Elder said Mr. Pond’s move from Late Model Sportsman to NASCAR’s top series, the Cup series, came after some friendly advice from NASCAR’s most famous driver.

“We were buying parts from Richard Petty,” Elder said. “Lennie and I drove down to his shop in Randleman (N.C.) to pick something up. Richard was there and he said, ‘You boys are pretty good — why don’t you move on up?’”

With Elder as owner and an all-volunteer team, Mr. Pond made the move to the NASCAR Cup series in 1973 and won rookie of the year, defeating future Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip for that honor.

Mr. Pond finished fifth in NASCAR Cup series points in 1976.

He scored his lone Cup victory in August 1978 in the Talladega 500 at the 2.66-mile Alabama International Motor speedway (since renamed Talladega Superspeedway). At the time, his average speed of 174.7 mph was the record for a 500-mile race in any racing series.

Mr. Pond also qualified for the pole position for five races during the 1978 season, when he drove for owner Harry Ranier.

Mr. Pond’s last Cup Series race was in 1989. He had 234 career Cup starts with 88 top-10 finishes.