NASCAR Successes & Failures
Some teams write history in tire smoke. Others stall out before the first lap gets exciting. NASCAR has room for both. This list highlights the dynasties that defined the sport and the long shots that never quite caught the checkered flag. Let’s begin with the winners!
Zach Catanzareti Photo on Wikimedia
1. Hendrick Motorsports
Think NASCAR royalty? That’s Hendrick. With 314 Cup Series wins and 14 championships, they’ve set records while barely breaking a sweat. Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Larson—names that don’t just race, they dominate. Their garage probably smells like tire rubber and trophies.
Hendrick Motorsports Campus Tour by Classic Performance
2. Petty Enterprises
Founded by Lee Petty in 1949, the team logged 268 wins, 10 championships, and data-driven superiority during the sport's formative decades. Richard Petty alone secured 200 of those victories, becoming an outlier in win distribution models.
3. Joe Gibbs Racing
Joe Gibbs left the NFL and decided, “Let’s win here, too.” Casual. Since '92, JGR has racked up 214 wins and multiple titles with stars like Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Turns out winning plays work just as well on tracks as they do on turf.
4. Team Penske
Established in 1972, Team Penske has accumulated 150 Cup Series wins and multiple championships. Known for strategic brilliance and engineering rigor, they've fielded consistent contenders like Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Plus, their focus on structure and performance makes them a fixture at the front of the field.
5. Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing
Roush was so dominant at one point that it made their later dry spells feel like a cosmic joke. He has 141 wins, proving that cat-in-a-hat (Jack’s literal nickname) knows his cars. Add Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards, and you’ve got a team that quietly crushed expectations.
Mike Kalasnik from Jersey City, USA on Wikimedia
6. Junior Johnson & Associates
132 wins. 6 championships. One former bootlegger turned team owner, Junior Johnson, didn’t just race—he created legends. From Darrell Waltrip to Cale Yarborough, the man ran a garage like it was a wartime strategy. It worked, sometimes brutally well.
Stephen Hynds from Carfin, Scotland on Wikimedia
7. Richard Childress Racing
Close your eyes. Picture the No. 3 roaring down the track. That’s Dale Earnhardt. And behind that was Richard Childress Racing. With 117 wins and six titles, this team brought grit, drama, and heart to the sport. The black Chevy. The growl. The glory.
Master Sgt. Kevin Brody on Wikimedia
8. Wood Brothers Racing
They started in 1950, and they’re still here. With 100 wins and a Daytona miracle in 2011, the Wood Brothers proved age doesn’t slow legacy. Every victory carries echoes of the past, and every pit stop is a heartbeat of tradition. No frills, just soul.
9. Stewart-Haas Racing
Tony Stewart and Gene Haas weren’t in it for participation trophies. Built on grit and horsepower, Stewart-Haas Racing racked up 70 wins and two championships. The mission was clear since day one—take the lead, set the pace, and never look back.
Mike Fonseca from Mechanicsville, VA, United States on Wikimedia
10. Holman-Moody
Before NASCAR was slick, Holman-Moody was already winning. From 1957 to 1971, this team notched 96 wins and set mechanical benchmarks that changed the sport. Think grease-stained hands, thunderous engines, and a blueprint other teams still borrow from.
While some teams built legacies, others struggled just to stay on the lead lap. The next 10 rarely found their way to the front.
1. Team Red Bull
Plenty of energy but not enough wins. Team Red Bull entered NASCAR with a flashy brand and big expectations. The result? Only two wins during a short-lived stretch between 2006 and 2011. Looks might sell energy drinks, but they didn’t score many points.
2. Swan Racing
Swan Racing came in hot and fizzled fast. From 2012 to 2014, poor results and weak funding led to a rapid downfall. Big ideas met harsh realities. Two years later, the team was gone—barely a blip on the NASCAR radar.
3. NEMCO Motorsports
NEMCO’s Cup Series effort lacked both pace and resources. Despite success in lower-tier racing, the transition to the top level exposed financial limitations and technical gaps. Limited starts and consistently low finishes defined its time, making sustained competitiveness an unattainable goal.
4. Premium Motorsports
There’s always that one car trailing two laps behind. More often than not, it was Premium Motorsports. They hung in there for five years, and yet, top finishes were rare, and excitement was even rarer. Eventually, Rick Ware Racing scooped them up, and the story quietly ended.
5. Hillman Racing
Hillman Racing gave it a shot from 2012 to 2015 but rarely cracked the front pack. Low funding and limited equipment left the team stuck in the back half of the field. Every race was a grind, and fans wanted to cheer, but the scoreboard didn't.
6. BK Racing
Between 2012 and 2018, BK Racing entered hundreds of races and never won a single one. For a while, it felt like finishing was the only real goal. Then, financial struggles piled up. The team limped through seasons before eventually going bankrupt.
7. StarCom Racing
StarCom hit the track in 2017 and quietly exited by 2021. No top-10 finishes. No jaw-dropping moments. Just a steady stream of underwhelming performances. Finally, the team sold the charter, closed the doors, and faded into NASCAR trivia night history.
8. Mike Harmon Racing
Despite years in the Xfinity Series, Mike Harmon Racing remains a statistical outlier—high in DNQs, low in top finishes. Plus, the team had no top-20 results. It turns out that limited resources and aging equipment have kept them on the fringe of competition, rarely breaking through the noise.
Zach Catanzareti Photo on Wikimedia
9. TriStar Motorsports
TriStar Motorsports gave it a go, but it was just not a winning one. For years, they showed up, logged laps, and rarely made headlines. The effort was real, but the speed just wasn't. By 2019, they packed it up with zero Cup wins and not much fanfare.
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10. Morgan-McClure
Sometimes, even legends stall out. Once a winning team in the '90s, Morgan-McClure fell hard in its final years. As sponsors disappeared, so did speed. What started as a respected name slowly faded out, ending its story in 2009.
