3 most impressive Richard Petty records in NASCAR, ft. 27 wins in a season

Richard Petty is known as “The King” for reasons more than one. No one, to this day, has come even close to touching his record of 200 race wins. The only driver to have crossed the 100th win mark is the late David Pearson, who sits second in the all-time wins list with 105 victories to his credit.

That’s not all. Petty is one of the only two drivers to have won seven Cup Series championships, the other being Jimmie Johnson. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the accolades amassed by Petty during his time behind the wheel. On that note, let’s look at three of his most impressive NASCAR records from back in the day.

1. Most wins in a single season (27)

Dick Hutcherson (left), Richard Petty (middle), and Jim Paschal (right) before the Nashville 400 race at the Fairgrounds Speedway on July 28, 1967.- Source: Imagn

Richard Petty won 27 races in a single season (1967), which is more than half of the races on NASCAR’s annual schedule. This includes 10 consecutive victories between August 12 and October 1.

What’s more impressive about Petty’s dominance during those 10 races is the fact that he won four of them by at least three laps. Furthermore, all 10 races were won with the same car and with Dale Inman as Petty’s crew chief.

The remarkable thing was we had the same car all along," Inman told Autoweek during a 2017 interview.

"To keep the car under him for 10 races in a row and win them, I thought that was a feat… I don’t think that will ever be beat. I don’t think the 200 wins will, either."

Needless to say, Inman was right. Nobody has beat Petty’s record yet and safe to say nobody will. Here is a list of drivers with the most consecutive wins in NASCAR history.

2. Most wins from the pole

Richard Petty after winning the pole for the NASCAR 400 Grand National race at Fairground Speedways July 26, 1969. - Source: Imagn

Petty holds the record for most wins from the pole, i.e., 61 as well as the most number of poles by a single driver, which is 123. Petty is tailed by his longtime rival David Pearson in these two aspects as well.

Pearson, who breathed his last in November 2018, bagged 113 poles and won on 37 occasions. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin entered the 2024 season as the leader among the current NASCAR drivers, flaunting 40 pole wins.

3. Most Daytona 500 wins

Richard Petty and Bill Elliott before the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2023 - Source: Imagn

Winning the crown jewel Daytona 500, which started in 1959, is a dream of every Cup Series driver out there. And Petty made that happen once, not twice, but seven times. Cale Yarborough is second on the list, with four Daytona 500 wins.

Petty won his first Daytona 500 in 1964, the same year he won his first championship title and a cash prize of over $114,000 throughout the season. Driving the iconic No. 43 electric blue Plymouth Belvedere, he led 184 of the 200-lap event en route to the victory lane. Petty won nine races in 61 starts, the most in NASCAR history that year.

Richard Petty was voted the Most Popular Driver nine times. In 1989, he was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. In 1997, he was named an International Motorsports Hall of Famer. Finally, in 2010, NASCAR inducted him into the prestigious NASCAR Hall of Fame.