In Cup Series competition the #1 car has started 1,555 races and has 21 wins, 35 poles, 180 top 5s, 449 top 10s, and 386 DNFs.
After driving for DEI in the Busch (XFINITY) Series and making 5 Cup starts in the DEI #14 in 1997, Steve Park was named Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s first full time driver piloting the #1 Pennzoil Chevy. In the third race of the year, at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Park failed to qualify. The following week, he broke his leg in an accident while testing at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Two weeks later, the team hired 3 time Champion Darrell Waltrip to substitute for Park.
Park returned later in the season at the Brickyard 400 after recovering. In his 13 races that year Waltrip posted 2 top 10 finishes, better than Park’s best finish of 11th for 1998. In 1999, Park finished five times in the top ten and ranked fourteenth in points earned. In 2000, Park won his first two Pole awards, won his first race at his home track of Watkins Glen , and ranked eleventh in points.
In 2001, in the first race after the death of his car owner Dale Earnhardt, Park beat Bobby Labonte in a close finish to score a victory at Rockingham with a very emotional celebration.
Park’s career encountered difficulties at a Busch Series race at Darlington Speedway when he was injured in a bizarre crash under caution. The severity of the crash caused a massive brain injury as well as several broken ribs.
Kenny Wallace drove the car while Park recuperated, with a best finish of second place at Rockingham. Wallace made a total of 17 starts between 2001 and the first 4 races of 2002.
Park returned to his #1 at Darlington in 2002, but his season was plagued my bad luck and crashes, the most spectacular of which came on the first lap at Pocono with teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. During 2003, DEI let Park go midway into the season, and he was effectively “traded” to Richard Childress Racing for Jeff Green, who took over the #1 car from Park with Park taking over the #30 AOL car for Childress. Park scored 2 wins in his 152 starts in #1.
Following a fallout between Jeff Green and the #30 RCR team at Richmond in 2003, Green was hired to pilot the Pennzoil #1 while Park took over the #30.
Green only started 12 races in the #1 as Ron Fellows drove the car on the 2 road course races. Fellows, a friend of Dale Earnhardt’s, was contracted to drive #1 full time in 2002, but Earnhardt’s death nullified the contract.
John Andretti took over driving duties for 10 of the final 11 races of 2003, with Jason Keller making one start at Talladega as Andretti was already contracted to drive the #90 for RCR in that race. Andretti & Fellows returned to drive the #1 in 2004, but lack of consistent sponsorship caused the team to field cars part time. Andretti started 15 races in #1; Fellows started 3.
In 2004 & 2005, Busch Series Champion Martin Truex Jr. started 8 races in the DEI #1 before racing full time starting in 2006. On June 4, 2007, Truex scored his first career NEXTEL Cup victory in the #1 car at the Dover in a COT race. Truex also qualified to race in the Chase for the Nextel Cup that year. He was DEI’s only representative in the 2007 Chase for the Cup and his qualification is, to date, the last for a driver in a DEI car. At the end of 2009, Truex left the team for Michael Waltrip Racing.
After 2009 Jamie McMurry began driving the #1 car, now majority owned by McMurray’s former boss Chip Ganassi. Pro Shops was joined by McDonald’s as a primary sponsor. McMurray started the year of with a bang, winning the 2010 Daytona 500 for Ganassi in his first race in the #1 car.
McMurray returned to the winner’s circle by winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis , the first time that he had won multiple races in a season since joining the Cup Series full-time in 2003. He added a third win at the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte during the Chase.
After more struggling in 2011-2012, McMurray finally broke back into victory lane at the fall 2013 Talladega race, his first victory in three seasons. McMurray also won the Sprint All-Star Race in 2014, but did not reach victory lane in a points paying event, missing the Chase. McMurray did not win a race in 2015, and failed to make it to the second round of The Chase after finishing 4th at Dover behind Dale Earnhardt Jr.
McMurray returned to the #1 in 2016, now completely owned by Ganassi and Felix Sabates. As the summer wound down, McMurray would heat up. He finished seventh at Kentucky in a fuel mileage race. A good 6th place at New Hampshire would allow him to slip further ahead of his competition for a spot in The Chase. However a spin at Indy, and Chris Buescher winning at Pocono didn’t help. He would then score three eight place finishes in row, at Watkins Glen, Bristol, and Michigan, allowing McMurray to slip past Ryan Newman in the chase standings. This would be good, as when Kyle Larson won at Michigan, McMurray would find himself 15 points in, ahead of Newman. McMurray would be eliminated in the first round of The Chase and eventually finish 13th in points.
The 2018 season became McMurray’s worst since 2011 and 2012, having scored one top-five at the Charlotte Roval and seven top-10s. He also missed the playoffs, finishing 20th in the points standings. On September 10, 2018, McMurray announced that he would not return to Chip Ganassi in 2019. CGR had offered McMurray a contract to drive at the 2019 Daytona 500 before moving to a leadership position with the team. McMurray would ultimately retire from full-time Cup Series racing and later signed a contract with Fox Sports to appear on their weekday and raceday NASCAR programs, in addition to his leadership role with Ganassi. In January 2019, CGR formed a partnership with Spire Motorsports to field the No. 40 for McMurray at the Daytona 500. McMurray started 324 races in car #1 with 4 wins.
For 2019, Kurt Busch took over the wheel of the CGR #1 car, along with his sponsor Monster Energy. Busch scored his first win with CGR at Kentucky, beating his brother Kyle on the final restart. It was the third time the Busch brothers finished 1–2, but the first time Kurt emerged the victor. Despite making the playoffs, Busch was eliminated in the Round of 16 after finishing 20th at the Charlotte Roval.
Busch managed to make the 2020 playoffs without winning a race by staying consistent with four top-fives and 14 top-10 finishes. He scored his 32nd career win and his first of 2020 at Las Vegas; the win secured him a spot in the Round of 8, but that would be the limit of his Playoff progression.
In 2021, Kurt won the final race at Atlanta Motor Speedway before it was reconfigured into a “drafting style” track. When Justin Marks announced that he was purchasing Chip Ganassi Racing to form Team Trackhouse, Kurt was left a free agent, and ultimately he moved to 23XI Racing to drive their second entry, #45. Busch started 108 races in #1 with 3 wins.
In 2022, Ross Chastain took over the #1 as his former #42 Chip Ganassi team evolved into Trackhouse Racing. Chastian put together an amazing season, score 13 top-5 finishes including 2 dramatic wins at Circuit of the Americas & Talladega.
These wins earned Ross a spot in the Playoffs. He made it all the way to the Championship 4 after a wild, last-lap pass at Martinsville, also known as the “Hail Melon.” Beginning in 2023, manuevers such as this will not be permitted by NASCAR. Ross has 36 stars in car #1, and he will return in 2023.
Rick Mast has 181 starts in #1 from 1991-1996 with no wins. He started out the 1991 season by leading 14 laps in the Daytona 500 and finished fourth. At Talladega later that year Mast, 1 lap down in 10th, pushed fuel deficient Harry Gant to the win, almost warranting a penalty.
With less than 25 laps to go in the DieHard 500 , Mast was tapped by Buddy Baker entering the tri-oval and flipped over. He slid to a stop a few hundred feet beyond the start-finish line and soon climbed out of the car, much to the delight of the crowd. He was not injured, but half-jokingly said afterwards, “I’m okay but I need another pair of underwear”. In 1992 Mast won the pole for the Hooters 500, a historic race. He also won the pole at the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994. Mast almost won at Rockingham in 1994, but Dale Earnhardt was able to hold him off for the win and his 7th championship. This 2nd place finish was the highest of Mast’s career.
Paul Lewis started 71 races in #1 from 1960-1967, including his only career win at Maryville in 1967.
Donnie Allison drove car #1 to 4 wins in 61 starts from 1976-1982. However, Allison #1 is possibly most remembered for his involvement in a final-lap crash and subsequent fight with Cale Yarborough at the 1979 Daytona 500.
Sgt. George Green started the #1 car 51 times from 1961-1963 without earning a win. Green was fired when he was caught stealing $600 in “owner’s winnings” from Potter, so he reenlisted in the Army and was shipped to Germany for further training.
Lake Speed started the #1 car 35 times from 1983-1984 without a win.
In 1964 Billy Wade started Bud Moore’s #1 machine 32 times. That summer he won 4 consecutive races at Old Bridge Stadium, Bridgehampton. Islip Speedway, & Watkins Glen. These 4 wins would be the only wins of Wade’s career.
In 1990 Terry Labonte drove the #1 Oldsmobile in 29 races without reaching victory lane.
Between 1960 & 1981-1982 Buddy Baker started 29 races in #1 without a win.
Other notable drivers in #1:
Elton Hildreth, 20 starts
Morgan Shepherd, 19 starts
Brett Bodine, 14 starts
David Pearson, 10 starts, 1 win
Sterling Marlin, 10 starts
Bud Moore, 9 starts
Dale Jarrett, 8 starts
Kyle Petty, 6 starts
Jerry Nadeau, 5 starts
Davey Allison, 3 starts
AJ Foyt, 2 starts
Lloyd Dane, 1 start, 1 win
Eddie Gray, 1 start, 1 win