In NASCAR Cup Series competition the #16 car has started 1,156 races and has 33 wins, 30 poles, 175 top 5s, 348 top 10s, and 247 DNFs.
Wally Dallenbach Jr. drove the #16 car for Jack Roush from 1992-1993 with 59 starts. Originally the first car to make Roush Racing a multi-car stable, the 16 team debuted at the 1992 Daytona 500 with Keystone as the sponsor. Wally drove the car to a fifteenth place finish. Dallenbach, however, earned only one top ten finish that year and finished 24th in points. 1993 proved to be a little better with Dallenbach posting four top tens.
For 1994 Ted Musgrave took over driving duties, with The Family Channel becoming the new sponsor. The car’s performance improved drastically, with Musgrave notching three poles and finishing thirteenth in points. The 1995 season saw Musgrave improving six spots in points to seventh. Despite this success, Musgrave never visited victory lane in his tenure behind the wheel of the 16. Midway through 1998, Musgrave was released and replaced by rookie Kevin Lepage. Musgrave started the #16 car 145 times.
When the 1998 season started, Kevin Lepage was in a part-time ride (the #91 Chevy ). When he went to his first meeting in Daytona, the officials asked who was running for Rookie of the Year. Lepage, mostly as a joke, put his hand up. Yet, in the first few races of the season, he was at or near the top of the ROTY standings, and giving Kenny Irwin a run for his money. Jack Roush released Ted Musgrave and hired Lepage to drive the #16, but Lepage started out slowly and his performance tapered. All shot at a Rookie title was lost, although he settled for second place. Lepage continued to drive for Roush in 1999 & 2000 , but they parted ways at the end of the 2000 season. Lepage made a total of 79 starts in the number.
Greg Biffle has started the #16 car 504 times with 19 wins for Roush Racing since in 2002. The 2000 Truck series champ drove #16 in 4 races in 2002 while also winning the Busch (XFINITY) Series Championship. Biffle ran full-time as a rookie in 2003 , with W. W. Grainger sponsoring the car. Biffle started 35 out of 36 races, won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona , and finished runner-up to Jamie McMurray for Rookie of the Year.
The next year, the car had a new primary sponsor in the National Guard , with major associate sponsorship from Subway , Jackson Hewitt , and Travelodge. Biffle opened the year with a pole at the Daytona 500. Over the 2004 season, Biffle scored wins at Michigan and Homestead, and finished 17th in points. In 2005, 3M’s Post-it Brand and Charter Communications joined as part-time sponsors. 2005 was to be the most successful year for car 16 to date, as the National Guard Ford won six races, a season high, and finished runner-up in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
He scored a single, controversial win in 2007 at Kansas as he ran out of gas just shy of the finish line. He finished 14th in points. After 2007, National Guard did not renew its contract , moving to Hendrick Motorsports and the #25.
t was announced on June 27, 2008 that Biffle signed a contract extension to remain at Roush-Fenway through 2011 with3M as his major sponsor. That season, he finished third in points and won two races, but didn’t re-visit victory lane in 2009. In 2010 Biffle and the 16 team got off to a good start finishing 3rd in the 2010 Daytona 500 and stayed in the top 12 in points all year. Biffle also won two races that year the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono as well as the Price Chopper 400 at Kansas leading to a sixth place finish in the standings. Biffle struggled for most of the next year, failing to return to victory lane and finishing 16th in points. In 2012 he started the season with 3 straight 3rd place finishes and a win early at Texas put him in the points lead, but he eventually gave it up to teammate Matt Kenseth. In 2013, Roush Fenway began to struggle. However Biffle did get the 1000th win for manufacturer Ford at Michigan in June and made the Chase. In 2014, the team continued to struggle for speed, going winless and finishing 14th in points. In August 2014 it was announced that longtime sponsor 3M would leave the team for Hendrick Motorsports, and that Scotts-Miracle Gro’s Ortho brand would take over primary sponsorship for the 2015 season. After disappointing 2015 & 2016 seasons, Biffle and Roush-Fenway Racing decided to part ways.
In 2020, Justin Haley piloted the #16 for Kaulig Racing in the team’s first start in the Cup Series. Haley returned in 2021 for 1 more start at the fall race at Talladega. In 2022, Haley moved to the #31 in the Cup Series for Kaulig Racing, full-time.
In addition to Haley’s start, Kaulig fielded the #16 in 8 additional races in 2021 for drivers Kaz Grala and A.J. Allmendinger. In his 3 starts, Grala scored a best finish of 6th at Talladega. In the Daytona 500, Grala was forced to retire the car early after a wheel fire. Allmendinger, who also drives the #16 for Kaulig in the Xfinity series, scored 3 top-10s in 5 starts including his second career Cup Series win in the inaugural Cup event at the Indianapolis Road Course. Allmendinger dedicated his win to Robin Miller, a veteran motorsports journalist who specialized in IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Miller would lose his battle with leukemia just 10 days later.
In 2022, the Kaulig #16 became a full-time effort. AJ returned for 18 races, Noah Gragson started 10 races, and Daniel Hemric started 8 races. Allmendinger had the most sucess, bringing home 3 top 5s and 8 top 10s. He was position to win at Circuit of the America’s before a last lap collision sent the #16 to the sand pit and handed the win to Ross Chastain.
In 2023, AJ will drive the #16 full time.
Starting in 1981 David Pearson began driving #16 part time for Bobby Hawkins, and eventually for his family race time. In his 25 starts in the number he never reached victory lane. Following David’s retirement in 1986, his son Larry Pearson took over the ride. 39 of Larry’s 57 career starts came in #16.
From 1963-1966 Darel Dieringer made 52 starts in the #16 winning 5 races. The biggest of which was the 1966 Southern 500.
Tiny Lund started #16 in 26 races. Lund started 12 races in 1956 and 1 in 1957 to mixed results. He came back to the #16 in 1968 driving for Bud Moore.
Penske’s NASCAR team made its debut in 1972 at Riverside International Raceway. Mark Donohue was driving a factory-sponsored #16 red-white-blue American Motors Matador. It was dubbed the “flying brick” by many noting its squarish aerodynamics. The car finished 39th after rear end problems. The team ran part-time for a few years, fielding cars for several drivers including Donohue (1 win), Dave Marcis, and Bobby Allison . The team went full-time with Bobby Allison’s in 1976 with a new, more aerodynamic fastback coupe, finishing 4th in the points. In 1980, the team fielded two races for Rusty Wallace, finishing 2nd in his first race at Atlanta. Penske sold his machinery to the Elliott family in 1977 and got out of NASCAR. The team didn’t run for eleven years, returning in 1991 with Wallace at the wheel again.
Other notable drivers in #16:
Glenn Wood 10 starts, 3 wins
LeeRoy Yarbrough, 6 starts
Elmo Langley, 5 starts
Morgan Shepherd, 4 starts
Joe Weatherly, 3 starts
Ralph Earnhardt, 3 starts
Fireball Roberts, 1 start
