10 of the Tallest NASCAR Cup Drivers of All Time; Hocevar, Cindric Make the List
Carson Hocevar's second-place finish in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta put the spotlight on the Portage, Michigan native for his aggressive driving and thrilling near win.
There were also some casual NASCAR fans asking, hey, how tall is that guy, anyway?
Well, Hocevar is 6-foot-4 inches tall. And, yes, he's one of the tallest drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history. Truth be told, this looks to be the "Tall Driver Era" for NASCAR at the Cup Series level. Four current drivers on the Cup grid—Hocevar, Austin Cindric, Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith—check in at 6-2 or better..
That got us to thinking. Who were the tallest drivers in series history?
Trying to come up with such a list of tallest drivers in Cup is a tall ask, but we tried. One thing learned from this exercise is that there's not on official database for finding driver heights. That said, stories in the archives want to hand all-time great Buddy Baker, at 6-foot-6, the title of tallest driver in Cup Series history. That was our starting point.
As for the shortest Cup drivers of all-time, that's a quest for another day. The starting point for that list might just be Rex White. White was the 1960 Cup Series champion, and he's considered to be the shortest Cup champ in series record at 5-foot-4.
Finding drivers as short, or shorter, than White would keep us busy for sure.
And, before you ask, we can share that Danica Patrick is 5-foot-2 and one day might just head our list of shortest drivers in the Cup Series.
Enough of this short story. Here's a list of 10 tallest drivers we've been able to come up with from NASCAR Cup history:At 6-foot-6, Elzie Wylie "Buddy" Baker was a giant in NASCAR Cup as a driver from 1959 to 1992. Baker won 19 Cup races, including the World 600 at Charlotte (1972, 1973) and the Southern 500 (1970). Believed to be the tallest NASCAR Cup driver in history, he was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2020. Here, Baker is pictured alongside 5-foot-6 Mark Martin at Daytona in 1982.Michael Waltrip started 784 races in the Cup Series from 1985 to 2017, and he came up big three times on the sport's biggest stage. Waltrip won just four times in his Cup career, but two of those wins came in the Daytona 500 (2001, 2003). He also won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in 2002. Here, the 6-foot-5 Waltrip towers over 5-foot-6 rival Greg Biffle in 2005. And in case you were wondering (we were), brother Darrell Waltrip is 6-1.Nothing about Tiny Lund was, well, tiny. A 6-foot-5 mountain of a man who was reported to weigh as much as 270 pounds, Lund raced in the NASCAR Cup Series from 1955 until 1975. He won five races in 303 starts, including the 1963 Daytona 500. Lund died from injuries suffered in a crash in 1975 at the age of 45. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2020.Elliott Sadler started 438 races and won three times in the Cup Series in a career that lasted from 1997 until 2017. He won twice for Yates Racing in 2004 and once for Wood Brothers Racing in 20o1. Sadler also sat tall. at 6-foot-4, in the saddle for 13 wins in the Xfinity Series and once in the Truck Series. Here, he's pictured with 5-foot-7 Jeff Gordon in 2004 at Talladega.Carson Hocevar, who entered his second full season in the Cup Series in 2025, towers above the competition and is the tallest driver in the current field. The 6-foot-4 Hocevar was the 2024 Cup Series Rookie of the Year. Here, he strolls down pit lane at Darlington with 5-foot-9 rival Ryan Blaney.Austin Cindric, listed at 6-foot-3, is hard to miss on the NASCAR Cup Series grid. He made is NASCAR Cup Series debut in 2021 and qualified for the NASCAR Playoffs in both 2022 and 2024. Here, he's pictured with rival Harrison Burton in 2024. Burton is listed at 6-1, and this photo makes us want to re-measure both of them.Todd Gilliland has been a driver to look up to in the Cup Series since 2022. His best career finish was fourth at the 2002 Indy Grand Prix on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And, no, Todd didn't get his height from his dad. David Gilliland, who raced in Cup from 2006-2018, was listed at 5-foot-9.Richard Petty—a.k.a. The King—stands tall in the NASCAR record books and on this list of tallest NASCAR racers. Petty amassed 200 wins, seven Cup Series championships and is a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame's inaugural class that came out in 2010. Here, he's pictured with another giant of NASCAR history, Junior Johnson, in 1966 at Martinsville.Like father, like son for Richard and Kyle Petty. Kyle, while he couldn't match his father on the race track (Kyle had eight wins in 829 Cup starts from 1979-2008), held his own in the height department. Both checked in at 6-foot-2, but Dad still held the upper hand in this 1984 photo from Daytona, thanks no doubt to his trademark cowboy boots.Zane Smith is one of four current drivers in the Cup Series checking in a 6-foot-2 or better (Carson Hocevar, Austin Cindric, Todd Gilliland). Smith made his Cup Series debut in 2022, and the 2025 season is his second full season in the series. He's best known for his 2022 NASCAR Truck Series championship.
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