Car number 66 has started 804 races and has 1 win, 5 poles, 11 top 5s, 59 top 10s, and 326 DNFs in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Jeff Green has the most starts in car #66 with 68 between the 2006 & 2007 seasons. Green drove the car for Haas CNC racing (prior to the formation of Stewart-Haas), which had been fielding the #0 NetZero/Best Buy car. For the 2006 season the car was renumbered to 66 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Best Buy. Green would be released from his contract with 4 races left in the 2007 season.
From 1980-1982 & 1991 Lake Speed started car #66 in a total of 58 races. Speed, a former national go-kart champion, was considering a career in formula 1 or CART, but promoter Humpy Wheeler convinced him to try NASCAR. Speed purchase a car, numbered it 66, and hit the track. Despite being fairly unfamiliar with the sport, Speed managed to score a handful of top-10 finishes during his 1980 rookie campaign.
Speed failed to qualify for the 1981 Daytona 500, but was able to lead every lap and win the Daytona consolation race, a 30 lap event for those who failed to qualify. After the 1982 Daytona 500, Speed would be hired to pilot the #17 car for Harnby Racing. Speed would return to the #66 when he drove it for Cale Yarborough in 1991.
From 1983-1986 Phil Parsons drove the #66 car part time for Jackson Bros. racing. He started a total of 57 races in the number
At the end of his long career Darrell Waltrip signed with Haas-Carter motorsports to drive the #66 Route-66 car. Waltrip failed to qualify seven times during that season with a new qualifying rule for the Past Champion’s Provisional. During his retirement year of 2000, Waltrip’s best run came at the Brickyard 400, where he qualified on the outside pole and finished eleventh. His final race came November 19, 2000, in the Napa 500, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he posted a 34th-place finish. Waltrip started a total of 55 races from 1999-2000.
Larry Frank scored his only career win at the 1962 Southern 500, where he drove car #66 to victory lane. It is also the only win for #66. Larry made a total of 15 starts in #66 in 1962.
In 2017 Carl Long returned to the Cup Series driving the #66 in 3 starts for the team he owns, MBM Motorsports. David Starr and Timmy Hill also made starts in the car, starting 3 and 6 races respectively. Hill scored the teams best finish of the year with a 14th place effort at Indianapolis.
Hill returned to the seat for 18 races in 2018 along with Mark Thompson & Chad Finchum making 1 start each in the number. The team’s best finish of the year was Thompson’s 22nd place effort at the Daytona 500.
In 2019 the MBM #66 made a total of 15 starts with Joey Gase behind the wheel for 9 races and Timmy Hill returning for 6 races, with Hill posting the best finish of 30th at the Charlotte Roval.
The MBM #66 returned as a full-time effort with Timmy Hill behind the wheel for 2020. While the team didn’t find much success on the track, “The InTimmydator” did score a win at Texas Motor Speedway in the iRacing Pro Invitational Series, a series of simulated races that NASCAR held during the Covid-19 pandemic hiatus. For his triumph, Timmy was awarded a cowboy hat by TMS when NASCAR visited the track later in the year.
Hill returned to the #66 for MBM in 2021, running 12 races. The car featured several other drivers including David Starr for 4 races, Chad Finchum for 2, and James Davison, J.J. Yeley, and Mike Marlar with 1 start each.
Timmy Hill attempted the 2022 Daytona 500 in a Next-Gen version of the MBM 66 car, but DNQ’d. Boris Said made the lone start for the #66 during the 2022 season with a 37th place effor at CotA.
Other notable names in #66
Dave Blaney, 45 starts
Todd Bodine, 40 starts
Scott Riggs, 35 starts
Dick Trickle, 33 starts
Michael McDowell, 33 starts
Jimmy Hensley, 22 starts
Joe Nemechek, 14 starts
Rick Mast, 13 starts
Hermie Sadler, 9 starts
Kevin Lepage, 7 starts
Brett Moffitt, 7 starts
Mike Wallace, 6 starts
Michael Waltrip, 4 starts
Josh Wise, 1 start
Jason Leffler, 1 start