Crown Jewel Victories: One-And-Done Winners
by Tom Jensen August 14, 2026
Seven drivers earned their only NASCAR Cup Series victories on the sport’s biggest stages. And three of them did it in the same season.
In the NASCAR Cup Series, there are four races considered to be the sport’s “Crown Jewel” events: the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Collectively, these four races have been run more than 240 times, dating back to the first Southern 500 in 1950. Of those more than 240 Crown Jewel races in NASCAR history, seven have a unique distinction: They were won by drivers who had never won a Cup Series race before and would never win another Cup race afterwards.
Here are all seven drivers and the Crown Jewels they won:
It took Johnny Mantz 6 hours and 39 minutes to win the first Southern 500 in 1950. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center via Getty Images
Johnny Mantz: 1950 Southern 500
Darlington Raceway hosted the inaugural Southern 500 on Labor Day of 1950. NASCAR’s first paved oval of more than a mile in length, Darlington had a field of 75 cars for the first Southern 500. Johnny Mantz started last in his lightweight, six-cylinder Plymouth, which was equipped with heavy-duty truck tires to provide better wear. While most of the faster and heavier V-8-powered cars encountered severe tire problems, Mantz cruised to an easy victory, finishing 9 laps ahead of second-place Fireball Roberts (Class of 2014).
For his career, Mantz would make only 12 Cup Series starts, with four top-five finishes. Fun fact: Mantz’s race-winning Plymouth was co-owned by bootlegger Hubert Westmoreland and NASCAR founder and Chairman William H.G. France (Class of 2010).
In 11 years of NASCAR Cup Series racing, nearly half the laps Larry Frank led in his entire career came in the 1962 Southern 500. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center via Getty Images
Larry Frank: 1962 Southern 500
The Pontiacs of pole-sitter Fireball Roberts (Class of 2014) and Bobby Johns looked like the cars to beat in the early going of the 1962 Southern 500, but both crashed out early, seemingly setting up Junior Johnson (Class of 2010) for the victory. Johnson took the checkered flag and drove his Ray Fox-owned Pontiac to Victory Lane for the post-race festivities at Darlington. Hours later, after a protest by rival car owner/crew chief Ratus Walters, the victory was awarded to Larry Frank, driver of Walters’ No. 66 Ford. It was the only career Cup Series race win for both the owner and driver.
Frank made 103 starts over 11 seasons, with 10 top-five finishes. Fun fact: Petty Enterprises entered three 1962 Plymouths in the 1962 Southern 500. Richard Petty (Class of 2010) survived collision damage and a late-race flat tire on his No. 43 Plymouth to finish fifth, one spot ahead of the No. 42 entry driven by teammate Jim Paschal. Bunkie Blackburn finished 32nd after crashing his No. 41 Petty Enterprises Plymouth.
Along with A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti is one of only two drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center via Getty Images
Mario Andretti: 1967 Daytona 500
Truly a man who needs no introduction, Mario Andretti is one of the world’s all-time great racers. A four-time Indy Car/USAC champion, Andretti won the 1969 Indianapolis 500 and the 1978 Formula One World Driving Championship. Andretti also was named Driver of the Century by the Associated Press in 2000. His only NASCAR victory came in the 1967 Daytona 500, when he and his Holman Moody Racing teammate Fred Lorenzen (Class of 2015) used engines built by Waddell Wilson (Class of 2020) to lap all of the other 48 cars in the field. Another Hall of Famer, Ralph Moody (Class of 2025), was co-owner of the winning team.
Andretti made a mere 14 career Cup starts and the 1967 Daytona 500 was his only top-five finish. Fun fact: Andretti’s Daytona 500-winning Ford was sold to Darrell Waltrip (Class of 2012), who rebodied it as the No. 95 Mercury and drove it in his first Cup Series start at Talladega Superspeedway in 1972.
The champagne flowed freely in Victory Lane after Hendrick Motorsports driver Casey Mears won the 2007 Coca-Cola 600. Photo courtesy of Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Casey Mears: 2007 Coca-Cola 600
NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600, takes place each Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Coming into the 2007 race, Hendrick Motorsports drivers Jimmie Johnson (Class of 2024) and Jeff Gordon (Class of 2019) were the favorites, but it was their unheralded teammate, Casey Mears, who pulled the upset in his 156th career start. Mears didn’t have the fastest car, but he prevailed on fuel mileage as many of the top contenders either ran out of gas or had to pit in the closing laps. Mears made it to the cool-down lap before his tank ran dry and his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet quit running.
For his career, Mears had 497 Cup Series starts with 13 top-five finishes. Fun fact: Mears, J.J. Yeley (second) and Reed Sorenson (fourth) all had their respective career-best finishes to that point. Also, Kyle Petty finished third, earning his 52nd and final Cup Series top five in 829 starts.
The Wood Brothers Racing crew rushed to the infield to congratulate Trevor Bayne after his shocking upset victory in the 2011 Daytona 500. Photo courtesy of Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Trevor Bayne: 2011 Daytona 500
Easily one of the most memorable feel-good, first-win stories in NASCAR Cup Series history came in the 2011 Daytona 500. Driving for Wood Brothers Racing, NASCAR’s longest continually operating family-owned race team, Trevor Bayne scored a huge upset to win NASCAR’s most prestigious race. What made it even more remarkable were two factors: Bayne, who celebrated his 20th birthday the day before the 500, was making just his second career Cup Series start, and the Wood Brothers team was running only a part-time schedule and hadn’t won a race in a decade. Bayne’s triumph was a remarkable and emotionally charged moment.
Despite winning in just his second Cup Series start, Bayne would not win again at NASCAR’s top level, although he did post five top-five finishes in 187 career starts. Fun fact: Glenn Wood (Class of 2012), the 85-year-old founder of Wood Brothers Racing, was walked to Victory Lane by his old friend and one-time rival Richard Petty.
Team owner Richard Childress (from left), driver Paul Menard and Menard’s father John knelt on the yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Photo courtesy of Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Paul Menard: 2011 Brickyard 400
Wisconsin hardware store entrepreneur John Menard tried unsuccessfully for 35 years to win the Indianapolis 500 as a team owner, coming heartbreakingly close on several occasions. After decades of futility, son Paul Menard delivered an Indianapolis Motor Speedway victory for his dad in the 2011 Brickyard 400 NASCAR Cup Series race. Driving a Chevrolet owned by Richard Childress (Class of 2017), Menard held off a spirited late-race charge from the most successful racer in Brickyard 400 history, Jeff Gordon, to secure the victory.
Over a 16-year Cup Series career, Menard made 471 starts, with 20 top-five finishes. Fun fact: Of the 43 drivers in the 2011 Brickyard 400, 11 went on to become NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees and three (Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski) are still racing full time in the Cup Series today.
A jubilant Regan Smith was joined in Victory Lane at Darlington Raceway by his Furniture Row Racing crew. Photo courtesy of Geoff Burke/Getty Images
Regan Smith: 2011 Southern 500
The Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway marked the third time in the four 2011 Crown Jewel races that there was a first-time winner. This time, the new winner was Regan Smith, driver of the Barney Visser-owned Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet. During a caution flag period in the closing laps of the Southern 500, Smith made a bold gamble, staying out on old tires while the leaders all pitted for fresh rubber. Somehow, Smith was able to hold off Carl Edwards (Class of 2025) and the rest of the field to score his only career Cup Series victory and the first for the Furniture Row team.
Smith raced at the Cup level for parts of 13 seasons, posting four top-five finishes in 224 starts. Fun fact: While most of the NASCAR Cup Series teams were based within an hour of Charlotte, Furniture Row was based in Denver, Colorado, making it a true outlier.
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