Championship team owners Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske are among the 20 nominees for the 2018 NASCAR Hall of Fame class.
Joe Gibbs, Roger Penske among new NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees
Voters will pick five of 20 nominees to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2018.
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Gibbs is a four-time Cup Series champion, whose drivers have combined to win 140 premier division races, while Penske’s team won the 2012 Cup title and have amassed 104 total Cup wins.
Also on the ballot for the first time are drivers Davey Allison, Red Farmer, and Bobby Labonte. The five new nominees join the 15 returning nominees from last year.
Allison won 19 Cup races in 191 starts, including the 1991 Coca-Cola 600, the 1992 Daytona 500, and 1992 All-Star Race. He died from injuries suffered in a helicopter accident in 1993 at age 32.
Labonte, who made four Cup starts last season, won the 2000 Cup championship and 21 races -- including three of NASCAR’s marquee events. He is Hall of Fame eligible because he’s competed 30 years at the national level.
Farmer, 80, won the 1956 NASCAR modified championship, and the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman title in 1969, ’70, and ’71.
The Class of 2018 will be determined when the voting panel convenes in late May at the Charlotte, N.C., Convention Center, where they will each select five nominees. The five who accumulate the most votes earn induction. The returning nominees are:
Buddy Baker: Won 19 times in NASCAR’s premier (now Sprint Cup) series, including the Daytona 500 and Southern 500.
Red Byron: First NASCAR premier series champion, in 1949.
Ray Evernham: Three-time NASCAR premier series championship crew chief.
Ray Fox: Engine builder, crew chief, and car owner.
Ron Hornaday: Four-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion.
Harry Hyde: 1970 NASCAR premier series championship crew chief.
Alan Kulwicki: 1992 NASCAR premier series champion.
Hershel McGriff: 1986 NASCAR west series champion.
Larry Phillips: Only five-time NASCAR weekly series national champion.
Jack Roush: Eight-time car owner champion in NASCAR’s three national series, winning two Cup titles, five in Xfinity, and one in Trucks.
Ricky Rudd: Won 23 times in NASCAR’s premier series, including the 1997 Brickyard 400.
Ken Squier: Radio and television broadcaster; inaugural winner/namesake of Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence.
Mike Stefanik: Winner of record-tying nine NASCAR championships.
Waddell Wilson: Won three NASCAR premier series championships as an engine builder.
Robert Yates: Won NASCAR premier series championship as both an engine builder and owner.
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