06-02-2025
Too Many Worthy Candidates Could Mean Growing Pains for NASCAR Hall of Fame
NASCAR had a 63-year backlog of Hall of Fame-worthy drivers, owners, mechanics, crew chiefs, and executives when its Hall opened in 2010.
Drivers and crew chiefs must be retired for three years to become Hall-eligible.
Retired drivers Carl Edwards and Ricky Rudd will be inducted on Friday in Charlotte.
NASCAR's 16-year-old Hall of Fame has a problem, one that will only get worse moving forward: its list of worthy candidates will eventually overwhelm its display area.
Simply put: The Hall of Fame is soon to be bursting at the seams.
NASCAR had a 63-year backlog of worthy drivers, owners, mechanics, crew chiefs, and executives when its Hall opened in 2010. To ease that backlog—think opening floodgates— officials annually inducted five candidates from a 20-person slate. The inaugural class featured drivers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt and driver/owner Junior Johnson. And, to the ire of David Pearson's fans, NASCAR executives Bill France and his son, Bill Jr.
The Hall continued taking five for the next 11 years. In 2021, with 55 men already enshrined, the Hall became more exclusive by inducting only three per year. Except for 2022 – the pandemic year—it's been that way ever since. Two come from the 10-person 'Modern Era' slate (competitors since 1965) and from its five-person 'Pioneer Era' slate (before 1965).
After Friday night's induction of retired drivers Carl Edwards and Ricky Rudd, the Hall will still have eight Modern candidates for 2026. Once the late driver/mechanic/owner Ralph Moody is inducted, the Pioneer ballot will have four. Clearly, some of the men and women waiting for years will almost certainly have an even-longer wait.
The eight Modern candidates for 2026 are retired drivers Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton, Jack Sprague, Harry Gant and the late Neil Bonnett. Also, retired crew chiefs/mechanics Tim Brewer and the late Randy Dorton and Harry Hyde. The four holdover Pioneers are drivers Larry Phillips, the late Ray Hendrick and Bob Welborn, and owner/mechanic/builder Banjo Matthews.
By rule, drivers and crew chiefs must be retired for three years to become Hall-eligible. In contrast, former and active owners have no such restriction, thus active owners Rick Hendrick, Joe Gibbs, Roger Penske, Jack Roush, and Richard Childress.
A handful of Hall-worthy drivers are likely to retire in this decade and soon become eligible. Of that group, Denny Hamlin is 44, Brad Keselowski is 41, Kyle Busch is 40, and Joey Logano is 35. Several retired drivers are already eligible or soon will be, among them Cup stars Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Geoffrey Bodine, Ryan Newman, and Michael Waltrip. Truck Series stars Mike Skinner and Matt Crafton are in the conversation, as are the late Xfinity standout Sam Ard, Modified star Reggie Ruggiero, and Cup driver Jim Paschal. And what about owner John Holman, the 'Holman' half of Holman-Moody Racing?
Next year's Voting Panel must pick two from among Bonnett, Gant, Burton, Biffle, Dorton, Brewer, Sprague, Hyde, and two new Modern candidates. On the Pioneer side, one will come from among Hendrick, Phillips, Matthews, Welborn, and the new Pioneer candidate.
There's the rub: almost three dozen worthy candidates are at the Hall's doorstep, with a handful of active driver/crewmen headed that way. Former champions Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson will get there. Even deeper into the future it's likely that William Byron, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, Christopher Bell, and Tyler Reddick will be considered. And, almost inevitably, Danica Patrick.
There was some civil debate when voters considered the Class of 2025. The selection of Rudd, Edwards, and Moody was largely accepted as reasonable. Rudd and Edwards will attend Friday night's ceremonies; Moody, who died in 2004, will be represented by a family member. Many of the 30 surviving Hall of Fame members are expected to attend.
It once was thought that every Cup Series champion and every Daytona 500 winner might get a shot. But 1950 champion Bill Rexford missed out, and Daytona 500 winners the late Tiny Lund, A.J. Foyt, and Mario Andretti didn't make it. Perhaps surprisingly, neither have two-time 500 winners Michael Waltrip and Sterling Marlin.
NASCAR owns and run the Hall, so it's understandable that its people would wield great influence. Maybe that's why 13-time race winner the late Tim Richmond and the late Smokey ('The Best Damn Garage In Town') Yunick probably will never get in.
Richmond was a popular winner during his short career at Hendrick Motorsports, but ruffled too many suits in Daytona Beach with his highly publicized medical issues during Speed Week '87. (He died of AIDS two years later). And mechanic/owner Yunick made enemies with his 'creative engineering' and 'gray-area innovations' that often showed up NASCAR's overmatched tech inspectors.
But it's their Hall so it can be their call. And thus it shall ever be.
