Author Archives: NASCAR Wire Staff Report

Stock Car Racing’s ‘Nice Guy Champion,’ Emmy-Winning Broadcaster Benny Parsons Enters NASCAR Hall of Fame

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1973: Benny Parsons inside his L. G. DeWitt-owned Chevrolet at a NASCAR Cup race. Parsons finished in the top-ten in 21 of 28 races and won the Volunteer 500 at the Bristol (TN) Motor Speedway on his way to winning the NASCAR Cup championship.
Photo by ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images

A single word defined the late Benny Parsons: Beloved.

It mattered not whether you were fellow competitor, race fan or television viewer. Parsons was more than just a top premier series driver or broadcaster.

To race with him – or just to meet him – Parsons had the aura of being the best friend you wished you had.

Parsons became the NASCAR premier series champion in 1973. He won 21 times, a resume that included the 1975 Daytona 500.

“Benny didn’t win a lot of races – some thought he wasn’t ruthless enough – but few drivers won more friends and fans,” wrote Larry Woody in a 2014 Racin’ Today story.

“Ten minutes and you bonded with him,” said Rick Hendrick, whose Chevrolets Parsons drove in 1987.

Parsons, who died in 2007 at age 65, will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina on Friday (8 p.m. ET on NBCSN). His fellow inductees among the Class of 2017 include Hendrick, Richard Childress, Mark Martin and Raymond Parks. Continue reading →

Mark Martin’s Fitness Regimen Redefined the NASCAR Athlete and Prolonged a Winning Career

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Team owner Jack Roush (L) and Mark Martin, driver of the #6 Viagra Ford, celebrate winning the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Banquet 400 on October 9, 2005 at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. Photo – Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

To the surprise of no one, Mark Martin continued to win races at the highest level well past an age when most competitors have hung up their helmets.

With five victories past the age of 50, Martin also came within one standings position of winning the 2009 premier series championship.

The phrase ‘age is just a number’ may be cliché – but it certainly applied to the diminutive Martin, whose fitness regimen of heavy weight lifting and healthy eating became legend and ultimately sent his fellow competitors flocking to gyms and nutritionists.

In short, Martin lived his life like a man half his age – and drove like it as well.

“I told the guys I don’t have any problem keeping up with a 25-year-old,” he told The Associated Press in April 2009 after becoming the third-oldest winner in NASCAR premier series history at Phoenix International Raceway. “I feel really good.”

Only one driver – Harry Gant – won more races after his 50th birthday. Martin polished off a 40-victory resume during a magical year driving for Hendrick Motorsports in 2009, adding to his 35 wins at Roush Fenway Raceway. That’s the most wins by a competitor without a series championship. Continue reading →

XFINITY Champion Suarez Promoted to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

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HUNTERSVILLE, NC – JANUARY 11: NASCAR driver Daniel Suarez talks about his future driving at NASCAR’s highest level during a press conference at Joe Gibbs Racing on January 11, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Photo by Bob Leverone/ Getty Images

The phone call interrupted Daniel Suarez’s lunch. He didn’t mind.

Team owner Joe Gibbs was calling with the surprising news that Suarez, winner of the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship last season, would be promoted to drive the team’s No. 19 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota in 2017 as a replacement for Carl Edwards.

Edwards had told Gibbs about his decision to leave racing during the Christmas holidays. Continue reading →

Edwards Steps Away from Full-Time NASCAR Racing

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HUNTERSVILLE, NC – JANUARY 11: NASCAR driver Carl Edwards talks about his career in a stock car during a press conference to announce his retirement at Joe Gibbs Racing on January 11, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Photo by Bob Leverone/Getty Images

Calling at least a temporary halt to a career he described as “living a dream,” Carl Edwards confirmed Wednesday his decision to step away from driving race cars to pursue what he described as other adventures.

In a decision that shocked the NASCAR world, Edwards, 37, said he was leaving the Joe Gibbs Racing team and one of the best rides in stock car racing “because I’ve always followed my gut. All the signs point to this being the right thing to do.”

Daniel Suarez will be elevated from the NASCAR XFINITY Series operation at JGR to replace Edwards in the No. 19 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota.

Edwards would not rule out returning to racing in the future, but, during a 37-minute news conference in which he was near tears, he emphasized that many other things – at this point not identified – have his attention.

He said he is satisfied with his driving career, which includes 28 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup victories and an XFINITY Series championship. He barely missed a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup title twice. Continue reading →

Stock Car Racing Pioneer Raymond Parks Set the Standard During NASCAR’s Early Era

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1949: NASCAR’s first “Super Team,” consisted of car owner Raymond Parks (L), mechanic Red Vogt (C) and driver Red Byron (R). The trio captured the first-ever NASCAR title, the 1948 Modified championship, then went on this year to take home the first NASCAR Cup championship.
Photo by ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images

As one of early stock car racing’s most successful car owners, it is appropriate that Raymond Parks captured the first two championships offered by the fledgling National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, an organization Parks helped form in 1947.

Parks and his driver, Red Byron, won NASCAR’s modified title in 1948. The pair, along with mechanic Red Vogt, became the sanctioning body’s 1949 Strictly Stock champions – the initial season of what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

The Dawson County, Georgia, native and his racing team were gone from NASCAR after 1955, winning just twice. But Parks, who died in 2010 at the age of 96, was seen as one of the sport’s seminal figures and a visionary.

“He set the standard. Mr. Parks brought the sport class,” said NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty in a speedwaymedia.com interview shortly after Parks’ death. “It took people like Mr. Parks to lay the foundation we’re living off of.

“And without him, we wouldn’t have the history we have and we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

Parks’ contributions will be celebrated Jan. 20 in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame (8 p.m. ET on NBCSN). His fellow inductees among the Hall’s Class of 2017 are Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Mark Martin and Benny Parsons. Continue reading →