NASCAR: Which car number has the most Cup wins?

Erik Jones scored the #43 car’s 200th NASCAR Cup Series win on Sunday at Darlington Raceway. But which car number has the most?

Despite not being one of the 16 drivers to qualify for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Petty GMS Motorsports’ Erik Jones took the checkered flag to win Sunday night’s playoff-opening Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

The win was the 26-year-old Byron, Michigan native’s first since winning the 2019 Southern 500, back when he was still competing for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Prior to Jones’s third career victory, the number 43 car, made famous by the legendary Richard Petty, had not been to victory lane since July 2014, when Aric Almirola scored its 199th win in a rain-shortened race at Daytona International Speedway.

Jones is the seventh driver to win a race in the #43 car, the car number which is responsible for more starts (2,196) than any other car number in Cup Series history.

Petty, a co-owner of the car Jones drives, won a record 200 races throughout his Cup Series career, with 192 coming behind the wheel of the #43 car.

Two drivers, Jim Paschal and Bobby Hamilton, each won two races in the #43 car. Lee Petty and John Andretti each won one, as did Almirola.

But with 200 victories, the #43 car is not the winningest car number in Cup Series history. That title goes to the #11 car, which owns 228 wins in 2,123 starts.

Only two other car numbers have even reached 100 career victories, and both sit at 101: the #2 car and the #3 car.

Here is a list of the top 10 winningest numbers in Cup Series history.

1. #11 car – 228 wins
2. #43 car – 200 wins
3. #2 car – 101 wins
4. #3 car – 101 wins
5. #24 car – 97 wins
6. #21 car – 92 wins
7. #48 car – 91 wins
8. #22 car – 85 wins
9. #6 car – 83 wins
10. #4 car – 82 wins

With the #18 car sitting in 11th place with 80 wins, nine of the top 11 winningest car numbers of all-time have found victory lane at some point through the 2022 season’s first 27 races. These nine numbers are responsible for 13 wins this year.

The only two car numbers on this list that haven’t found victory lane yet in 2022 are the #21 car, which last won in June 2017 at Pocono Raceway with Wood Brothers Racing’s Ryan Blaney, and the #6 car, which last won in July 2011 at Daytona International Speedway with Roush Fenway Racing’s David Ragan.

Harrison Burton currently drives the #21 Ford for Wood Brothers Racing, and Brad Keselowski currently drives the #6 Ford for RFK Racing.

Notably, another win for the #21 car would be the 100th win for the Wood Brothers.