In NASCAR Cup Series competition the #6 car has started 1,762 races with 109 drivers and has 83 wins, 80 poles, 445 top 5s, and 716 top 10s.
Mark Martin has the most starts in #6 with 619 in 1983 & from 1988-2006. Martin’s first start in #6 would come in 1983 when he drove 2 races for DK Ulrich. 5 years later, the #6 car began as Roush Racing’s original foray into NASCAR, debuting at the 1988 Daytona 500 as the #6 Stroh’s Light Ford. With then-short-track-driver Mark Martin at the wheel and future NASCAR vice president Robin Pemberton as crew chief, the team finished 41st after experiencing an engine failure after 19 laps. However, performance quickly improved, with Martin winning a pole position later in the season and achieving ten top ten finishes. With a year of experience under their belt, Roush and Martin went on a tear in 1989, winning six poles, earning eighteen top-10 finishes and winning for the first time atNorth Carolina Speedway . The team finished third place in championship points.
Garnering new sponsorship from Folgers in 1990, Martin won three each of races and pole positions, as well as finishing in the top 10 in all but six races. Martin held the points lead for a majority of the season, but lost momentum in the final races. In the end, the team lost the championship to Dale Earnhardt by 26 points. Interestingly, Martin would have won the championship had he not been docked 46 points in the second race of the season following a rules violation. Regardless, the team hoped to carry the momentum into 1991. Disappointingly, Martin finished sixth in points, and didn’t win until the season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
In 1992, Valvoline joined to sponsor the car, but the team’s position in points still did not improve. Finally, they recaptured the magic of before in 1993, as Martin notched five victories and finished third in points. 1994 found Martin and the 6 team finishing once again runner-up to Earnhardt in points. In 1995, Martin defeated former teammate Wally Dallenbach, Jr. to win at Watkins Glen . However, the team’s performance slumped sharply in 1996, as Martin did not visit victory lane. He would win again 1997, with an additional four victories and finishing third in championship points. In 1998, Martin and team 6 had their most dominant season yet, winning seven times, but finished second in points yet again, this time to Jeff Gordon. The 1998 season was marked with a black spot when Martin’s father Julian died in an aviation accident. Although 1999 saw Martin winning only twice, he finished in the top-10 in 26 out of 34 races.
In addition, throughout the 2000 season Martin served as co-owner/mentor of rookie driver Matt Kenseth. After winning only one race in 2000 , primary sponsor Valvoline left for MB2 Motorsports, and Pfizer/Viagra became the team’s new financial backer. However, Martin again failed to win, and ended up 12th in points, his lowest finish since 1988. The team won only once in 2002, but was narrowly defeated by Tony Stewart for the championship. 2003 was another season of lackluster performance for the team, as once again they didn’t visit victory lane, and finished 17th in the final standings.
2004 brought improved performance, with a victory at Dover International Speedway and a 4th place finish in points. Prior to beginning the 2005 season, Martin stated that 2005 would be his last year in full-time Cup competition. The team conducted a Salute to You farewell tour to his fanshighlighting many of Martin’s career accomplishments . Martin finished fourth in points and went tovictory lane once , along with achieving 19 top ten finishes and winning the All Star Race . Due to contract issues, Roush was left without a driver for car 6 in 2006. After learning of the situation, Martin announced his return to car 6 for one more year. The team extended the Salute to You tour after modifying its paint schemes to reflect the team’s new sponsor, Automobile Association of America . Martin went winless, but had 7 top 5’s and 15 top 10’s en route to a 9th place points finish in his final year for Roush.
Todd Kluever was originally scheduled to drive the 6 car in 2007, running several races in the #06 Cup car in anticipation, but due to lackluster performance in the Busch Series, Roush Racing decided to put Truck Series driver David Ragan in the car full-time.
He had three top-tens and finished 23rd in points. The following season, he had fourteen top-ten finishes and finished 13th in the points standings. AAA left the #6 team after the 2008 season for Penske Racing, with UPS becoming the sponsor for Ragan’s car for 2009. Ragan only had two top-ten finishes and finished 27th. 2011 started off on a mixed not when the team almost won the Daytona 500 , only to be penalized for an early lane change. The team then won at Daytona in July, their first since 2005. Despite the victory, UPS left the 6 team and moved to an associate sponsor for the #99 team.
Jack Roush announced that RFR would not field the 6 team in 2012, forcing the team to reassign or lay off nearly 100 employees. Ragan earned 1 win in his 180 starts in #6. In 2012 the #6 was fielded in 4 races for Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who would go on to drive the Roush #17 car.
In 2015 Trevor Bayne began driving the #6 for Roush Racing. His move from the Wood Brother’s #21 car to the #6 was prompted by the ending of a long-standing technical alliance between Roush and the Wood Bros. who now are allied with Penske Racing. Bayne started all 36 races in 2015 earning only 2 top 10 finishes.
In 2016 Bayne earned 2 top-5 finishes at Bristol (April) and Daytona (July), his only career top-5 finishes other than his Daytona 500 win. Bayne started all 36 races and finished 22nd in points
In 2017 Bayne posted 6 top-10. Bayne had a fantastic race going at Indianapolis, making it up to third place in the closing laps. However, in a series of overtime restarts, Bayne would get turned by Michael McDowell and end the day in 20th position.
On April 25, 2018, Roush Fenway Racing announced that Matt Kenseth would return to the team and share the No. 6 with Bayne on a part-time basis, with Wyndham Rewards as his primary sponsor. On September 12, 2018, Roush Fenway Racing announced that Bayne would not return to the team in the 2019 season. Bayne’s final race with RFR was at the 2018 AAA Texas 500 with a 21st place finish. A week later, Kenseth scored the No. 6’s highest finish of the season with seventh place at the 2018 Can-Am 500. This was bested by a sixth place finish in Kenseth’s final race at the season-ending 2018 Ford EcoBoost 400.
Bayne started 129 races in car #6. Matt Kenseth started 15 races in car #6.
In 2019 Ryan Newman took over the the reigns of the Roush Fenway Racing. Despite not winning a race, Newman stayed consistent enough to make the 2019 playoffs. He was eliminated in the Round of 16 after multiple incidents resulted in him finishing 32nd at the Charlotte Roval. He finished 15th in the final points standings with his best finish of 2nd coming at Talladega in October after losing the lead to Ryan Blaney in a photo-finish by .007 seconds, the 6th closest finish in NASCAR history.
Newman started off the 2020 season by nearly winning the Daytona 500. He was leading the field coming out of the final corner, when he was bumped by 2nd place runner Ryan Blaney. The tap sent Newman’s car careening across the track and into the outside retaining wall before it was struck by the oncoming #32 car of Corey LaJoie. LaJoie’s car struck Newman’s car in the driver’s side roof, sending Newman’s car flying and flipping through the infield trioval. As winner Denny Hamlin celebrated in the infield grass, LaJoie exited his car, in pain but ultimately unhurt. It took nearly 15 minutes to extract Newman from the wreck and put him in an ambulance before he was rushed to nearby Halifax Medical Center. The FOX broadcast concluded its coverage of the race with no definitive updates on Newman’s condition, leaving fans fearing that Newman had been critically injured or killed in the wreck.
Over the next two days, RFR provided updates on Newman’s recovery, culminating in his miraculous release from the hospital on February 19, walking unaided. He sustained serious but non life-threatening injuries. Despite the crash, Newman’s #6 car crossed the finish line 9th in the Daytona 500.
Following the crash, Newman took a medical leave of absence from driving. Ross Chastain was named as the replacement driver of the #6 for an undetermined amount of time. Chastain made 3 starts in the #6 Ford at Las Vegas, Auto Club, and Phoenix with a best finish of 17th in Southern California. Chastain was scheduled to drive the #6 car again in Atlanta on March 15th, but the race was postponed in a response to the onslaught of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
By the time that NASCAR returned to action after the 9 week COVID-19 hiatus, Ryan Newman had been medically cleared to return to the driver’s seat. Newman completed the remaining 32 races of the season, scoring another top-10 finish with a 6th place run at Talladega in October. Newman failed to advance to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, despite being granted an eligibility waiver for missing 3 races.
In 2021, Newman scored 2 top-5 finishes at the Bristol Dirt Race and in the Summer race at Daytona. He notched an additional 3 top-10 finishes as well, but he would ultimately miss the Playoffs and finish 28th in the final standings. Newman started 105 races in car #6.
Beginning in 2022, Brad Keselowski began piloting the #6, as well as having an ownership stake in the newly branded Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. After Brad and his teammate Chris Buescher swept the qualifying races, Keselowski finished 9th in the Daytona 500. It would be the lone highlight of the early season, as the #6 team would not score another top-10 until Sonoma in June. Overall, the 6 team scored 5 top-10s and 1 top-5. Brad will return in 2023.
Cotton Ownes started 103 races in #6 from 1953-1961 including 6 wins. Owen’s career high point finish was 1959 where he finished runner up to champion Lee Petty. In 1962 he retired as a driver to become a car owner for the talented David Pearson. He came out of retirement in 1964 to prove that he could beat Pearson. He beat Pearson in his final career win at Richmond, and two races later he finished second in his final career race to Ned Jarrett. Cotton was fortunate to have some of the biggest names in the sport drive his cars over the years. Drivers for Cotton Owens included many legends: David Pearson, Buddy Baker, Pete Hamilton, Marty Robbins, Ralph Earnhardt, Bobby Isaac, Junior Johnson, Benny Parsons, Fireball Roberts, Mario Andretti, Charlie Glotzbach, and Al Unser. In all, a total of 25 drivers climbed behind the wheel of Owens’ cars in 291 races, earning 32 victories.
David Pearson drove #6 for Cotton Owens in 165 races from 1962-1967 with 27 wins, including a staggering 15 wins in the 1966 season, Pearson’s first ever full time season and first of 3 Grand National (Cup) Championships. In 1967 Pearson quit Owen’s team to drive for Holman-Moody after there was a misunderstanding about who would drive the teams tow truck.
DK Ulrich was an owner/driver who fielded his #6 car in just about every Cup race from 1982-1987, but only drove about half of them. Ulrich would also sign other names to fill the seat for a few races at a time. In 1986 Richard Petty started 1 race for Ulrich in the World 600 after Petty wrecked his #43 car in a practice session. Ulrich started 63 races in #6 as a driver.
USAC driver Ralph Liguori ventured into NASCAR from 1954-1956 starting 40 races in #6.
Buddy Baker started the Cotton Owens #6 in 34 races from 1967-1970 for 1 win. In 1970 Baker won the Southern 500 at Darlington, becoming the first father & son pairing to win a NASCAR race in the same venue. Buck won the race in 1953.
Charlie Glotzbach started 27 races in #6 from 1968-1972. He won the fall race at Charlotte in 1968 for his only win in the number.
Eddie Bierschwale started 26 races for DK Ulrich in 1985, but never finished in the top 10 or lead a lap with 11 DNFs.
Marshal Teague competed in all 23 of his career starts in the #6 1949-1952 earning 7 wins. Teague approached the Hudson Motor Car Company by traveling to Michigan and visiting the automaker’s factory without an appointment. By the end of his visit, Hudson virtually assured Teague of corporate support and cars, with the relationship formalized shortly after his visit. This is generally regarded as the first stock car racing team backed by a Detroit auto manufacturer. During the 1951 and 1952 racing seasons, Teague was a member of the Hudson Motors team and driving what were called the “Fabulous Hudson Hornet” stock cars. When combined with the cars light weight and low center of gravity, the Hornet allowed Teague and the other Hudson drivers to dominate stock car racing from 1951 through 1954, consistently beating out other drivers in cars powered by larger, more modern engines. Smokey Yunick and Teague won 27 of 34 events in major stock car events. In 1953, Teague dropped out of NASCAR following a dispute with NASCAR founder William France Sr. and went to the AAA and USAC racing circuits. Teague was also the inspiration for Doc Hudson in the film Cars.
Teague died while attempting a closed course speed record in a reconfigured Indy car at the newly opened Daytona International Speedway. He was conducting test sessions in preparation for the April debut of the United States Auto Club championship with Indy-style roadsters. On February 9, 1959, Teague set an unofficial closed course speed record of 171.821 mph. Teague was attempting to go even faster on February 11, 1959, eleven days before the first Daytona 500. His car spun and flipped through the third turn and Teague was thrown, seat and all, from his car. He died nearly instantly. He was 37.
Pete Hamilton started 20 races in the Cotton Owned #6 in 1971 including 1 win in his Daytona Qualifying race.
Other notable names in #6
Bobby Allison, 9 starts, 1 win
Ralph Earnhardt, 7 starts
Joe Eubanks, 6 starts, 1 win
Joe Ruttman, 6 starts
Junior Johnson, 4 starts
Ernie Irvan, 3 starts
Danny Letner, 3 startsm 1 win
Herb Thomas, 2 starts, 1 win
Bobby Isaac, 2 starts
Dr. Bob Javis, 1 start
Harry Gant, 1 start
Fireball Roberts, 1 start