NASCAR: Notable names in the history of car number 2

By Bryce Turner | Apr 3, 2020

Brad Keselowski, Team Penske, NASCAR (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

Take a look at some of the legends who have raced car number two in the NASCAR Cup Series, including names such as Rusty Wallace, Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty.

Is it fitting that two seven-time champions once raced the #2 car, two Pettys piloted the car in a single season, Junior Johnson used the number in two roles and that Rusty Wallace drove the #2 car for two different owners? It’s true too that this is my second article about car numbers in the NASCAR Cup Series.

History shows that this is one of the sport’s most legendary digits. The overall stat line for the deuce is this: 95 wins, 519 top five finishes, 886 top 10 finishes, 69 poles, 31,863 laps led and an average finish of 14.9 in 1,928 races.

While the car number has consistently been used by single drivers in recent decades, it was used in shorter stints by some of the sport’s biggest stars in the earlier days.

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The Petty family drove the #2 car in six races in 1958. Richard Petty had a best result of 16th place at Myrtle Beach Speedway, racing the car in five events overall. Lee Petty finished in third at Atlanta’s Lakewood Speedway in his lone appearance in the #2 car.

With a combined 10 championships and 254 wins, the Pettys add to the legacy of the car number, despite the limited starts.

Other drivers climbed into the cockpit of the #2 for Petty Enterprises, including Joe Weatherly for one event in 1958. Weatherly also entered one race with that number for Holman-Moody in 1957.

But it was in 1963 when the #2 car was part of Weatherly’s success. He won the championship that year, piecing together starts in different cars for different owners, primarily the #8 car for Bud Moore.

Weatherly entered 10 races in the #2 car for Cliff Stewart that year, recording five top 10 finishes, along with two top five finishes: a third place finish at Myrtle Beach Speedway and a runner-up finish at Tar Heel Speedway.

Weatherly won three races that year en route to his second consecutive championship. He died the following year after a crash at Riverside International Raceway.

A driver and owner connection in the #2 car belongs to Junior Johnson.

Johnson finished in 15th place at Hickory Speedway for owner Pete DePaolo in 1956, his lone event as driver of the #2 car. As an owner, he fittingly fielded the car in two events, both for Curtis Turner in 1965. Turner also raced the car in a single event for Holman-Moody in 1958.

Famous for his black #3 Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt first found success in the #2 car. “The Intimidator” first drove the car in 1979 for owner Rod Osterlund, taking it to six victories and the 1980 championship before switching teams during the 1981 season.

Jim Stacy purchased the #2 team from Osterlund mid-season, fielding the car for Earnhardt in four events before Earnhardt went to Richard Childress Racing and the #3 car. Earnhardt spent the 1982 and 1983 seasons in the #15 car for Bud Moore Engineering before returning to Childress and the #3 car in 1984 and going on to win six more championships.

The number 2 is the only number that both Petty and Earnhardt used at some point in their careers. Another legend, three-time champion David Pearson, also spent time in the #2 car. He filled in for an injured Earnhardt for four races in 1979, recording three top five finishes, including a win in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

In more recent decades, owner Roger Penske has become synonymous with the #2 car. The first driver to run the #2 car for Penske was Dave Marcis in select events in 1972 and 1973. Marcis returned to Penske and the #2 car for a partial schedule in 1977.

Bobby Allison, who later won the 1983 championship, raced the #2 car for Penske full-time in 1976, recording 15 top five finishes and 19 top 10 finishes in 30 races. Allison had also raced the #2 car part-time between 1965 and 1969, collecting seven wins for owner Donald Brackins.

Following Marcis’s second stint behind the wheel of the #2 car, the next driver to drive that car for Penske was Rusty Wallace in 1991.

As with Allison, Wallace first drove the number for another owner, running the full 1985 campaign for Cliff Stewart and recording two top five finishes and eight top 10 finishes. Wallace won the 1989 championship in the #27 car for Raymond Beadle before teaming up with Penske two years later.

Wallace finished his career in the #2 car for Penske, winning 37 races and recording 143 top five finishes. Following his retirement, 2004 champion Kurt Busch joined Penske and the #2 team in 2006. He recorded eight wins and 37 top five finishes before being moved to the #22 team in 2011 to make way for Brad Keselowski.

Keselowski, the current driver of the #2 car, won the 2012 championship, the first for Penske in the Cup Series. Keselowski has amassed 29 wins and 115 top five finishes and counting in the #2 car. His only other Cup Series win came at Talladega Superspeedway in 2009, driving the #09 car for James Finch at Phoenix Racing.

Other race winners in the #2 car include Jim Paschal in 1962, Tim Richmond (two wins) in 1982 and Bill Blair (three wins) in the early 1950s. Two-time champion Tim Flock drove the car in one event during his 1955 championship season.

Next. Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time. dark

With a rich history that includes two Pettys, an Earnhardt, an Allison and a Wallace plus 74 wins for a legendary IndyCar and NASCAR owner named Penske, there’s no doubt that the #2 car is one of the most iconic numbers in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series.

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