#SrigleyStats Countdown to Daytona: 35 Days!
Sunday, January 14th, 2024 -- 35 Days Until Daytona!
35 DAYS UNTIL DAYTONA!
Let’s look back at the history of the #35 in NASCAR’s National Series.
FIRST USAGE:
NCS: 1949-02 — Daytona Beach — Glenn Dunnaway
NXS: 1982-01 — Daytona — Bill Venturini
NCTS: 1982-01 — Phoenix — Bill Venturini
BEST FINISH:
NCS: P2 — Mel Larson — 1960-08 (Phoenix)
NXS: P2 — Doug Heveron — 1995-10 (Nazareth)
NCTS: P2 — Jake Garcia — 2023-23 (Phoenix)
BEST START:
NCS: 1 NASCAR Cup Series Pole [Mel Larson — 1960-08 (Phoenix)]
NXS: P3 — Lyndon Amick — 1998-21 (IRP)
NXS: P3 — Lyndon Amick — 1999-03 (Las Vegas)
NXS: P3 — Regan Smith — 2006-29 (Dover)
NCTS: P2 — Jake Garcia — 2023-15 (Pocono)
IS THE NUMBER ACTIVE?
In 2023, the #35 was utilized in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series full-time for two different organizations. The number was also a crucial part of one of the best memories of the ARCA Menards Series season.
In the NASCAR Cup Series, the #35 has remained untouched for the last seven years, as Front Row Motorsports was the last organization to utilize the number — as part of a two-race effort in 2016 for David Gilliland.
Front Row Motorsports had utilized the #35 for three years between 2013 and 2016, having Josh Wise run the majority of the schedule in 2013, and Cole Whitt competing full-time using the number in 2015.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Emerling-Gase Motorsports has fielded the #35 as a full-time entry the last two seasons, with several drivers behind the wheel including Patrick Emerling, Joey Gase, CJ McLaughlin, Chris Hacker, Alex Guenette, and others.
Throughout the last two seasons, the #35 has recorded a single top-10 finish for Emerling-Gase Motorsports, with team co-owner Joey Gase finishing ninth at Talladega Superspeedway in the Spring of 2023.
No plans have been announced for the #35 or Emerling-Gase Motorsports for 2024.
In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Jake Garcia and McAnally-Hilgemann Racing were utilizing the #35 in 2023, with the Monroe, Georgia-native contesting his first full season in NASCAR’s top-three series.
Garcia missed out on the season-opener at Daytona because of his age, with Chase Elliott filling in, but the season afterward was solid, especially for a rookie, including a career-best runner-up result in the season-finale at Phoenix — the best-ever finish for the #35 in the Truck Series.
For 2024, Garcia moves on to ThorSport Racing to drive the #13, while McAnally-HIlgemann Racing has hired Tyler Ankrum, and renumbered the #35 to #18, leaving the number currently vacated in 2024.
WHO HAS MOST FREQUENTLY USED THE #35?
NASCAR Cup Series: Cole Whitt — 36 Starts
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Joey Gase — 85 Starts
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Ron Barfield, Jr. — 30 Starts
MISCELLANEOUS STATS ABOUT THE #35 IN NASCAR
Bill Venturini, widely known for being a championship-winning car owner in the ARCA Menards Series, was the first driver to use the #35 in the NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series and also used the number in the NASCAR Cup Series.
David Starr has used the #35 in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series but did so more than two decades apart and for totally different organizations.
In the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season-finale, Jake Garcia recorded the best-ever finish for the #35 in the series, a second-place result.
Mel Larson secured both the best-ever starting spot (P1) and best-ever finishing position (P2) for the #35 in the NASCAR Cup Series in the same event, the 1960 Copper Cup 100 at Phoenix Raceway.
While the #35 hasn’t been used for seven years in the NASCAR Cup Series, the car number also hasn’t recorded a top-10 finish in a quarter-century, with Todd Bodine scoring the number’s most recent top-10 at Atlanta in 1998.
Drivers from Canada, America, Mexico, and Japan have all piloted the #35 in one of NASCAR’s National Series — including Alex Labbe, Alex Guenette, and Akinori Ogata, among others from the United States.