Who was the worst driver to win a Cup race

RacerrecaR said:
Was Robby a dirty driver? Absolutely. Was Robby a talented driver? Absolutely. Is Robby the worst driver to have won a Cup race? Absolutely not. He would have been a perennial top-10 championship standings driver with the right team in my opinion.
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Every driver that will be named in this topic will be a talented driver... and the argument for "if he were lined up with the right team" can also apply to 90% of the drivers who have ever started their engines at the cup series level.
 
RacerrecaR said:
Was Robby a dirty driver? Absolutely. Was Robby a talented driver? Absolutely. Is Robby the worst driver to have won a Cup race? Absolutely not. He would have been a perennial top-10 championship standings driver with the right team in my opinion.
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In every discipline he's raced in, he's won.

Baja 500 and 1000 winner, Dakar rally stage winner, SCORE (formerly known as CORR) championships, won in his own stadium truck series (Speed Energy Off-Road Series) and the series is a hit, CART, NASCAR, and other wins and championships.

He was a pretentious a**hole, yes. He was dirty, but damn Robby was fun to watch when he was fast.
 
2 Sweet said:
Cope has done absolutely nothing in the last 20 years, but did win a Daytona 500 back when superspeedway wins weren't quite as fluky, and won later in the same year at Dover. I would say that the 2nd win proved he wasn't too awful of a driver. It's not very easy to luck into two Cup wins.
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That's kind of my thinking.

Greg Saks is a good pick. Most people don't know how cheated up that car was when he won the Firecracker 400.
 
MRM said:
That's kind of my thinking.

Greg Saks is a good pick. Most people don't know how cheated up that car was when he won the Firecracker 400.
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Sacks had some weirdly memorable races on restrictor plate tracks. He nearly won the 1990 Winston 500 in an great duel with DE Sr. I think his Slim Fast car was better but Earnhardt simply wouldn't let him by. I vividly remember watching the end of that race. Then at the next plate race (Pepsi 400) there was something sketchy with his car. He won the poll then proceeded to take out half the field (including a really strong Petty car) as the field crosssed the S/F line to conclude lap one.
 
KodiakRusty89 said:
Then at the next plate race (Pepsi 400) there was something sketchy with his car. He won the poll then proceeded to take out half the field (including a really strong Petty car) as the field crosssed the S/F line to conclude lap one.
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The qualifying lap was cheated up. NASCAR found out and made them change engines, and for whatever reason, didn't make them start at the back of the field. So when it went green his car was significantly slower than the other guys, which mucked everything up.

I could be wrong with some of the details, but I think that's basically what happened.
 
Nichodemus said:
Lake Speed and Phil Parsons both won a single race in the 80's. I'd still go with Menard though.
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Lake Speed did have some other the good races, and his win was at Darlington.
I was at that race sitting in the covered stands that was at the turn four exit (it is turn two now). I don't know what they had that day but they ran through 3 and 4 better than anyone else. Sitting in four you could just watch that car eat when running through the appex, I still have that mental visual 30 years later.
 
kkfan91 said:
Not this, he was with a falling apart DEI and a building Furniture Row. He was very good with Jr in Xfinity. Plus he should have 2 cup wins.
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For at least 15 laps he was one of the top five drivers I've ever seen. I rate a driver with a single win at Darlington ahead of any with a single win on a plate track (or almost anywhere else).

I can agree with Sacks or Cope.
 
I know it's insensitive to say it, but I'm surprised Aric Almirola hasn't been brought up.

Again, I wouldn't say he's "the worst", he's much better than his stats. But his statistics aren't very good... he has one win, in a rain shortened race at Daytona and only has 29 top-10 finishes in 10 years of racing in Cup. His XFINITY career isn't much better. His only non-plate win was earned by Denny Hamlin. And one of his two plate wins came as a result of NASCAR throwing the caution on the last lap a couple hundred feet from the checkered flag.
 
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Charlie Spencer said:
For at least 15 laps he was one of the top five drivers I've ever seen. I rate a driver with a single win at Darlington ahead of any with a single win on a plate track (or almost anywhere else).
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Had old tires and held Carl Edwards off, IIRC. That was a spectacular drive.

kkfan91 said:
Not this, he was with a falling apart DEI and a building Furniture Row.
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Even Kurt Busch didn't win with Furniture Row, although he did have several good runs.

And, to be fair, the "DEI" car he was in wasn't bad when he was in it, but he was a rookie. Mark Martin won the Daytona 500 in it and was leading the points before Smith's first start.
 
RacerrecaR said:
Derrike Cope. Back in the day I knew a pit crew guy for Ryan Newman and I asked him this same question. He said that pretty much everyone in the garage agrees that Cope is a total hack. He's apparently hit a few people with his car in the garage area over the years, so that alone should tell you something about his talent level.
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The real story with the Cope wins wasn't about Cope..... the underlying story was Buddy Parrott and the Bob Whitcomb team....... Purolator was the sponsor and it was considered a third rate team..... Buddy Parrott was considered a washer up old crew chief that was over the hill and was unemployable by the top teams..... I was at that '90 Daytona race..... saw Earnhardt cut that tire in turn 3 and was never so happy to see Cope win the race...... Not as much happy for Cope as for Buddy...... That win..... and to back it up in Dover put Buddy back up in the list... He had a few more good years working for Roush...... Cope might not be the best driver........ but.... those 15 minutes of fame sure didn't hurt.....
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
And, to be fair, the "DEI" car he was in wasn't bad when he was in it, but he was a rookie. Mark Martin won the Daytona 500 in it and was leading the points before Smith's first start.
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Martin lost in that Ginn car.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
And, to be fair, the "DEI" car he was in wasn't bad when he was in it, but he was a rookie. Mark Martin won the Daytona 500 in it and was leading the points before Smith's first start.
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I think those two things were a year apart. Martin's Daytona 500 "win" and early points lead was in 2007, Smith's rookie year was 2008. Martin split time in the 01 with Aric Almirola in 2007 IIRC. Then in '08, Regan took over the 01 and Mark Martin replaced Dale Jr in the 8 car.
 
ToyYoda said:
I think those two things were a year apart. Martin's Daytona 500 "win" was in 2007, Smith's rookie year was 2008. Martin split time in the 01 with Aric Almirola in 2007 IIRC. Then in '08, Regan took over the 01 and Mark Martin replaced Dale Jr in the 8 car.
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Martin split the 01 in 2007 with Regan Smith and Aric Almirola.

http://racing-reference.info/drivdet/smithre01/2007/W

http://www.racing-reference.info/drivdet/almirar01/2007/W

He split the 8 with Almirola in 2008.

http://www.racing-reference.info/drivdet/almirar01/2008/W
 
ToyYoda said:
I think those two things were a year apart. Martin's Daytona 500 "win" and early points lead was in 2007, Smith's rookie year was 2008. Martin split time in the 01 with Aric Almirola in 2007 IIRC. Then in '08, Regan took over the 01 and Mark Martin replaced Dale Jr in the 8 car.
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I am still counting up all the races that Mark won in the 01 and 8 car(s).
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Mark Martin won the 2007 Daytona 500. And the 1990 Winston Cup Championship.
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Daytona-500-01-mw-021807.jpg
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
I know it's insensitive to say it, but I'm surprised Aric Almirola hasn't been brought up.

Again, I wouldn't say he's "the worst", he's much better than his stats. But his statistics aren't very good... he has one win, in a rain shortened race at Daytona and only has 29 top-10 finishes in 10 years of racing in Cup. His XFINITY career isn't much better. His only non-plate win was earned by Denny Hamlin. And one of his two plate wins came as a result of NASCAR throwing the caution on the last lap a couple hundred feet from the checkered flag.
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Don't disagree Menard and Almirola have pretty comparable stats, with Almirola managing to run better in lesser equipment in Cup now, IMO.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
I know of one.



Fake news.



RCR's equipment isn't elite either. Kevin Harvick proved that when he went to SHR and won a championship right out of the box.
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Shouldn't you post a fake trophy and mannequin trophy queen for your driver's fantasy 500 win, and his revisionist cup championship.
 
Richard Brickhouse (pre cup 1969).
 
After reading through this thread and thinking about it; Sacks might not only be the worst driver to win a race he might be the most crooked. They guy basically ran rigged R&D cars for a 5-6 year period. And that includes the ones at Hendrick....

His '89 wreck at Pocono with Lake Speed is one of the biggest hits I've ever seen...
 
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KodiakRusty89 said:
Sacks had some weirdly memorable races on restrictor plate tracks. He nearly won the 1990 Winston 500 in an great duel with DE Sr. I think his Slim Fast car was better but Earnhardt simply wouldn't let him by. I vividly remember watching the end of that race. Then at the next plate race (Pepsi 400) there was something sketchy with his car. He won the poll then proceeded to take out half the field (including a really strong Petty car) as the field crosssed the S/F line to conclude lap one.
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Remember that one. I am not above talking NASCAR quasi-fixing races. I think when the sport needs it, they will give certain teams a call, like Jr. in the 2001 Pepsi 400. With the media hype the King was getting that week, I often wonder if that was supposed to be 201. Sacks would get my vote or maybe Lake Speed.
 
JKinFLA said:
I met him a few weekends ago. Sat down at the bar at a restaurant and just struck up a conversation. I didn't know it was him for awhile. Super nice guy.

My pick is Michael
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That's pretty cool......... I once had a flight across the country and was seated next to Connie Kalitta.......
 
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