited races (1979-2013). None went on to win that year’s Daytona 500.
Kevin Harvick (2009-10)
Tony Stewart (2000-01)
Ken Schrader (1990-91)
Neil Bonnett (1983-84)
• The format for the Sprint Unlimited has changed 12 times since its inception into the NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series in 1979.
• The second starting position is the most proficient starting position in the field resulting in five wins over the 35 races.