Legendary racecar driver Dale Earnhardt won the most Nextel Cup Series Championships during the 1990s, finishing the decade with four championships. Jeff Gordon came in second with three championships. Earnhardt also dominated during the 1980s when he won three Nextel Cup Series Championships, tying Darrell Waltrip's record for the decade. Earnhardt's brilliant NASCAR career came to a tragic end, however, on February 18, 2001, when he died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

In 1994, as a safety measure, NASCAR introduced roof flaps designed to disrupt the airflow over the roof of the car, eliminating the lift and preventing it from going airborne or rolling over at high speeds.

In 1994, Shawna Robinson clinched the first pole position by a woman driver in NASCAR at I-95 Speedway. Robinson later started first and won the Dash Series race at Myrtle Beach Speedway; earlier in the year she took the victory at the Lanier National Speedway event and clinched two more pole positions during the season.

In the same year (1967) that Petty won an amazing 27 races, he also set another untouchable record of winning 10 of those races in a row.

Richard Petty was Winston Cup champion at the end of the season finishing 567.45 points ahead of Cale Yarborough, but David Pearson finished a strong third in points despite only nineteen starts. He won three championships (1966, 1968, and 1969) every year he ran the full schedule in NASCAR's Grand National Series.

Winning $19,886,666.00 in posted earnings, Darrell Waltrip became the first NASCAR driver to be awarded over $10 million in race winnings.

On February 17, in car No. 17, on his 17th attempt, three-time NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip finally won the Great American Race. When he climbed out of his race car, Waltrip performed the "Ickey Shuffle" in Victory Lane and then spiked his helmet like a football.

The 2008 Indy Japan 300 was the third round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season. It was historic because Danica Patrick became the first woman to win a race in the history of top-level American open-wheel racing.

Edwards is popular among fans for celebrating his wins by doing a backflip off his car, which was a result of saving himself from a potential fall when he had his first win. Seizing on the popularity of Edwards' trademark celebrations, Ford ran several "Overactive Adrenaline Disorder" commercials in 2006 featuring a "young Carl" performing backflips in his baby crib, off a couch, and off a doctors exam table.

Not only does Richard Petty have the most wins of any competitor in NASCAR Grand National/Cup history, he is also the driver with the most second-place finishes (157).