NASCAR: The number 48 car is finally back in victory lane

On the same day Jimmie Johnson made his IndyCar debut, Alex Bowman brought the #48 car back to victory lane in the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time in four years.

Among the many iconic car numbers in NASCAR Cup Series history, there is perhaps no more of a modern addition to the top of all-time wins list than the number 48. The #48 car entered this past weekend with 86 victories, good for seventh place on the all-time list.

Numbers such as 11, 43, 3, 2 and 21 have long been considered iconic in NASCAR, with the number 24 joining them thanks to the success of Jeff Gordon in the 1990s and 2000s.

Before Jimmie Johnson took over behind the wheel of the #48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in 2002, however, the number had experienced minimal success.

James Hylton won twice in 583 starts, once at Richmond Raceway in 1971 and another time at Talladega Superspeedway in 1972, and Bill Norton won at Carrell Speedway in 1951 in what was one of only four career starts.

In total, the number 48 car was 2 for 907 (0.22% win percentage) in Cup Series competition.

Johnson, of course, changed that, winning a record-tying seven championships, including a record five in a row from 2006 to 2010, and 83 races, good for a sixth place tie on the all-time wins list. He won multiple races every season from 2002 to 2017 and retired following his third consecutive winless season last year.

While it was technically Kyle Larson who was called upon to replace Johnson at Rick Hendrick’s team after last season, stable sponsorship from Ally Financial led the team to move Alex Bowman from the #88 team to the #48 team. The number 88 was discontinued for the time being, and Larson now drives the #5 Chevrolet.

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In his ninth start behind the wheel of Johnson’s old ride, Bowman secured a surprise win at Richmond Raceway, where Chevrolet hadn’t won in four years and Hendrick Motorsports hadn’t won in 13. He did so after overcoming a pit lane penalty for an uncontrolled tire.

He led only the final 10 laps of Sunday’s 400-lap Toyota Owners 400 around the four-turn, 0.75-mile (1.207-kilometer) oval in Richmond, Virginia after passing Team Penske’s Joey Logano for second place and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin for the lead following a restart with 12 laps to go, netting him his first win since he won at Auto Club Speedway last March.

It was Ally’s first win as a Cup Series primary sponsor, having taken over on Johnson’s car from Lowe’s after the 2018 season.

In doing so, it ended a 139-race drought for the #48 Chevrolet, by far the longest since Johnson made his Cup Series debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2001.

At no point during Johnson’s career did he ever go more than 24 races without a win until after his final win at Dover International Speedway nearly four years ago in June 2017. He ended his Cup Series career on a 131-race win drought.

Interestingly, the #48 car returned to victory lane on the same day the other #48 car hit the track at Barber Motorsports Park for Johnson’s first ever IndyCar start. An early spin knocked him off the lead lap, but Johnson was still able to finish the race in 19th place after starting in 21st and avoided a colossal first-lap incident.

Last year, Johnson, who considered his IndyCar debut to be a huge success, signed a multi-year deal to drive the #48 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing in the road and street course races beginning in 2021, although oval races are still a possibility for him in 2022.

The #48 car has now 87 Cup Series victories among four different winners, bringing it to within 13 victories of 100. Currently sitting at exactly 100 wins in third place on the all-time list is the number 3, which seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt drove to 67 of his 76 career victories. Numbers 11 and 43 may be a bit out of reach for the #48 car with 224 and 199 wins, respectively.