In NACAR Cup Series competition, the #51 has 605 total starts with 102 drivers, 2 wins, 4 poles, 22 top 5s, 59 top 10s, and 228 DNFs.

Chevrolet: 405 races

Oldsmobile: 76 races

Ford: 71 races

Dodge: 38 races

Buick: 15 races

Pontiac: 13 races

Plymouth: 7 races

Chrysler: 6 races

Toyota: 5 races

Cadillac: 3 races

Justin Allgaier has the most starts in the number with 75 from 2013-2015. In 2016 Allgier moved to the XFINITY Series to drive the JRM #7 car. Clint Bowyer took over the HScott Motorsports ride, renumbered to #15.

Gober Sosebee has 56 career starts in #51 from 1950-1955, including his only 2 career wins and the only 2 wins the number has at Hayloft Speedway and Central City Speedway

In 1984 & 1985 Greg Sacks drove the #51 car, owned by his father. In 32 starts Sacks led 2 laps.

Dub Simpson drove #51 in select races from 1969-1974 for a total of 31 starts.

In 2012 Kurt Busch made a total of 29 starts for Pheonix racing.

Stan Meserve drove #51 for 28 starts in 1968.

Jeff Purvis has 25 starts in #51 from 1990-2001.

In 2011 Landon Cassill drove #51 for 21 races in James Finch’s car.

From 1962-1963 Bob Cooper made 17 starts in #51.

AJ Foyt made 16 starts in #51 from 1977-1982

Regan Smith, Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Ryan Truex, Jacques Villeneuve, Brendan Gaughan, Mike Bliss, Michael McDowell, Bobby Labonte, Owen Kelly, AJ Allmendinger, David Reutimann, and Boris Said have all made at least 1 start in #51 from James Finch since 2011.

In 1994 Neil Bonnett was scheduled to compete in at least 6 races for James Finch in #51, but after a practice crash in turn 4 before the Daytona 500 Bonnett was killed. 7 years later the same turn would claim the life of his his best friend, Dale Earnhardt.

Since 2017, Rick Ware Racing fielded car #51 car, and the team gained a charter in 2018. Their drivers have included B.J. McLeod (32 starts), Cody Ware (19 starts), Timmy Hill (12 starts), J.J. Yeley (4 starts), Josh Bilicki (4 starts), Kyle Weatherman (2 races) , Ray Black Jr. (3 races), and many more.

Cole Custer also made 3 starts in the 51 car in 2018. Though the car was officially entered by RWR, Custer’s car was prepared and pitted by Stewart-Haas Racing.

Other notable names in #51: Stuart Kirby, 7 races. Kevin Lepage, 5 races. David Simko, 6 races. Tony Raines, 4 races. Fireball Roberts, 1 race. Michael Waltrip , 1 race. Speedy Thompson, 1 race. Hut Sticklin, 1 race.



In the XFINITY Series, #51 is driven by Jeremy Clements. In 2017 Clements and his underfunded team scored a win in an exciting finish at Road America.

In the truck series, #51 is run by Kyle Busch Motorsport with several drivers, most notably Kyle Busch, Eric Jones, Aric Almirola, Daniel Suarez, Denny Hamlin, and Kurt Busch. The paint scheme and theme behind the KBM #51 is based off of the Rowdy Burns car from the movie “Days of Thunder.”