History of the No. 10: Rudd, Cope made it a number to remember
Over its lengthy history in NASCAR's top series, a No. 10 car has been raced by a whopping 114 different drivers.
Only four of those drivers have gone to Victory Lane, however, while only two -- Ricky Rudd and Derrike Cope -- have triumphed multiple times.
The most successful driver of the No. 10 was Chesapeake, Virginia native Ricky Rudd, who won six times between 1994 and 1998 as owner/driver of No. 10 Tide-sponsored car.
It was one of Cope's two victories that stands as by far the greatest by a No. 10 car in NASCAR, however.
That win, of course, came in the 1990 Daytona 500 -- a race dominated by Dale Earnhardt, who lost the lead to Cope with less than half a lap to go when The Intimidator's famed black No. 3 Goodwrench-sponsored Chevrolet slowed with a cut tire.
Cope, who would go on to capture his second and final top series NASCAR win later that season at Dover, celebrated a victory that today remains arguably the biggest upset in NASCAR history.
While the No. 10 has been around since NASCAR's inaugural season of 1949 when it was campaigned in three races -- two by Fred Johnson, one by John Riggi -- the number never adorned the side a NASCAR premier series winner's car until Greg Sacks pulled into Victory Lane for the first and final time of his career in the July 1985 race at Daytona International Speedway.
The No. 10 car's most recent win came courtesy of Johnny Benson Jr. at Rockingham Speedway on Nov. 3, 2002.
Danica Patrick, the current driver of the No. 10, has made all 118 of her top series NASCAR starts with the number, with the first coming at the 2012 Daytona 500. Her best finish with the number is sixth, which came at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day weekend 2014.
Here's a look at the No. 10:
Starts: 1,242
Wins: 10
Wins by driver: Ricky Rudd, 6; Derrike Cope, 2; Greg Sacks, 1; Johnny Benson Jr., 1
Top fives: 67
Top 10s: 218
Poles: 9
Average start: 21.6
Average finish: 21.78
Drivers: 114
All stats provided by driveraverages.com.
