76 years later: The shared history of Ryan Preece and NASCAR’s forgotten champion

2026 has been a fun season for NASCAR fans interested in numerology, specifically in relation to race-winning car numbers.

Tyler Reddick was the first driver to ever win the Daytona 500 with the No. 45, while it also became the 31st different car number to win NASCAR’s biggest race.

Shane van Gisbergen finally got to drive his No. 97 in the Cup Series, and was the first driver in 21 years to win with it at the highest level of the sport.

Carson Hocevar was just the third driver to ever win with the No. 77, and Ty Gibbs gave the No. 54 its first Cup victory since 1978 — 48 years ago.

But perhaps most interesting story was the shock…

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