In NASCAR Cup Series competition the #42 car has started 1,1722 races with 50 drivers and has 75 wins, 56 poles, 401 top 5s, and 715 top 10s.
If Richard Petty was “The King” then what does that make his father, Lee Petty? The Emperor? Lee The Great? The NASCAR Messiah? Apparently he was nicknamed “Squirrel .”
But I digress, Lee Petty started the #42 in 414 races for 53 out of his 54 career wins. Lee started the very first NASCAR Strictly Stock (now Cup) race at Charlotte Speedway in 1949 and drove until 1964. He was a pioneer of the sport and one of the first racing superstars. Petty was a 3 time Grand National (Cup) champion winning the title in 1954, 1958, & 1959.
In 1959 Petty would win the inaugural Daytona 500 , but not without some controversy. The finish was so close that Johnny Beauchamp, #73, would originally be declared the winner. Not until Wednesday, 3 days after the race, would photographic evidence prove that Petty was the winner.
In 1961 Petty & Beauchamp would meet again at Daytona in a crash that launched both cars over the guardrail and out of the track. Petty would spend 4 months in the hospital. The wreck basically ended his career. Though he would race 6 more times, he would never win again. He hung up his helmet for good in 1964.
Lee passed away in 2000 3 days after his great-grandson Adam made his first and only Cup Series start. Lee Petty was 86.
Lee’s grandson Kyle Petty drove #42 at 2 separate points in his career for 286 starts including 6 of Kyle’s 8 wins. Starting in 1979 he drove #42 for Petty Enterprises. He drove this car until 1982 when he started splitting time between his family car and the #1 car owned by Hoss Ellington . Kyle never won a race driving for Petty Enterprises.
In 1989 Kyle would return to #42 with the newly formered SABCO team owned by Felix Sabates. Petty created quite a few memorable moments driving for SABCO. Kyle would continue to drive the car through 1996 when he left SABCO to found his own team , PE2.
Following Petty, Joe Nemechek drove the #42 for 94 races from 1997-1999 including his first career win.
In 2000 Kenny Irwin Jr. replaced Nemechek in the SABCO #42. Irwin made 17 starts in the number before he was tragically killed in the 3rd turn of New Hampshire International Speedway, the same corner that had taken the life of Adam Petty only 8 weeks prior. Irwin, like Petty and many others, died of a basilar skull fracture. Not until October 2001, after the deaths of Dale Earnhardt and Blaise Alexander, did NASCAR mandate the HANS device to prevent basilar skull fractures. The next week the SABCO car was renumbered to #01 with driver Ted Musgrave. Jason Leffler would drive the car the following year, still #01.
In 2003 SABCO (Now called Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates) brought back #42 with Jamie McMurray as the driver. Jamie never made it to victory lane during his 108 starts in #42. McMurray left Ganassi for Roush Racing in 2006, but in the funny way that things happen Jamie ended up driving for Ganassi again and drove the #1 as a teammate to his former #42 car.
Casey Mears, who had been driving #41 for Ganassi, was moved to #42 for the 2006 season. Casey earned 8 top 10s in his 36 starts that year, but left to drive the Hendrick Motorsports #25 at the end of the year.
In 2007 Chip & Felix put a driver in their car with a very impressive resume. Juan Pablo Montoya is a former CART Series champion, Formula 1 Grand Prix winner, Indianapolis 500 winner , and 24 Hours of Daytona winner.
The next thing on his list was NASCAR. Not surprisingly, Montoya found success on the road courses at Sonoma & Watkins Glen winning a race at each track, his only 2 wins in the series to date. JPM was also always in contention at The Brickyard 400 , but never won the race. Unfortunately, JPM is almost best remembered for his handy work in the 2012 Daytona 500 where something broke in his car causing it to collide with a Jet Dryer during caution. After the 2013 season Montoya announced that he would be returning to the Indy Car series with Roger Penske for 2014. He has had success upon his return to open wheel, winning the 2015 Indianapolis 500 and nearly winning the 2015 championship. He has occasionally made NASCAR starts for Penske. He started 252 races in #42.
For 2014 the Ganassi team put Kyle Larson in the #42 car. He posted 8 top 5 finishes in 2014 including 3 runner up finishes. Larson’s impressive year earned him the 2014 Rookie of the Year honor and placed him 17th in the final standings, the highest finishing driver not in the Chase. Larson also drove #42 in the 2014 XFINITY Series earning 2 wins.
Larson, along with Ganassi teammate Jamie McMurray, started 2015 off on a good note by winning the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona sports car race. In 2015, Larson managed 2 top 5 finishes and 10 top 10s. Larson seemed like the eventual victor of the season finale in Homestead, but a late race caution spoiled his chances. Larson was forced to miss the Spring race at Martinsville in 2015 after fainting during an autograph signing session. Super-sub Regan Smith would start the #42 for this one race.
In 2016, Larson once again seemed destined for victory lane. After a runner-up finish at Dover and an action packed Sprint Showdown, Larson finally took the checkered flag at the Pure Michigan 400, the first of his Cup Series career. The win qualified Larson for The Chase, but both Larson and his CGR teammate McMurray would be eliminated in the first round. Larson finished the year strong by absolutely dominating the Ford 400 at Homestead, but a late race caution would result in Larson yielding the lead to the #48 car as Jimmie Johnson clinched his 7th Championship.
In 2017, Larson took the lead late in the Daytona 500 only to run out of gas on the final lap. He led late in Atlanta only to lose the race to Brad Keselowski. He would go on to finish second in the next two races at Las Vegas and Phoenix, which allowed him to take the point lead for the first time in his career. Larson picked up his second career pole and earned his second career win in the Auto Club 400, furthering his points lead.
Larson picked up his third career pole at Michigan and then he led 96 laps to get his third career win in the FireKeepers Casino 400 holding off Chase Elliott, just like when he won in August 2016. Larson won the pole at Loudon’s Overton’s 301, but was forced to surrender it to Truex after failing post-qualifying inspection for an unapproved rear deck fin lid. Larson won again at Michigan in August’s Pure Michigan 400; on a restart with two laps to go, he restarted fourth, but made a four-wide pass on Truex, Erik Jones and Matt Kenseth as they entered turn one. Upon passing Truex, Larson pulled away to win his third consecutive race at the track. Larson got his first win at a short track in the final race of the regular season, the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway. During a late race caution, he hit pit road from 2nd but took the lead from Truex with a timely fast pit stop by his crew. He would hold off Truex on the final restart to win the race.
With the win at Richmond, he would enter the Playoffs as the 2nd seed tied for the most wins in the regular season with four. To start off the Playoffs, Larson was able to easily get to the round of 12 after scoring top 5 finishes at all 3 tracks. Unfortunately, Larson would end up being eliminated after the Round of 12 after blowing an engine at Kansas, resulting in a dismal 39th place finish. He would struggle after being eliminated, finishing 37th at Martinsville and Texas, both due to crashes, and a last place finish at Phoenix from an expired engine. He would finish the 2017 season with a 3rd place finish at Homestead and would finish 8th in points.
Despite not winning a race throughout the 2018 season, Larson made it to the Playoffs by staying consistent with five second-place finishes, eight top-fives, and 13 top-tens. Larson started the Playoffs with his sixth runner-up finish of the season to Brad Keselowski at Las Vegas. At the Charlotte Roval race, he won the first stage and was on track to dominating the race when he was involved in a multi-car wreck on a late restart that also included playoff contenders Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch. Larson’s heavily damaged No. 42 car took advantage of Jeffrey Earnhardt being spun out by Daniel Hemric on the final lap and limped across the finish line in 25th place, securing him in the top 12. He experienced further bad luck at the fall Talladega race when he blew a right front tire and spun out. He finished 11th in the race, but was docked 10 driver and 10 owner points after the team violated the damaged vehicle policy by using metal tabs instead of fasteners and/or tape to repair the torn right front fender. Larson was eliminated from the Round of 12 after the fall Kansas race despite finishing third and went on to finish ninth in the final point standings, the highest of the winless drivers in 2018 along with a third consecutive top-ten points finish.
Before the start of the 2019 season, Larson lost his primary sponsor DC Solar, whose headquarters had been raided by the FBI. McDonald’s sponsored more races than originally scheduled to help fill the void. Larson started out the season with a 7th-place finish at Daytona, his first top 10 of the year. At the GEICO 500 at Talladega, Larson was involved in a major accident on the final lap, resulting his car going airborne and rolling over multiple times. He was uninjured and was credited with a 24th-place finish.
On May 18, 2019, Larson became only the third driver to win both the Monster Energy Open and the All-Star Race. Larson won the pole at Sonoma for the third straight year and finished 10th in the race. A week later at Chicagoland, Larson finished second after getting passed by Alex Bowman for the lead with six laps to go.
At Dover in October, Larson started second and went on to score his sixth career win, ending his 75-race winless streak. The win also locked him into the Round of 8 for the first time. Larson finished 39th at Talladega after getting involved in a big crash on lap 108 that left him with a fractured lower rib. He finished 14th at Kansas. Despite finishing fourth at Phoenix, he was eliminated in the Round of 8.
In 2020, Larson earned 3 top-10 finishes in the first 4 races, and he was situated 7th in points before the Covid-19 hiatus. During the hiatus, many drivers became more involved with iRacing in both NASCAR’s official “iRacing Invitational Pro Series” and in less officially sessions that were organized by drivers and fans. On April 12, 2020 Larson was participating in the “Monza Madness” iRacing event organized by Landon Cassill and streamed on twitch. Larson was heard using a racial slur (the “N-word”) on the broadcast, apparently unaware that others could hear his voice. Larson was suspended from NASCAR and Chip Ganassi Racing the following day, and eventually released from his contract. Larson started 219 races in car #42.
Following Larson’s removal, Matt Kenseth came out of retirement to take over the #42 car. Kenseth started 32 races in the number, with a best finish of 2nd at Indianapolis. Kenseth retired once again at the conclusion of the season.
For 2021, Ross Chastain took over the helm of the CGR #42 car. In his 36 starts in the number, Ross scored 3 top-5s and 8 top-tens with a best finish of 2nd at Nashville. For 2022, Chip Ganassi sold his team to Trackhouse Racing. Ross Chastain remained in the car, but renumbered to #1.
In 2022 Ty Dillon drove the #42 for Petty GMS Racing, the next iteration of Richard Petty’s Team. Dillon started 36 races in the car with 1 top 10.
In 2023 Noah Gragson took over the #42 for the newly rebranded team: Legacy Motor Club. Gragson struggled in the first half of the season, scoring only 2 top-20 finishes. Gragson suffered concussion-like symptoms after a hard crash at Gateway, so he sat out the following round at Sonoma where Grant Enfinger made his Cup Series debut as a substitute. On August 5, 2023, 6 races after his return from injury, Gragson would be suspended by both the team and NASCAR for his conduct on social media- Gragson had ‘liked’ a meme related of the murder of George Floyd. On August 10, Gragson requested to be released from his contract with Legacy Motor Club. On September 12, after just over a month of suspension, Gragson was reinstated by NASCAR. Gragson will pilot the #10 car for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024; he started 21 races in the #42.
Following Gragson’s departure, Carson Hocevar made 8 starts in the #42, Mike Rockenfeller started 3 races, Josh Berry started 2 races, & John Hunter Nemechek started 1 race. Nemecheck will take over the #42 ride in 2024, as the team switches to Toyota.
Richard Petty started #42 a total of 31 times in his career including 2 wins. Petty Enterprises driver Jim Paschal (pictured) started the number 18 times and earned 4 wins.
Marty Robbins started #42 a total of 25 times between 1970-1979, the majority of his 35 career races. Racing was a pass-time for Robbins, as he was also one of the most popular and successful country and western singers of all time for most of his near four-decade career. Robbins often topped the country music charts, and several of his songs also had crossover success as pop hits. Robbins also acted in several movies including “Hell on Wheels,” “Guns of a Stranger,” and “Honky Tonk Man.” In 1982 Robbins died after complications from cardiac surgery. He had suffered from 3 heart attacks in his life.
While Ford was Boycotting NASCAR in 1966, Marvin Panch was offered a chance to interim drive Plymouths for Petty Enterprises using Richard Petty’s old dirt cars. Panch made the most of the opportunity and drove #42 a total of 5 times including 1 win.
Other notable names in #42:
Maurice Petty, 11 starts
Bill McMahan, 12 starts
Bobby Hillin Jr, 8 starts
Tiny Lund, 5 starts
Bob Welborn, 2 starts
Jim Hurtubise, 2 starts
Lennie Pond, 2 starts
Jim Sauter, 2 starts
Tommy Kendall, 1 start
Buck Baker, 1 start
Phil Parsons, 1 start
Elmo Langley, 1 start