In NASCAR Cup Series competition the #38 car has started 904 races with 79 drivers and has 7 wins, 12 poles, 31 top 5s, and 95 top 10s.
In 2003 Elliott Sadler signed on to drive the #38 M&Ms Ford for Robert Yates racing. In his 130 starts with the team Salder earned 2 of his 3 career wins and 7 poles. Both victories came in the 2004 season at Texas & California . Much like Ryan Newman in #39, Elliot Sadler had a hard time keeping his wheels on the ground at Talladega where he went airborne in 2003 & 2004 . In 2006 Sadler struggled, and after a frustrating first half of the season he left RYR to drive #19 for Ray Evernham.
When Sadler Left Robert Yates Racing midway through 2006, David Gilliland took over his #38 ride at Yates. This was convenient for David because #38 was kind of a “family number.” David’s father Butch Gilliland drove #38 many times in his Winston West (ARCA West) career (in addition to other numbers like 1 & 88), as well as 3 Winston Cup starts. David Gilliland drove #38 in Cup from 2006-2008 earning 2 poles including the 2007 Daytona 500 . Robert Yates Racing closed in 2009 due to lack of sponsorship and Gilliland was released from his Contract.
After floating from car to car in 2009, Gilliland was hired by Front Row Motorsports beginning in the 2010 season. From 2010-2011 Gilliland raced multiple different cars for FRM including #34, #35, #36, & #37. However, in these 2 year Gilliland also made 13 starts in his old number 38 . Other drivers of the #38 during these 2 years include Travis Kvapil , J.J. Yeley , Terry Labonte , Kevin Conway , Robet Richardson Jr., Sam Hornish Jr., & Dave Blaney. Travis Kvapil has the most starts in #38 of this group and ranks 5th all time with 35 races in the number.
Starting in 2012 Gilliland began driving #38 for FRM full time. Gilliland’s biggest moments in the car so far have been winning the pole for the 2014 July Daytona Race and pushing teammate David Reagan to victory in the 2013 Spring Talladega race for a Front Row Motorsports 1-2 finish . Gilliland has started 243 races in #38. After not scoring any top-10 finishes in 2015, Gilliland was released from the team in favor of Landon Cassill. In 2016 Gilliland attempted all 4 restrictor plate races with Front Row driving the unchartered #35, qualifying for 2.
In 2016 Landon Cassill took the reigns of the #38 car for Front Row. Cassill had his best performance of the season in the Food City 500, where he led 20 laps on a contrary fuel strategy to a 22nd-place finish. Cassill returned to FRM in 2017, though he drove #34 as David Ragan returned to the team in #38. Cassill has a total of 36 starts in #38.
After a brief departure, David Ragan returned to Front Row Motorsports in 2017 behind the wheel of car #38. In his 36 starts of the 2017 season, Ragan scored 3 top-10 finishes, all at restrictor plate tracks, including a best of 6th place at the July Daytona race.
2018 showed marked improvement for Ragan and the #38 team. While only managing 1 top 10 finish (6th at the Spring Talladega race), Ragan managed 14 top 20 finishes, up from 7 in 2017.
A strong run at the 2019 Daytona 500 for the No. 38 team was ruined by a late race accident that relegated them to a 30th place finish, but the team rebounded the next weekend at Atlanta with a 16th place finish. The Las Vegas weekend gave Ragan his best starting spot in several years, as the No. 38 lined up on the outside of the third row in 6th after a stellar qualifying performance. At the 2019 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, Ragan and the No. 38 team enjoyed their best race in quite some time, running in the top ten all race and leading in the late stages before fading to 15th at the finish after a late race restart.
On August 14, 2019, Ragan announced that he would be retiring from full-time competition to focus on his family. He said that he is still open to racing part-time in 2020. At Kansas, Ragan qualified 2nd, his team’s best qualifying effort on a non restrictor plate track, being pole sitter Daniel Hemric. Ragan started a total of 108 races in #38.
John Hunter Nemechek replaced David Ragan in the #38 for the 2020 season. Nemecheck was impressive with an average finish of 22.4 in 36 starts. He scored 3 top-10 finishes at Darlington, Talladega, and Bristol. Despite this, Nemechek has opted to return to the Camping World Truck Series with Kyle Busch Motorsports for 2021.
In 2021, Anthony Alfredo took over the #38 for FRM. To date, these 36 starts are the only Cup races of Alfredo’s career. He scored 1 top 10 finish, bringing the #38 home in 10th place at the Fall Talladega race.
Todd Gilliland took over the wheel of the Front Row Motorsports #38, the car once piloted by his father David Gilliand & Grandfather Butch Gilliand. His best results of his 36 race rookie season were a 4th place finish at the Indianapolis Road Course and a 7th place finish at the Fall Talladega race. Gilliand will return to FRM in 2023.
Wayne Smith drove #38 for the majority of his NASCAR career with 97 starts from 1965-1971.
From 1970-1976 Jimmy Insolo started 17 races in #38.
Gwyn Staley found most of his career success and met his demise driving #38 in 14 starts from 1957-1958. All 3 of his career Grand National (Sprint Cup) wins came in 1957 driving the number, and in March 1958 Staley was killed in a NASCAR Convertible Series race in Richmond, VA when his #38 flipped and pinned him underneath. He was 30 years old.
Between 1959-1960 Ned Jarrett made 14 starts in #38 including one win. Jarrett also frequently used #38 in the sportsman division .
NASCAR Convertible Series star Bob Welborn made exactly 1 Grand National (Cup) start in #38 at Champion Speedway in 1958. He won that race, and it would be the first in his streak of 4 straight wins on the circuit.
Other notable names in #38
Dick Johnson, 7 starts
Alan Kulwicki , 3 starts
Morgan Shepard, 2 starts
Lee Petty, 1 start
Joe Ruttman, 1 start
