Editor’s note: This is the third installment in a seven-part series celebrating the 30th anniversary of Jeff Gordon’s first NASCAR Cup Series championship and the first for Hendrick Motorsports in 1995. Join us each Thursday as we relive all the moments and talk to many of the players involved in one of the organization’s and the sport’s most unforgettable and important seasons.
For Jon.
CONCORD, N.C. – Throughout the fall and winter of 1994 and into the early parts of 1995, Chad Knaus spent much of his time in Detroit … living like a vampire.
And he was far from alone.
It was all part of an intensive, collaborative effort that brought Chevrolet teams in NASCAR as well as engineers and professionals from General Motors together for a common cause. Knaus, then a fabricator and tire changer on Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team, was very hands on in the development of what would turn out to be one of the most successful race cars in the sport’s history: the Generation 4 Chevy Monte Carlo, which would replace the Lumina after the 1994 season.
“I can remember testing, going to the wind tunnel so many times that offseason that I didn’t think the sun ever came up in Detroit,” Knaus said. “Every time I went to Detroit it was cold and snowy and gray and then we would go in and have a 12-hour shift in the wind tunnel, we would arrive when it was dark and leave when it was dark. It was something else. A tremendous amount of work was put into that program that year.”
In the mid-1990s, wind tunnels were fewer and far between than present day. And though GM housed one, research and development for its passenger cars took priority over the racing side, relegating work on racing to any and all time slots that were left over.
Affectionately coined, ‘the zero shift,’ often those hours were from midnight until 8 a.m. Sometimes, there were 16-hour shifts. If there was a waking moment to be had, the group took it.
“One of the most important things to ask in the wind tunnel was, ‘What does everyone like on their pizza?'” recalled Dwight Woodbridge, aerodynamics manager at GM at the time.
Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in 1995. (Courtesy of General Motors, 2025)
Don Taylor, group manager for Chevrolet Racing at the time, also recalled the logistical challenges facing teams that made the journey to Michigan.
“The production car people would commandeer it for the daytime, and we would get the nightshift. Those guys would pile in the truck and come up and get here at nine or 10 at night, so, it was already dark in Detroit and there’d be snow on the ground and they had light jackets if anything,” Taylor said. “I remember they had these little, thin-sole leather shoes, which didn’t do too well in six inches of snow. They thought it would be warmer in the wind tunnel. It wasn’t.”
Cold and tired, yes. But determined, to be sure. And what’s a little adversity in the face of discovery?
The 1995 Chevy Monte Carlo was so many things all at once. Perhaps the pinnacle of manufacture and race team cooperation, the car also signaled the beginning of an end of an era in car building as well. In the years and generations that would follow, cars would become more and more uniform with NASCAR regulations growing ever stricter.
Perhaps part of the reason for those reductions in gray area from stock car racing’s governing body in the years that followed was the success the Gen 4 Monte Carlo would accumulate almost right away.
Undoubtedly, Gordon and the No. 24 team with Ray Evernham atop the pit box was at the forefront of the coming Chevy onslaught.
“That was one of the finest stock cars ever built,” Evernham summarized. “It was the last stock car to ever fit the templates properly and the Hendrick group go out ahead of it. We felt like we were ready to go head-to-head with the best.”
FROM WINNER TO CHAMPION, PART 1: ‘One Hot Night’
Meetings of the minds
In part two of this series, drivers, crew chiefs and others long involved in NASCAR commented on the hesitance of individual race teams to conform to the constructs of team racing.
And if teammates under a shared organizational umbrella had trouble cooperating, cars connected only by a manufacturer’s emblem on the grill were near mortal enemies.
Yet, like it or not, the development of the Chevy Monte Carlo was one catalyst that began to turn the tide of teamwork as team representatives were thrust together inside boardrooms for long periods of time. It was a process, however, that wasn’t without its own growing pains.
“The teams were all operating independently and so, we would pull them together in one room and they’d look at each other like, ‘This is not my friend here,’” Taylor recalled.
“It was another jumping off point for a lot of teams because none of the teams really shared much with each other,” echoed Andy Petree, crew chief for the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt. “Even though they were a Chevy team, they were the enemy. But we had to start doing some developing together. We’d go to the wind tunnel and invite other teams and we’d all take some knowledge from that wind tunnel session.”
Petree and all involved realized there was a bigger picture to keep focused on, one worth setting competitive squabbles and on-track incidents aside. At least for a while.
FROM WINNER TO CHAMPION, PART 2: Championship Material
A Chevrolet ad promoting the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. (Courtesy of General Motors, 2025)
The objective was clear: build the fastest, best race car possible through a collaborative effort among all the Chevrolet race teams and the best and brightest engineers at GM.
Seems simple enough.
Luckily, the teams were given quite a head start as the production Monte Carlo was a much closer resemblance to a race car than its predecessor, the Lumina.
“The Lumina was never intended to be a race car, it was all we had,” said Herb Fishel, executive director of GM racing at the time. “If you just sit and look at the Lumina vs. the Monte Carlo, the Monte Carlo is a pretty sporty looking car. The idea of racing a car and having something in the show room that resembled it, that idea had germinated with our design staff years before it ever became a car in 1995.”
Yet, there were plenty of challenges facing the group as it looked to take an albeit, “sporty” production Monte Carlo and create a Cup Series winning race car from it, specifically harnessing the latest advances in aerodynamics. The biggest of which being the idea of just how married to the showroom vehicle stock cars still had to be.
The landscape was changing and the team sensed it.
“It was probably the end of an era,” Fishel said. “Everything that came after that was highly modified. By then, the legitimacy of the term, ‘stock car’ had been diminishing for years and I think the story really ended as far as that terminology goes with the ’95 Monte Carlo. It was the last variation of a believable stock car from what you bought in the show room versus what you saw on the race track.
“We were just a good team. We had a lot of smart guys. Racing at that time was becoming a collaborative thing and we were good at that.”
RELATED: Driver averages for Nashville Superspeedway
‘Renegades and bottom feeders’
By the time 1994 rolled around, Terry Laise had been with GM for over two decades and played an integral part in bringing several iterations of Chevrolet race cars to life including the Monte Carlo SS in the early 1980s.
Responsible for aerodynamics on the ’95 Monte Carlo, Laise had a pretty simple view of what teams were looking for out of a new race car.
“We wanted the best lift/drag ratio you could come up with, meaning that it would be fast and still go around the corners,” Laise explained. “We wanted to have the ability to maximize the downforce at the expense of drag, in some instances.”
With the production car set and clear goals in mind for the race car, the real work began.
“On a race car, time is a lot shorter than on production cars. You’ve got a year maybe at most but back in Detroit, it’s a little longer because you know what you’re coming out with whether it’s a new Monte Carlo, new Lumina, whatever,” Woodbridge explained. “We would get clay molds going before teams had seen anything. We had a couple of guys that were magicians in terms of working with clay and getting shapes right. Once you’ve got that process figured out, you take it to the teams and say, ‘OK, we need to start doing this.'”
According to Petree, that’s where RCR came in.
1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo specs
Wheelbase:
110 inches
Length:
205 inches
Width:
64 inches
Height:
51 inches
Track:
60 inches
Ground clearance:
3.5 inches
Weight:
3,400 lbs
Distribution:
52% front, 48% rear
Braces and cage:
Round tube
Front suspension:
Independent A-arm
Rear suspension:
Full floating axle and hub
Steering:
Power heavy-duty worm and pinion
Brakes:
Four-wheel disc
Wheels:
9.5×15 inches
Tires:
12×15 inches
Engine type:
Chevrolet V-8
Displacement:
358 cubic inches
Compression:
14:1
Carburetion:
750 cfm 4-barrel Holley
Horsepower:
700 @ 8,000 rpm
Torque:
520 lbs @ 6,200 rpm
Transmission type:
4-speed GM manual
Fuel capacity:
22 gallons
Oil system:
16 quarts
Cooling system:
14 quarts
RELATED: Highlights from Hendrick Motorsports Fan Fest
“At RCR we were tapped by GM to build the first one,” Petree recalled. “The way that process went, the streetcar version of a Monte Carlo, we were able to get full-size print of the profiles of the car and cut accurate templates off of them. We got all the body panels and started putting it together.
“Basically, on the bumpers, we fabricated a valance on it. They’d make the fenders and the deck lid stock, but the rear bumper had to be shaped with taillights. We got the whole thing finished and rolled it out there and took it from there to be scanned in Detroit. Then a scale, wind tunnel model was made from that scan. That wind tunnel model is still in my shop.”
Long before the ensuing hours, days, weeks and months spent in Detroit, the group had a clear vision on certain features of the car in order optimize it aerodynamically. And in conjunction with the cooperation fostered throughout the process, even the production side made concessions along the way, according to Taylor.
“We got together with the styling group early in the development of this car and we said, ‘One of the features we’d like was this squared-off, rear edge of the bumper – a vertical square edge,’ and they actually put it into production,” Taylor said. “And there were some changes on the roof, so they contributed directly to the success of the car.”
“The production car we started with was good aerodynamically. So, it was easy to do the thing you had to do that we knew from previous cars,” Laise expanded. “We learned a lot of the things we needed to know from the earlier Monte Carlo and the Lumina. They understood what was needed from the very beginning.”
RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series points standings after Charlotte
A promotional pennant announcing the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo’s debut at Daytona International Speedway in 1995. (Courtesy of the NASCAR Hall of Fame)
From there, the grind commenced, sleepless nights in the wind tunnel with every sheet metal curvature, hard corner and indentation under the magnifying glass.
Adjustments would be made, tested in the wind tunnel, tweaked again, tested again and eventually, taken to the GM Proving Grounds facility in Mesa, Arizona to be put to the test in real conditions.
“The policy at that time was that none of that was supposed to be happening,” Fishel said. “GM operated under secrecy and those sessions were clandestine because of policy. Overall, at the company, the priority was production work and production cars. The racing group, we were kind of renegades and bottom feeders in a sense. Whenever the time window came up, it didn’t matter whether it was in Mesa or the GM wind tunnel, we took the spot. If it was two in the morning, that’s when the team would show up with the car and that’s when we used it.”
Hours and days ran together, but the labor was bearing fruit. Knaus recalled a test session at Texas World Speedway, a now-defunct 2-mile oval in College Station, Texas, that served as a key catalyst toward the build of future-race-winning Monte Carlos in the No. 24 stable.
“We tested there and it was really fast,” Knaus said. “We went to that test and that car had skull and crossbones on the hood, which was really cool. And yeah, we ended up building some really good cars.”
One of those is the famed Hendrick Motorsports chassis No. 2411, affectionately known as, “Blacker”. The car would become the most successful Chevy to ever run under the Hendrick Motorsports banner with Gordon driving it to victory lane 12 times from 1995-1999. It’s now on display in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Hendrick Motorsports chassis No. 2411, known as “Blacker”, is on display at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. (Courtesy of the NASCAR Hall of Fame)
“That car was an aerodynamic step change for us,” Knaus said. “We needed something new from the Lumina and we were pushing further forward and were able to get it.”
Yet, the process wasn’t without its hiccups.
“I can’t remember which team, but we had the full-length template for the car and we fired up the wind tunnel and the template went flying down the tunnel and it just made a mess,” Woodbridge laughed. “It’s kind of one of those things you always remember. It was, ‘Oh my god, we just broke the wind tunnel.’ It was a $20,000 mistake.”
At times, the process was slow and laborious. Crew chiefs and teams would provide feedback from test sessions and GM engineers would go back to the drawing board, making minor modifications and then call a meeting of the minds in Detroit to consider feedback and offer updates.
And near the forefront of it all was Evernham, a crew chief who would reach rarified air over the back half of the decade, largely with outside-the-box thinking and methodology as well a relentless pursuit of perfection.
Obviously, the days weren’t always fun. Some were long, others seemed never ending. But the aura of teamwork guided the group through, and small gestures went a long way to ensure that spirit remained.
“I will say, Ray is a very particular guy, but the thing that’s so cool about Ray, is sometime later you’d get a piece of mail, and it was a, ‘Thank You’ card from him for doing some test and that always meant a ton,” Woodbridge said. “When I got one, when anybody else got them, the guys would always remember that.”
RELATED: Highlights of Coca-Cola 600 weekend
Rick Hendrick makes his pitch
Between General Motors and the personnel involved from Chevrolet NASCAR teams, there was no shortage of engineering knowledge and technical acumen when it came to building the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
But all of that research and building would have been for naught if NASCAR had not signed off on it. One of the things those interviewed for this story romanticized about the most was the relative freedom, or wiggle room, there was within the rules at that time. There was some creativity allowed.
“That was an era when divisions were allowed to develop cars, so, NASCAR was not so involved in stipulating everything, designing everything, engineering everything and there was freedom for Ford, Chevy, Dodge and others,” Fishel said. “It was up to the engineers and ingenuity to build the best car and bring it to the track.”
Yet, Bill France Jr., NASCAR chief executive officer at the time, as well as Gary Nelson, director of the then-Winston-Cup Series and newly hired chief operating officer, Mike Helton, were still determined to keep as level of a playing field as possible in the interest of competition. Anything the GM group came up with had to stay within the rules, passing the sniff test of NASCAR’s brass.
RELATED: No. 5 team drops in on Kyle Larson during Carb Day at Indianapolis
The Monte Carlo served as the pace car for the 1994 Brickyard 400. (Courtesy of General Motors, 2025)
“You had to look at the rules and put together a car that met the rules and you had to work in between the rules,” Laise said. “Back in those days, there was a lot more working in between the rules than there is today.
“My recollection is, we selected Hendrick Motorsports as the team to build our submission car. We built a car and we would submit it to NASCAR and say, ‘This is what we want,’ and they’d make the judgment on whether or not they were willing to accept it.”
“There were a lot of discussions with NASCAR,” Woodbridge added. “You’d say, ‘OK, this is what we want to do. What are the procedures to get this thing through the wind tunnel without upsetting them too much?’ There is no question that would happen. You would just try to pick your battles.”
All remembered a particular battle, one that involved the Monte Carlo’s rear fascia.
“The rear bumper, the fascia, that was improved on the car, and it was something we knew from the wind tunnel that the wider and squarer it was, even departing from production, the better off we would be,” Taylor said.
There was no doubt to the team that the rear fascia, one that performed supremely in terms of aerodynamics, was a sticking point. It was nonnegotiable.
But when it came time to convince NASCAR, well, that’s when one of the world’s best businessmen stepped up with an idea that quickly came to the minds of all that were there. Even if a few of the details may vary.
RELATED: Check out all of Hendrick Motorsports’ Pit Crew Week content!
Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick made a pivotal sales pitch to NASCAR when it came to the rear fascia of the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
“And so, we had NASCAR come here to one of the Hendrick garages, I believe,” Taylor said. “So, Bill France Jr. came in there and Mike Helton and Gary Nelson, they came in there and we had the car, and we had two different rear ends molded up to fit on the car. We had a less aggressive one and a really aggressive one and it was the less aggressive one that we really wanted.
“So, Rick Hendrick said, ‘Put the real aggressive one on there. Show that to NASCAR.’ Of course, NASCAR sees it and says, ‘Woah, that’s too much.’ And he said, ‘Well, I guess we could do with this other one over here,’ which is obviously the one we really wanted. And they agreed as a ‘compromise.’ Rick being the salesman he is, sold them on the rear bumper fascia that we wanted all along.”
While his salesmanship was a key piece to the puzzle, and the overall success of that race car would finally help lead Hendrick Motorsports to a championship breakthrough after 11 years in NASCAR, its development still wasn’t the most important thing to him. The most meaningful thing to Hendrick was the group of people involved.
Those who sacrificed time and dedicated themselves to the creation of a car that would change the sport forever.
“The car was part of it, but it always came down to the people,” Hendrick said. “Our group poured themselves into learning that car. There wasn’t a magic trick. It was just a relentless effort from everyone to get better. That mindset is what made the difference, not just the sheet metal.”
‘Hit the track running’: 1995 and beyond
Thirty years later, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo developed ahead of the 1995 season stands as a testament of human collaboration, ingenuity and drive. Its success was immediate and overwhelming.
The car looked incredible. It drove even better.
“Overall, that was the most excellent car we did,” Laise said. “Just everything came out right.”
Counting the Clash and both Daytona Duels, a Chevrolet went to victory lane in each of the first 10 races of 1995. It would go on to win 21 of 31 races that season and from 1995-1998, the Monte Carlo won 66 of 128 Cup Series events and all four championships, three for Gordon, one for Labonte (1996).
Unsurprisingly, the car was met with rave reviews by Chevy drivers.
Jeff Gordon lounges on the hood of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo in New York City. (Courtesy of the NASCAR Hall of Fame)
“I remember that was one of the best cars that I think we’d ever had or that Chevy ever had,” Labonte said. “I can remember week after week the Ford guys crying about this and crying about that. I know NASCAR had to make some concessions for Ford.”
Indeed, France Jr. still had a sport to run and facilitating competition only improved the product. And obviously, the going wasn’t nearly as easy or as fun on the Ford side of things in the early part of that year.
“Sure, we were out there, campaigning for our camp but it was clearly a great race car,” said Mark Martin, driver of the No. 6 Ford at the time. “It was frustrating for us because we felt like Chevrolet did that car to be a race car. That’s how we felt and that’s what it looked like. Ford was not engaged enough in motorsports to do something like that. To shape the Thunderbird into being a better race car. You had to give props to GM and Chevrolet for doing that but also had to remember that they had pretty incredible teams with Gordon and Ray coming of age and of course with Earnhardt and Childress.”
Laise shared a story of a particular such meeting with France as concessions were gradually made.
“At Atlanta that year, on Saturday evening, I was watching final practice on top of Richard Childress’ trailer,” Laise said. “Gary Nelson came to the bottom of the trailer and said, ‘Mr. France asked me to drive you to the hotel, he wants to talk to you.’ And that was unheard of.
“But he explained to me that the sport couldn’t withstand Ford not being competitive and he was approving changes for the Ford. And it kind of went that way – (Ford) won their share of races the rest of the year and so did (Chevrolet). It was a big change but, whatever. My attitude was always, ‘What is, is,’ and you’ve got to deal with what is.”
To Martin’s point, and what is the overarching theme when it comes to the 1995 season, it was a confluence of factors coming together at the right time to make the year so special and successful for Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and the sport itself.
RELATED: Hendrick Motorsports honors fallen soldiers during Coke 600
A Chevrolet promotional ad for the Monte Carlo after Jeff Gordon won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. (Courtesy of General Motors, 2025)
Three of the first six races of the season went to Gordon, serving as an early and loud warning shot to the rest of the field that just maybe, the No. 24 team had arrived as a championship threat a little before most thought it was ready. Pairing Gordon’s great and rapidly developing talent and Evernham’s cunning, inventiveness and tenacity with a brand new, aerodynamically groundbreaking hot rod was a combination that would rule the sport with an iron fist until the arrival of the new millennium.
“The timing was great for Jeff and this car was just an amazing car at the time,” Fishel said. “If you look at the debut of that particular car versus all the cars after it, particularly the new generation cars, that car hit the track running and had little difficulty … other than NASCAR’s challenge to slow it down.”
Gordon, of course, wasn’t the only beneficiary and with the car surging during an era in which NASCAR was peaking in terms of popularity, the 1995 Monte Carlo has long been imprinted on the minds of fans who’ve been around the sport since.
“Those were classic cars, visually,” Taylor said. “They looked good, they had that smooth front end and smooth surface headlights and they became iconic because teams back then had the same sponsor. The No. 24 rainbow car, the No. 3 car, the No. 5 car with Kellogg’s on the hood, those are iconic.”
The Gen 4 Monte Carlo ushered in an era of change, and the sport has continued its evolution since, with rules packages and regulations becoming stricter and cars across manufacturer lines becoming more and more similar.
Jeff Gordon (24), Dale Earnhardt (3) and Bobby Labonte (18) all drove new Chevrolet Monte Carlos in 1995.
And in fairness, there were reasons for that. Safety, especially in the wake of Earnhardt’s fatal crash in the 2001 DAYTONA 500, became the unquestioned priority in car building. Of course, as the years have gone, manufacturers, teams and NASCAR have also become more financially efficient.
“We spent a ton of money doing wind tunnel work and testing using high-tech equipment – we’re to blame for the fact that the sport got so expensive,” Woodbridge said. “We’re to blame for NASCAR coming down and saying, ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do that.’ We were always trying something.
“The lesson is, don’t give a bunch of creative guys free reign to do something.”
RELATED: Jon Edwards honored by FOX with “Byrnsie Award”
But the ’95 Monte Carlo will always serve as a testament to what that kind of creativity and free reign can produce. Woodbridge hopes it will forever be a reminder that the science behind the sport far exceeds any kind of unfair reputation from the outside world.
“There are so many cool memories. I would say that on a per-hour income level, I barely made more than a floor sweeper,” Woodbridge concluded. “But from a pride standpoint and just having a rewarding career in that era and realizing in that era that you’re participating in the fastest growing sport on the planet was just amazing.
“It’s interesting. Some people would say, ‘In NASCAR all they do is go around in circles.’ I don’t think they quite grasp the concept that in the garage, there are more PhDs at one time than anywhere else in the world. There’s a bunch of brilliant people working really hard in that garage to make that show go on.”
Before becoming an all-time great NASCAR driver and a team owner, Brad Keselowski began his career at the lowest level within his father’s racing organization.
Keselowski’s father, Bob, owned and operated the now-defunct K-Automotive Racing team during Brad’s childhood, and the former ARCA Series racer subjected his son to some less-than-desired manual labor duties around his operation.
In a 2015 interview for USA Today with motorsports journalist Jeff Gluck, Keselowski detailed the specifics of his day-to-day to-do list.
“They let me sweep floors, and I ended up mowing the grass a lot and mopping,” Keselowski said. “I think I made like $20 a day, which was a lot of money when I was 16. I had to work 8 to 5 every day in the summer.”
First as a star for Hendrick Motorsports and Penske Racing, and now the co-owner of his own racing team, RFK Racing, Keselowski, who recently broke his leg in a skiing accident, has been at the top of the totem pole ever since he burst onto the scene in 2009 when he won his first Cup Series race at Talladega.
His foundation as a regular employee in his father’s business laid the groundwork for the success that would soon come for Keselowski, although it didn’t look at all like the path some sons of NASCAR stars, such as Keelan Harvick, are taking to prepare themselves for a career in professional racing.
During the interview with Gluck, Keselowski recalled a specific, objectively gross detail of the everyday grind he faced when working for his father’s team.
Responsible for taking out the trash every day, Keselowski noticed chewing tobacco, which most everyone in the race shop used, spat all alongside the trash can due to poor aim.
He would be forced to touch the sides of the can covered in the substance, and because the trash was only picked up once a month, the dumpster would often overflow, and Keselowski would need to find a way to fit in every last spit-covered piece of trash.
That led him to ask his parents if the trash could be picked up more often, a plea they rejected due to the cost being too expensive.
Years later, as a racing team owner of his own, Keselowski discovered the cost of one more trash pickup per month to be an extra $18, to which the NASCAR star realized his parents were trying to teach him a lesson back in the day, rather than being cheap.
“Are you (freaking) kidding me? I jumped in trash and chewing tobacco and risked losing my foot for two whole summers for like $15?” Keselowski said. “I guess it was good for me. My parents must have known that.”
Kyle Larson stunned fans at Australia’s Perth Motorplex on Sunday when he made a surprise appearance in bold fashion.
The second annual High Limit International event commenced on December 28 and Larson, the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion and a co-founder of the league, opted against a quiet and modest arrival.
The Hendrick Motorsports star instead dramatically descended from the sky in a silver helicopter before the first race of the three-day series began to deliver a briefcase containing $110,000 Australian Dollars, a record prize for an Australian sprint car racing event.
The helicopter landed on the racetrack before Larson emerged wearing a red fire suit, holding a black briefcase containing the winning prize, set to go to the winner of Tuesday’s main event.
The NASCAR star, who won the inaugural High Limit International race one year ago, walked to the infield and delivered the case to Perth Motorplex General Manager Gavin Migro.
“I was actually nervous because of how windy it is,” Larson said as he walked to the infield. “That was probably the smoothest helicopter ride I’ve ever been on.”
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion also noted that he’s only accustomed to taking helicopters out of tracks, which he has famously done twice before on ‘Double Duty,’ when he raced in both the Indianapolis 500 IndyCar race and Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race on the same day.
Then came the race, the first of two prelims leading up to Tuesday’s main event, which pitted big-name drivers from the United States against high profile Australian racers for a $15,000 prize.
Larson’s HMS teammate Corey Day took the checkered flag, fending off Australian Kaiden Manders by a half second. Day, who began the race in fourth position, was briefly overtaken by Manders after Larson caused the lone caution of the race when he suffered a flat right-rear tire on Lap 22.
The defending High Limit champion and co-owner finished 17th on the night, an underwhelming result after his grand entrance.
Larson’s cross-globe journey to participate in High Limit comes less than two months after he captured the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
The 33-year-old won the title without leading a single lap in the championship race at Phoenix, outlasting Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, and William Byron, all of whom suffered tire issues, to finish third.
The former Chip Ganassi Racing driver won three races during the 2025 season and finished atop the points standings thanks to six top-seven finishes in the playoffs.
Unlike in 2021, Larson’s first NASCAR Cup Series title, he did not win a single playoff race en route to claiming the championship.
A sequel to Days of Thunder, titled Days of Thunder 2, has reportedly entered early development. Tom Cruise is expected to return as Cole Trickle in the movie that has a target release window of 2026. While details remain vague, industry chatter has also hinted at possible involvement from NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon.
Fueling that speculation, Hendrick Motorsports recently published a set of 23 behind-the-scenes images on its website, offering a glimpse of Cruise during filming. The photographs were of the Hollywood superstar seated in a race car and posing between takes.
The photos have intensified interest. The hype is also fueled by Cruise’s connection to racing extends beyond the silver screen.
Long before portraying a stock car driver in Hollywood, Cruise had some firsthand experience in competitive motorsports. In 1987, he stepped into professional racing by competing in the IMSA Firestone Firehawk Grand Sports endurance race. He also took part in several SCCA events in the 1980s.
That IMSA debut placed him in the deep end, though. The three-hour endurance race at Road Atlanta demanded extreme patience from Cruise, who was sharing the car with Rick Hendrick. His true test of patience came when he encountered a refueling issue that disrupted his run.
The issue ultimately dropped his team to a 14th-place finish in the endurance race at Road Atlanta. Cruise completed 97 laps around the 2.52-mile road course and came away with a clearer understanding of what drivers go through each weekend.
“It was a lot of fun. I got a lot of seat time, and it was fun racing with those guys. The first three laps were like a demolition derby. Guys were bouncing off each other. After that, it settled down, and we had some good racing,” said Cruise, reflecting on the experience.
Cruise had started the Nissan 300 ZX Turbo from 15th on the grid and handled the opening 80 minutes of the three-hour race. He steadily climbed into P9 place before pitting on lap 50. That pit stop, however, proved costly.
A fueling problem stretched the visit to two minutes. They ended falling behind by two laps, undoing the progress. When Hendrick rejoined the race, the team found itself in 19th place, forced to salvage what it could over the remaining distance.
The event also marked Hendrick’s professional racing debut in the street-stock category. That race was won by John Heinricy of Holly, Michigan, and Stuart Hayner of Yorba Linda, California. Cruise and Hendrick focused on finishing the endurance challenge and gaining experience.
Now 63, Cruise appears ready to strap in once more, not to chase trophies, but to return to racing on the silver screen. Reports suggest Days of Thunder 2 will frame him as a mentor confronting modern technology and younger rivals, with themes centered on legacy, redemption, and NASCAR competition.
Speculation has also swirled around Margot Robbie potentially joining the cast as a rising star, alongside possible cameos from the original film’s ensemble.
Note: The Penske Entertainment editorial staff is looking back at the 10 biggest moments of 2025 in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in this year-end series, with one installment appearing on the site per day in countdown fashion from Dec. 22-31.
Doug Boles was once an NTT INDYCAR SERIES competitor, a founding partner of Panther Racing, which won season championships in 2001 and 2002 with Sam Hornish Jr. at the wheel. This year, the longtime Indianapolis Motor Speedway president was named to the same position at INDYCAR, replacing Jay Frye.
Boles has decades of motorsports experience. He became IMS president in 2013, overseeing the sellout of the 100th Indianapolis 500 in 2016, the first full-capacity crowd in the event’s stories history. He managed more than $150 million in strategic investment at the Racing Capital of the World, including “Project 100” and significant infrastructure improvements following the acquisition of IMS by Penske Corporation.
Across his tenure at IMS, Boles has been lauded for his promotional prowess and strategic marketing capabilities, growing the Speedway’s global reach and better connecting Indy 500 fans to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
Boles worked extensively within the INDYCAR paddock during his roles as Panther Racing’s chief operating officer and Hulman & Company’s vice president of communications. At Panther, he helped lead the Chevrolet-powered organization to 15 INDYCAR SERIES race wins and the two INDYCAR SERIES championships, in addition to seven INDY NXT by Firestone race wins and a championship won by Mark Taylor in 2003.
In total, Boles brought more than 20 years of executive leadership experience in motorsports, within team operations, sponsorship, marketing, public relations and more to INDYCAR.
Penske Entertainment President and CEO Mark Miles called Boles “the ideal choice” as the series moved into a new era of opportunity and visibility.
“(He) is appreciated by our fans and respected by our owners, drivers, partners and additional key stakeholders,” Miles said.
Frye served 10 years as president. During his tenure, he led a period of tremendous successes at INDYCAR, including securing the entitlement series sponsorships with Verizon and NTT, the development of the AK18 universal aero kit, development and implementation of the total driver cockpit safety solution aeroscreen and state-of-the-art hybrid technology introduction.
Frye also oversaw an expanded grid with incredible competition. The longtime motorsports executive is now president of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
The Olympic Flame doesn’t just travel through city squares and historic landmarks—it also stops where real-world craftsmanship happens. On December 27, the flame made a meaningful visit to the Pomigliano d’Arco Assembly Plant, one of Italy’s most important automotive manufacturing sites and the home of the Alfa Romeo Tonale compact SUV.
For Alfa Romeo, the moment was more than ceremonial. It was a powerful blend of sport, industry, and national pride as the flame’s journey toward the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics passed directly through one of the brand’s most modern production hubs.
A Factory With Deep Roots –
The Olympic Flame at the Pomigliano d’Arco Plant. (Stellantis).
Pomigliano d’Arco isn’t just another assembly plant—it’s a symbol of Italian manufacturing excellence. Alongside other key Stellantis facilities in Melfi, Modena, and Turin, Pomigliano represents the backbone of Italy’s automotive industry. Today, it plays a crucial role in Alfa Romeo’s future by producing the Tonale, a vehicle designed to bridge classic Alfa performance with modern electrification.
That made the plant a fitting stop as the Olympic Flame continues its long relay across Italy. After beginning its journey in Rome on December 6, the flame will pass through more than 300 towns and cities before reaching Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo for the opening ceremonies in 2026.
Alfa Romeo’s Role in the Olympic Journey –
The Olympic Flame at the Pomigliano d’Arco Plant. (Stellantis).
As an Official Partner of the Olympic Flame relay, Alfa Romeo is supporting the convoy with a fleet that includes the Stelvio, Tonale, and Junior. These vehicles aren’t just transportation—they’re rolling ambassadors for Italian design, performance, and technology.
Alfa Romeo has also tied the partnership directly to its product lineup, previewing special Milan Cortina 2026-themed editions of the Junior and Tonale. These models feature exclusive styling touches inside and out, along with sport-focused upgrades that reinforce the brand’s performance-first identity while celebrating the Olympic spirit.
Employees Take Center Stage –
The Olympic Flame at the Pomigliano d’Arco Plant. (Stellantis).
One of the most impactful parts of the event had nothing to do with sheet metal or horsepower. Alfa Romeo employees and their families were invited to take part in the celebration, turning a normal production day into a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
A selected group of workers physically carried the Olympic Flame through the plant itself, weaving between production areas while coworkers looked on. It was a rare and emotional moment that connected everyday manufacturing jobs with one of the world’s most recognizable symbols.
Adding to the significance was the presence of Stefania Belmondo, one of Italy’s most decorated Winter Olympians. With ten Olympic medals and a legendary career in cross-country skiing, Belmondo opened and closed the event, sharing personal reflections about representing Olympic values on the world stage.
Bigger Than One Brand –
The Olympic Flame at the Pomigliano d’Arco Plant. (Stellantis).
The Pomigliano stop also highlighted Stellantis’ broader role in the Games. As an Automotive Premium Partner, Stellantis brands—including Alfa Romeo, FIAT, Lancia, and Maserati—will provide approximately 3,000 vehicles to support athletes, staff, volunteers, and officials during the Games. More than half of that fleet will be electrified, underscoring the group’s push toward a more sustainable future.
For Alfa Romeo, the Olympic Flame’s visit wasn’t just about the Games—it was about celebrating people, passion, and the pride that comes from building vehicles with history and purpose.
For any driver, finding victory lane is the pinnacle of their career. However, not every driver is lucky enough to find victory lane during their career. In 2026, rookies, veterans, and everyone in between will fight across 36 races in hopes of finding victory lane for the first time.
This list will be limited to full-time Cup Series drivers. Drivers competing part-time are not eligible, but adjustments can be made in the event of a driver swap.
This list will start with the driver with the fewest number of career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series and end with the driver with the most. These streaks can span all the way from single digits to triple digits.
Last season, Josh Berry removed his name from this list, winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in his 52nd career NASCAR Cup Series start.
Zilisch enters the 2026 season with just three starts under his belt, none at short tracks and none at super speedways. While he adjusted to the Xfinity Series rather quickly, this Cup Series will likely come as a sharper learning curve for the 19-year-old.
44 Starts – Riley Herbst – No. 35 – 23XI Racing
Despite showing promise in sporadic starts leading up to the 2025 season, Riley Herbst had one of the toughest rookie seasons in recent NASCAR history. While the pressure will be on in 2026, Herbst has overcome a similar situation before, coming quite a ways from his rookie season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2020.
After his impressive rookie campaign in 2024, Hocevar improved yet again in 2025, scoring better counting stats, his first career pole, and a much-improved average starting spot. The No. 77 came close twice in 2025, and it is only a matter of time before the stars align for Hocevar and Spire.
81 Starts – Zane Smith – No. 38 – Front Row Motorsports
Zane Smith made his return to Front Row Motorsports this past season, and, despite all-around struggles from the team, the No. 38 seemed like FRM’s most consistent option from start to finish. Smith still has a way to go until he is a real threat week in and week out, but once he finds his groove in the Cup Series, a win will likely follow soon after.
Noah Gragson is entering his first NASCAR Cup Series season, in which he will return to the team he raced with the year prior. The 2025 season was very challenging for Gragson, but maybe some consistency will pay off and help the fan favorite driver score his first win in 2026.
113 Starts – John Hunter Nemechek – No. 42 – Legacy Motor Club
John Hunter Nemechek may not have won his first race in 2025, but his year-to-year improvement cannot be overlooked. Entering 2026, he and his Legacy Motor Club teammate Erik Jones have a knack for racing at Darlington, and maybe Nemechek can turn his 2025 Southern 500 run into a win this season.
123 Starts – Ty Gibbs – No. 54 – Joe Gibbs Racing
It never felt like the No. 54 team found its footing during the 2025 season. Following a crew chief change and a difficult end to 2024, Gibbs and company found themselves starting where the team left off in 2024, and though he came close to winning at Bristol, the odds did not fall in his favor, keeping his winless streak alive for yet another season.
142 Starts – Cody Ware – No. 51 – Rick Ware Racing
Much like his family’s team, Cody Ware has yet to find a way to win after many years racing in NASCAR’s highest level. Though he may not impress every week, that No. 51 is often at the front of the field during superspeedway races, and if his timing is right, that could pay off in the long run.
Todd Gilliland took on the role of veteran for Front Row Motorsports in 2025, but failed to build on the gains he made during the 2024 season. As always, FRM had fast cars on superspeedways in 2025, and this will likely carry into the 2026 season, with Gilliand’s knack for racing on drafting tracks, which could be his most likely route to his first win.
223 Starts – Ryan Preece – No. 60 – RFK Racing
After a solid first season at RFK Racing, the vibe around Ryan Preece has shifted from ‘will he match expectations’ to ‘when will he finally win?’ The short track ace will have many opportunities to do so during his second year with the team, and his countdown to victory lane seems to be slowly coming to an end.
281 Starts – Ty Dillon – No. 10 – Kaulig Racing
Ty Dillon has had one of the toughest careers in the NASCAR Cup Series, and despite outperforming his equipment at times and frequent team changes, Dillon remained winless in his first year with Kaulig Racing. The second-generation racer has a hunger to win and hasn’t given up yet, and maybe 2026 will be his season to break this streak.
This list will be updated as the season goes on and drivers get their first wins.
