Today in History (cont'd)

• Nov. 30 -- 1931: Dick Hutcherson, who won 14 Cup Series races in 103 starts, is born on this day. Hutcherson competed in the Cup series from 1964 to 1967. He finished second in points in 1965, his first full season, getting nine wins and 32 top-five finishes in 52 starts. In 1967, he finished third, starting 33 of 49 races. In all, he had 64 top-fives, 73 top-10s and 21 poles before retiring as a driver.

• Nov. 29 -- 1921: Ernie Derr, who makes only one start in the Cup Series, is born. Derr, of Keokuk, Iowa, makes his lone start about 60 miles up the road in Davenport, Iowa, in a 200-lap race in August 1953 on the half-mile dirt track of Davenport Speedway. Derr finishes 11th in the 14-car field and wins $25. Herb Thomas wins the race and takes home $1,000.

• Nov. 28 -- 1952: Maurice Randall, who makes four starts in the Cup Series in 1984-85, is born on this day. Randall is from Charlotte ... Michigan, not North Carolina. All four of Randall's starts result in DNFs. His best finish comes at Rockingham in 1985 when he finishes 35th of 40 cars. He finishes last -- 30th, 37th and 39th -- in his other three starts.

• Nov. 27 -- 1979: Happy 30th birthday, Ricky Carmichael. Carmichael, who earned the nickname Goat -- Greatest of all time -- for his outstanding achievements in motocross, just finished his first season in the Camping World Truck Series. Competing in 18 of 25 races, Carmichael finished 22nd in the standings. He posted two top-10s, a seventh at Kentucky and eighth at Fontana.

• Nov. 26 -- 1956: Dale Jarrett is born on this day. Jarrett, the 1999 Cup Series champion, won 32 races during 24 seasons. He retired in 2008 with 163 top-five finishes and 260 top-10s in 668 starts. He also won 11 Nationwide races in 329 starts.

• Nov. 25 -- 1957: Ground is broken for Daytona International Speedway. The soil underneath the banked corners was dug from the infield of the track and the hole was filled with water, which created Lake Lloyd.

• Nov. 24 -- 1932: Bob Hogle, who makes three career Cup starts, is born on this day. A Californian, Hogle makes all three starts in his home state. He finishes 13th in Los Angeles and 23rd in Sacramento in 1959 and 33rd in Hanford in 1960.

• Nov. 23 -- 1975: Forty cars start the Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway, but only 14 cars finish the final race of the season. Buddy Baker wins the 200-lap race by 29.4 seconds over David Pearson. Dave Marcis, in third, is the only other car on the lead lap. Twenty cars drop out of the 500-mile race because of blown engines.

• Nov. 22 -- 1970: Bobby Allison wins the final Cup race run at Langley Field Speedway in Hampton, Va. Allison beats Benny Parsons by 100 yards in the Tidewater 300. The two are on the only drivers to lead laps on the .395-mile track -- Allison leads 254 and Parsons 46.

• Nov. 21 -- 1976: James Hylton, who starts 601 Cup races from 1964 to 1993, finishes in the top five for the last time. Hylton finishes fifth in the final race of the 1976 season, the Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway. Hylton will make another 177 starts in his career with a top finish of sixth at Nashville in 1979.

• Nov. 20 -- 2004: David Ragan makes his Nationwide Series debut in the Ford 300 at Homestead. Ragan, 18 at the time, starts 36th and finishes 31st. Kevin Harvick gets the win, Jamie McMurray is second and 19-year-old Kyle Busch is third.

• Nov. 19 -- 1978: Two-time Cup winner Ray Elder makes his 31st and final start in the Cup Series. Elder completes two of 200 laps of the Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway before bowing out with engine problems. Both of his wins come in his 19 starts on the road course of Riverside International Raceway. Riverside is also the site of eight of Elder's nine top-fives and 10 of his 16 top-10s.

• Nov. 18 -- 2001: Kurt Busch, a 23-year-old rookie driving the No. 97 Ford for Jack Roush, fails to qualify for the NAPA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is the only time in his 327-race Cup career Busch has failed to qualify for a race.

• Nov. 17 -- 1964: Fireball Roberts wins a 139-lap race on the 3-mile road course of August (Ga.) International Raceway for his 33rd and final Cup victory. The time of the race is nearly five hours, and Roberts takes the checkered flag one lap and 28 seconds ahead of Bob MacDonald.

• Nov. 16 -- 1986: Al Unser, a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, starts his last NASCAR Cup race, finishing 20th in Winston Western 500 at Riverside. Unser starts five races over three seasons (1968, 1969 and 1986) and posts three top 10s, two in the top five.

• Nov. 15 -- 2003: Kasey Kahne wins the Ford 300 at Homestead, the final race of the Nationwide season, for his first NASCAR victory. Driving the No. 38 Ford, Kahne beats Martin Truex Jr. by .590 seconds, and Bobby Hamilton Jr. is third.

• Nov. 14 -- 1993: Rusty Wallace wins the Hooters 500 at Atlanta to give Pontiac the most wins in the Cup Series, 11, to 10 for Ford. Chevrolet has nine wins. No carmaker other than Chevrolet and Ford has had more victories in a season since.

• Nov. 13 -- 1966: Richard Petty wins the Augusta 300 at Augusta (Ga.) Speedway to win the first race of the 1967 season. Petty's second win of the season won't come for four more months, but it will be the second of 27 wins in the 1967 season, a record that likely never will be broken.

• Nov. 12 -- 1967: Bobby Allison wins the Middle Georgia 500, the first race of the 1968 season, for his 10th career win in his 92nd start. Allison leads 271 laps on the .534-mile track in Macon, Ga., and beats Richard Petty by more than a lap.

• Nov. 11 -- 2000: For the first time in Nationwide Series history, three rookies finish in the top 10 in points: Kevin Harvick (third), Ron Hornaday (fifth) and Jimmie Johnson (10th).

• Nov. 10 -- 2007: Kyle Busch wins the Arizona Travel 200 at Phoenix for his 11th and final Nationwide Series victory with Hendrick Motorsports. Busch has since won 18 Nationwide races for Joe Gibbs Racing, with two races left in the 2009 season.

• Nov. 9 -- 1958: Richard Petty finishes 13th in his only career start in the No. 24. Petty finishes 10 laps behind winner Bob Welborn in a 150-lap race at one-third mile Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, N.C. Although the race takes place in 1958, it is actually the first race of the 1959 season. In the other 20 races he starts in the season, 19 are in the No. 43 and one is the No. 42.

• Nov. 8 -- 1980: Happy birthday, Travis Geisler. The crew chief for the No. 77 Dodge of Sam Hornish Jr., Geisler also started 12 Nationwide races in 2003. Hornish, in his second full season of Cup racing, is 29th in the Cup standings going into Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas.

• Nov. 7 -- 2004: In his 600th Cup start, Mark Martin finishes 15th in the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets the win with Ryan Newman second and Jeff Gordon third.

• Nov. 6 -- 1977: G.C. Spencer finishes 25th in the Dixie 500 at Atlanta in his final Cup race. Spencer starts at least one race from 1958 through 1977. He is winless in 415 starts with 55 top-fives and 138 top-10s. His best season is 1965 when finishes fourth in the standings and records 14 top-fives and 25 top-10s in 47 starts.

• Nov. 5 -- 2006: Tony Stewart wins for the first time at Texas, beating Jimmie Johnson by .272 seconds. He leads 278 of 339 laps and has a Driver Rating of 149.7.

• Nov. 4 -- 1990: Only two drivers lead laps of the Checker 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Rusty Wallace leads the first 50 before his engine expires, and Dale Earnhardt leads the last 262 for the victory, winning by 0.67 seconds over Ken Schrader.

• Nov. 3 -- 2001: Willy T. Ribbs finishes 18th in the Auto Club 200 Truck Series race at Fontana in his last NASCAR start. Ribbs competes in 23 of the Truck season's 24 races and finishes 16th in the standings. It is his only season in the Truck Series. In 1986, he competed in three Cup Series races.

• Nov. 2 -- 1975: Richard Petty wins the only Cup Series race run in November at Bristol, beating Lennie Pond by more than a lap in the Volunteer 500. It also is the last of Petty's eight victories in the month of November.

• Nov. 1 -- 1998: Jeff Gordon wins the AC Delco 400 by .52 seconds over Dale Jarrett to sweep both races at Rockingham. It is Gordon's fourth and final victory at the Rock. In 23 Cup starts at North Carolina Speedway, Gordon posts 11 top-10s, with eight finishes in the top five. (Continued)