In Cup Series competition the #1 car has started 1,527 races and has 20 wins, 34 poles, 173 top 5s, 432 top 10s, and 386 DNFs.

After driving for DEI in the Busch (XFINITY) Series and making 5 Cup starts in the DEI #14 in 1997, Steve Park was named Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s first full time driver piloting the #1 Pennzoil Chevy. In the third race of the year, at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Park failed to qualify. The following week, he broke his leg in an accident while testing at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Two weeks later, the team hired 3 time Champion Darrell Waltrip to substitute for Park.

Park returned later in the season at the Brickyard 400 after recovering. In his 13 races that year Waltrip posted 2 top 10 finishes, better than Park’s best finish of 11th for 1998. In 1999, Park finished five times in the top ten and ranked fourteenth in points earned. In 2000, Park won his first two Pole awards, won his first race at his home track of Watkins Glen , and ranked eleventh in points.

In 2001, in the first race after the death of his car owner Dale Earnhardt, Park beat Bobby Labonte in a close finish to score a victory at Rockingham with a very emotional celebration.

Park’s career encountered difficulties at a Busch Series race at Darlington Speedway when he was injured in a bizarre crash under caution that left. The severity of the crash caused a massive brain injury as well as several broken ribs.

Kenny Wallace drove the car while Park recuperated with a best finish of second place at Rockingham. Wallace made a total of 17 starts between 2001 and the first 4 races of 2002.

Park returned to his #1 at Darlington in 2002, but his season was plagued my bad luck and crashes, the most spectacular of which came on the first lap at Pocono with teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. During 2003, DEI let Park go midway into the season, and he was effectively “traded” to Richard Childress Racing for Jeff Green, who took over the #1 car from Park with Park taking over the #30 AOL car for Childress. Park scored 2 wins in his 152 starts in #1.

Following a fallout between Jeff Green and the #30 RCR team at Richmond in 2003, Green was hired to pilot the Pennzoil #1 while Park took over the #30.

Green only started 12 races in the #1 as Ron Fellows drove the car on the 2 road course races. Fellows, a friend of Dale Earnhardt’s, was contracted to drive #1 full time in 2002, but Earnhardt’s death nullified the contract.

John Andretti took over driving duties for 10 of the final 11 races of 2003, with Jason Keller making one start at Talladega as Andretti was already contracted to drive the #90 for RCR in that race. Andretti & Fellows returned to drive the #1 in 2004, but lack of consistent sponsorship caused the team to field cars part time. Andretti started 15 races in #1; Fellows started 3.

In 2004 & 2005, Busch Series Champion Martin Truex Jr. started 8 races in the DEI #1 before racing full time starting in 2006. On June 4, 2007, Truex scored his first career NEXTEL Cup victory in the #1 car at the Dover in a COT race. Truex also qualified to race in the Chase for the Nextel Cup that year. He was DEI’s only representative in the 2007 Chase for the Cup and his qualification is, to date, the last for a driver in a DEI car. At the end of 2009, Truex left the team for Michael Waltrip Racing.

After 2009 Jamie McMurry began driving the #1 car, now majority owned by McMurray’s former boss Chip Ganassi. Pro Shops was joined by McDonald’s as a primary sponsor. McMurray started the year of with a bang, winning the 2010 Daytona 500 for Ganassi in his first race in the #1 car.

McMurray returned to the winner’s circle by winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis , the first time that he had won multiple races in a season since joining the Cup Series full-time in 2003. He added a third win at the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte during the Chase.

After more struggling in 2011-2012, McMurray finally broke back into victory lane at the fall 2013 Talladega race, his first victory in three seasons. McMurray also won the Sprint All-Star Race in 2014, but did not reach victory lane in a points paying event, missing the Chase. McMurray did not win a race in 2015, and failed to make it to the second round of The Chase after finishing 4th at Dover behind Dale Earnhardt Jr.

McMurray returned to the #1 in 2016, now completely owned by Ganassi and Felix Sabates. As the summer wound down, McMurray would heat up. He finished seventh at Kentucky in a fuel mileage race. A good 6th place at New Hampshire would allow him to slip further ahead of his competition for a spot in The Chase. However a spin at Indy, and Chris Buescher winning at Pocono didn’t help. He would then score three eight place finishes in row, at Watkins Glen, Bristol, and Michigan, allowing McMurray to slip past Ryan Newman in the chase standings. This would be good, as when Kyle Larson won at Michigan, McMurray would find himself 15 points in, ahead of Newman. McMurray would be eliminated in the first round of The Chase and eventually finish 13th in points.

The 2018 season became McMurray’s worst since 2011 and 2012, having scored one top-five at the Charlotte Roval and seven top-10s. He also missed the playoffs, finishing 20th in the points standings. On September 10, 2018, McMurray announced that he would not return to Chip Ganassi in 2019. CGR had offered McMurray a contract to drive at the 2019 Daytona 500 before moving to a leadership position with the team. McMurray would ultimately retire from full-time Cup Series racing and later signed a contract with Fox Sports to appear on their weekday and raceday NASCAR programs, in addition to his leadership role with Ganassi. In January 2019, CGR formed a partnership with Spire Motorsports to field the No. 40 for McMurray at the Daytona 500. McMurray started 324 races in car #1 with 4 wins.

For 2019, Kurt Busch took over the wheel of the CGR #1 car, along with his sponsor Monster Energy. Busch scored his first win with CGR at Kentucky, beating his brother Kyle on the final restart. It was the third time the Busch brothers finished 1–2, but the first time Kurt emerged the victor. Despite making the playoffs, Busch was eliminated in the Round of 16 after finishing 20th at the Charlotte Roval. Busch has started 36 races in car #1, and he will return in 2020.

Rick Mast has 181 starts in #1 from 1991-1996 with no wins. He started out the 1991 season by leading 14 laps in the Daytona 500 and finished fourth. At Talladega later that year Mast, 1 lap down in 10th, pushed fuel deficient Harry Gant to the win, almost warranting a penalty.

With less than 25 laps to go in the DieHard 500 , Mast was tapped by Buddy Baker entering the tri-oval and flipped over. He slid to a stop a few hundred feet beyond the start-finish line and soon climbed out of the car, much to the delight of the crowd. He was not injured, but half-jokingly said afterwards, “I’m okay but I need another pair of underwear”. In 1992 Mast won the pole for the Hooters 500, a historic race. He also won the pole at the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994. Mast almost won at Rockingham in 1994, but Dale Earnhardt was able to hold him off for the win and his 7th championship. This 2nd place finish was the highest of Mast’s career.

Paul Lewis started 71 races in #1 from 1960-1967, including his only career win at Maryville in 1967.

Donnie Allison drove car #1 to 4 wins in 61 starts from 1976-1982. However, Allison #1 is possibly most remembered for his involvement in a final-lap crash and subsequent fight with Cale Yarborough at the 1979 Daytona 500.

Sgt. George Green started the #1 car 51 times from 1961-1963 without earning a win. Green was fired when he was caught stealing $600 in “owner’s winnings” from Potter, so he reenlisted in the Army and was shipped to Germany for further training.

Lake Speed started the #1 car 35 times from 1983-1984 without a win.

In 1964 Billy Wade started Bud Moore’s #1 machine 32 times. That summer he won 4 consecutive races at Old Bridge Stadium, Bridgehampton. Islip Speedway, & Watkins Glen. These 4 wins would be the only wins of Wade’s career.

In 1990 Terry Labonte drove the #1 Oldsmobile in 29 races without reaching victory lane.

Between 1960 & 1981-1982 Buddy Baker started 29 races in #1 without a win.

Other notable drivers in #1: Elton Hildreth, 20 starts Morgan Shepherd, 19 starts Brett Bodine, 14 starts David Pearson, 10 starts, 1 win Sterling Marlin, 10 starts Bud Moore, 9 starts Dale Jarrett, 8 starts Kyle Petty, 6 starts Jerry Nadeau, 5 starts Davey Allison, 3 starts AJ Foyt, 2 starts Lloyd Dane, 1 start, 1 win Eddie Gray, 1 start, 1 win



In Sprint Cup Series competition the #01 car has started 501 races and has 1 win, 7 poles, 13 top 5s, 45 top 10s, and 191 DNFs.

Joe Nemechek has the most starts in #01 with 112 from 2003-2006 and claims ownership of the only win the number has with his defeat of Ricky Rudd at Kansas in 2004. It was Nemechek’s 4th Cup win, each coming with a different team.

Earle Canavan started #01 in 64 races from 1981-1986 without a win.

Paul Dean Holt started 53 races in the #01 from 1967-1968.

Regan Smith started 41 races in the #01 from 2007-2008. In 2008, Smith won the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega , but was stripped of the win for violating the “Out-of-Bounds” rule on the final lap. This is only the 2nd time in the modern era of Cup Series history that a race winner has been stripped of a victory, the first being Ricky Rudd at Sonoma in 1991.

In 2001, the late Jason Leffler drove the #01 Cingular Wireless car for Chip Ganassi Racing. LEFturn made 30 starts that year.

Mark Martin started #01 a total of 25 times in his career. 24 of those starts came in the 2007 season, where he almost won the Daytona 500 . In 1983, Martin made 1 start driving the #01 Activision car.

Other notable drivers in #01: Ted Musgrave , 12 starts Mike Skinner, 11 starts Jerry Nadeau , 10 starts Mike Wallace, 8 starts Curtis Crider, 6 starts Aric Almirola, 5 starts Boris Said, 2 starts Ron Fellows, 2 starts Scott Pruett, 1 start

