In NASCAR Cup Series competition the #36 car has started 752 races and has 0 wins, 5 poles, 34 top 5s, 128 top 10s.
The #36 has the most starts under the banner of MB2 Motorsports, so we’ll start there. In 1997, the newly founded team fielded Derrike Cope in 31 starts.
After a mostly disappointing first year MB2 replaced Cope with veteran driver Ernie Irvan for the 1998 season. 1998 was Ernie’s second full time season after recovering from a nearly fatal crash at Michigan in 1994 which we will discuss in more detail on countdown day #28. Irvan was prone to injury throughout his career as demonstrated in 1998 when he was sidelined for 3 races by a crash at Talladega. Ricky Craven filled in for Irvan until he returned. In 1999 M&M’s replaced Skittles as the primary sponsor on the car. On August 20, exactly five years after his near fatal accident there, Irvan crashed at Michigan while driving his own #84 Federated Auto Parts Pontiac in a practice session for the Busch Series race. Irvan was airlifted to the hospital and Dick Trickle drove his #36 in the Cup race that weekend.
Two weeks later, on September 3, 1999, surrounded by his wife and two children, Irvan announced his retirement from driving at a tearful press conference in Darlington, SC. While he would fully recover before the end of the 1999 season, the reasoning for the retirement was to prevent future incidents and he had a family to support. Jerry Nadeau finished the 1999 season in #36 with 12 starts. In 2 years Irvan totaled 51 starts in #36 including 16 top 10 finishes and 3 poles. After retirement Irvan’s shit-luck continued. His venture to become an owner of a Cup team failed to materialize, and a fire in 2000 destroyed the Irvan family’s house and all of Ernie’s trophies, though no one was injured. NASCAR later presented Ernie with replicas of all his lost trophies. In addition to being involved in the racing career of his son Jared Irvan, Ernie promotes Race2Saftey, an organization he founded as an advocate for head-injury awareness.
In 2000 Kenny Schrader was hired to drive the #36. In his first year of competition, Schrader had two top-tens and finished eighteenth in the standings. He posted five top-tens in 2001, but dropped to nineteenth in the standings.
During the Daytona 500, he was collected in a final-lap crash where Dale Earnhardt lost his life. The image of Schrader peering into Earnhardt’s car, only to jump back and frantically signal for assistance, is etched into the minds of many racing fans; his interview with Jeanne Zelasko during Fox Sports’ postrace show was the first sign to many that something was terribly wrong with the seven-time Winston Cup Champion, as he appeared visibly shaken and, upon being asked if Earnhardt was okay, stated “I don’t know, I’m not a doctor.” In 2002, Schrader did not finish in the top-ten in a single race, the first time that happened since 1984. Following that season, he departed MB2. Following Schrader, the team changed the team’s number to #01 to reflect the slogan of their new sponsor, “An Army of One.”
A later incarnation of MB2, known as Ginn Racing, brought back the number 36 part time in 2004 with driver Boris Said. Boris made 12 starts from 2004-2005.
The final start for #36 under the MB2/Ginn racing banner would be the 2006 Daytona 500 with Bill Elliott driving to a 19th place finish.
In 2007 Bill Davis Racing fielded #36 with driver Jeremy Mayfield and chose the number to coincide with sponsor 360 OTC. The team struggled to qualify for races and frequently had poor finishes. After 13 starts Mayfield left the team for HAAS CNC Racing while Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson finished the season in #36
Tommy Baldwin Racing acquired #36 in 2009 and fielded several part time and one-off drivers like Scott Riggs, Mike Skinner, Patrick Carpentier, Michael McDowell, Robert Richardson Jr, Mike Bliss, Geoff Bodine, Casey Mears, Johnny Sauter, Steve Park, Ron Fellows, Stephen Leicht, Tony Raines, and Victor Gonzales Jr. Since 2011 the team fielded basically full time drivers with Dave Blaney , J.J. Yeley , and Reed Sorenson.
In the 2012 Daytona 500 Dave Blaney and the #36 team decided not to pit under a caution late in the race. When Juan Pablo Montoya famously crashed into a jet dryer, Blaney found himself in position to win the Daytona 500 if the race was called due to fire damaging the racing surface. After a 120 minute delay, the race was restarted, and Blaney and team finished 15th.
At the end of the 2014 Season TBR sold the rights to #36 to Jay Robinson racing and the team was discontinued.
In 2019, Front Row Motorsports began fielding car #36 as a 3rd entry with Matt Tifft behind the wheel. Tifft scored 1 top 10 finishin in his 32 starts, a 9th place finish at the weather shortened Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.
Prior to the Fall Martinsville race, Tifft was rushed to the hospital while Matt Crafton took over the No. 36 for the race weekend. On October 29, Tifft revealed that he blacked out and suffered a seizure in the team’s hauler. Because of this, he missed the rest of the season while John Hunter Nemechek took over the No. 36 for the final three races. Tifft formally parted ways with FRM before the end of the season to recover from his medical issues.
For 2020, Tifft stepped away from full time racing to focus on his health. John Hunter Nemecheck stayed at Front Row Motorsports, moving to car #38 to replace the semi-retired David Ragan, and the 36 became a part-time entry.
David Ragan started car #36 in the 2020 Daytona 500 in a joint venture between Front Row Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing. He made it through the last-lap chaos to finish 4th. Since this was his only start of the season, David Ragan had the highest average finish of the 2020 season. He will return to FRM and the #36 for the 2021 Daytona 500.
In 2023, Zane Smith started ht e #36 for Front Row Motorsports in the Dayton a 500, Todd Gillialand Drove the car at the spring Talladega race, and Riley Herbst drove the car at the summer Daytona race and the fall Talladage race.
H.B. Bailey fielded #36 in 68 races from 1966-1993
Tommy Irwin started 99 races from 1958-1963 driving several different numbers. The car he drove most often was #36 which he raced 36 times.
Bobby Wawak started #36 20 times from 1976-1977.
Other notable names in #36
Fonty Flock, 1 start
Joe Weatherly, 1 start
Butch Gilliland, 2 starts