In Cup Series competition the #13 car has started 653 races and has 1 wins, 2 poles, 11 top 5s, and 37 top 10s.
Germain entered into Sprint Cup racing through a technical alliance with Michael Waltrip Racing beginning with attempting two races during the 2008 season. MWR supplied a Toyota Camry and technical support for Germain and driver Max Papis. Papis had previously driven for then MWR Vice President Cal Wells in the CART series.
In 2009, Germain Racing attempted to run a limited schedule in the Sprint Cup Series with Papis driving the #13 with sponsor GEICO. The team qualified for 15 races in 21 attempts. Germain planned to run full-time in 2010, but it was required to start and park some events due to its limited sponsorship from GEICO and lack of additional sponsorship. In the first event of the 2010 season, Papis qualified for the Daytona 500, where he was involved in an early wreck before finishing 40th due to engine woes. After Watkins Glen, the team announced that Papis would be replaced. The team started and parked at Michigan and Bristol, then Casey Mears took over at Atlanta. Papis ran 33 races in the 13 car from 2009-2010.
For 2011, Germain Racing announced that Casey Mears would take over the ride full-time for the 2011 season. Mears and the team missed the Daytona 500, but no other events. The team finished 32nd in owners points. On January 6, 2012, Germain Racing announced that Mears would return as the driver of the #13 GEICO Ford . GEICO is signed with the team through 2014. Mears led during the middle portions at Talladega, but crashed out. He finished 29th in points.
The team had a rebound year in 2013 with 1 Top 10 at Daytona and 7 Top 15s. Mears also improved to 24th in the standings, his best finish in the points since 2009. GEICO also plans to sponsor the team full season next year as well. In 2014, Germain formed a partnership with Richard Childress Racing to field Chevrolets . Mears had previously driven for RCR in 2009. The team started the new season off with a top-10 when Mears finished 10th in the 2014 Daytona 500 . Mears made the highlight reel after Marcos Ambrose punched him during a post race altercation at Richmond. Mears eventually recorded fourteen top-20s and three top-10s during the season, and finished 26th in driver points, although on a much more competitive landscape than the 24th place in 2013. The team’s best finish is 4th at the 2014 Coke Zero 400.
For 2015, Mears returned to Germain for what was to be the final year of both his and GEICO’s contracts with the team. Mears finished sixth at Daytona and fifteenth at Atlanta to open the season.
On July 14, 2015, it was announced that Mears had signed a contract extension with Germain and GEICO for 2016. On November 12, 2015, GEICO announced that it had extended its partnership with Mears and Germain Racing through the 2018 season.
Mears had a rough 2016 season, finishing 32nd at Daytona after caught speeding in the late of the race. Mears would finish better next week at Atlanta, finishing 14th. He was unlucky after being involved in a small accident with Michael Waltrip which ended Mears’ day at Talladega. Mears started 227 races in #13.
In 2017 Ty Dillon took over the helm of the Germain #13. Dillon began the 2017 season with a crash in the Daytona 500. The next race at Atlanta, he scored a 15th place outing. The next week at Las Vegas, he finished 21st place. He followed this up with a 16th place outing at Phoenix, a 22nd place finish at Martinsville, and then a 17th place finish at Texas. He followed this finish with 15th place outing at Bristol and then a 26th place outing at Richmond. Dillon led 27 laps at Dover and was running with the leaders but wrecked in overtime and finished 14th. At Daytona, Dillon had the lead with 3 to go but faded to 16th on the final restart. At Kentucky, Dillon finished 33rd.
In the second part of 2017, Dillon managed to score 8 top-20 finishes including two career best finishes of 11th. He finished 24th in the final points standings. After a rough first half of 2018, Dillon managed to avoid several ‘big ones’ to finish 6th place in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. This was Dillon’s first career top-10 finish in the Monster Energy Cup Series.
To start the 2019 season, Dillon managed to score another 6th place finish, reminiscent of his previous Daytona top 10. Once again, he avoided multiple large wrecks to get the 6th place. At Bristol, Dillon won his first stage ever after holding off Clint Bowyer in a two-lap shootout after a restart in stage 1, finishing the race in 15th. In the GEICO 500, Dillon won his second stage in his career, winning the first stage. Dillon also scored his first-ever top 5 finish and highest finish in his cup career at the rain-shortened July Daytona race, with a fourth-place. Along with Joey Logano, Dillon was running at the checkered flag at every single race run during the season.
The 2020 season started off with Ty crashing out of the Daytona 500, finishing 30th. The next week at Las Vegas, Dillon finished 10th, his first top 10 at a non-plate track. At the YellaWood 500 at Talladega on October 4, 2020, Dillon originally crossed the line and tied his best finish of fourth, but when Matt DiBenedetto was penalized for forcing someone below the yellow line, Dillon was promoted to third and that would be a new career best finish for him.
Following the announcement that longtime sponsor GEICO would not renew their partnership after 2020, Germain Racing decided to disband the team at the conclusion of the season. The charter was sold to Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan’s new ’23XI Racing’ team on September 21, 2020. Ty Dillon started 144 races in car #13.
Peck Peckham made 20 start between the 1957 & 1958 seasons in #13. No photo was found.
Johnny Rutherford started Smokey Yunick’s #13 car only twice in his career, but earned the only win the #13 claims by leading all 40 laps of his Daytona 500 qualifying race in 1963. At that time the qualifying races were points paying and constituted a full win.
Other notable names in #13
Joe Nemechek , 18 starts
Robby Gordon , 17 starts
Jerry Nadeau , 14 starts.
Ted Musgrave, 7 starts
Jim Paschal, 6 starts
Curtis Turner , 6 starts
Greg Sacks , 5 starts
Bobby Unser, 2 starts
AJ Foyt, 2 starts
Mario Andretti, 2 starts
Buck Baker, 1 start
Bobby Isaac, 1 start
Richard Childress, 1 start
Wendell Scott, 1 start
