NASCAR on TV this week

NASCAR 101: When’s Your Favorite NASCAR Driver’s Birthday?

And now, among the heavier aspects of 2016’s NASCAR like certain CEOs endorsing presidential candidates, much to-do made over a driver who just can’t get enough of dipping down into the XFINITY Series and a driving package that has received mostly positive reviews despite often declining TV ratings, here’s a bright spot for your week pre-Phoenix: birthdays!

In a social media-fueled age, it’s more and more likely that fans know the birth dates of their favorite NASCAR drivers. After all, you’ll see plenty of well-wishes on Twitter the day of, whether it’s from team PR or the girth of racing personalities one follows, from media to fellow fans. It helps, of course, with the rise of the Internet that Wikipedia pages are easily accessible, as is the imitable Racing-Reference. Even long-standing sport bible Jayski has its own master list of industry birthdays to peruse.

But how about a running list of every driver who runs in one of NASCAR’s three national series?

That’s what’s compiled here. We’ve got it separated by month and then by day, with days with multiple birthdays listed alongside each other. Check it out if you need a few fire birthday tweets to send out each week to your favorite (or, hell, maybe least favorite, if you want to wish them the absolute worst) drivers in the sport. Currently, the list includes merely drivers who have already attempted a Sprint Cup, XFINITY or Camping World Truck series race in 2016, plus anyone who’s officially announced a start for later in the season. It’ll be updated as the season progresses.

For now, before the full list is revealed, some interesting tidbits:

-Two days have three NASCAR driver birthdays each: July 15 (Harrison Rhodes, DJ Kennington and Tyler Young) and Nov. 29 (Benny Gordon, William Byron and Ryan Ellis).

-In all, 23 more days mark two birthdays among drivers.

-Spencer Boyd, who will make his Camping World Truck Series debut at Martinsville Speedway for MB Motorsports in the spring, is the first birthday of the season at Jan. 1.

-Ryan Blaney and John Wes Townley have the final birthdays of the year, both coming on New Year’s Eve.

-If you’re looking for a power birthday date, look no further than Dec. 8, which boasts both Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman.

-December currently has the most birthdays at 20 different drivers. The least? March, at just seven.

-The longest streak without a birthday: 11 days, from March 14 (Aric Almirola) to March 25 (Danica Patrick and Justin Marks).

-The most Cup championships in a single birthday month is six, in September, which is all due to six-time champion Jimmie Johnson’s Sept. 17 birthday.

January
1: Spencer Boyd
7: Daniel Suarez, Caleb Holman
11: Tyler Reddick
12: Brian Scott
16: Jeremy Clements, Norm Benning
22: Grant Enfinger
23: Cole Custer, Austin Theriault
24: Mike Harmon
27: Daniel Hemric
29: Todd Peck
30: Rico Abreu
31: Scott Lagasse Jr.

February
1: Martin Roy
5: Reed Sorenson
7: Josh Wise
8: Joey Gase
10: Michel Disdier
12: Brad Keselowski
18: Brandon Jones
19: Trevor Bayne
21: Ben Rhodes
25: Timmy Hill
27: Ty Dillon
28: Brandon Gdovic

March
1: Travis Kvapil
5: Austin Wayne Self
10: Matt Kenseth
12: Casey Mears
14: Aric Almirola
25: Danica Patrick, Justin Marks

April
1: David Gilliland
4: Robert Richardson Jr.
9: Jacques Villeneuve
10: Kasey Kahne
11: Brennan Poole
15: Jordan Anderson, Jesse Little
18: Ryan Truex
21: Austin Hill
25: Alex Bowman
27: Austin Dillon, Garrett Smithley
30: Michael Waltrip, Elliott Sadler

May
1: Johnny Sauter
2: Kyle Busch
8: Bobby Labonte
17: Ray Black Jr.
20: Tony Stewart
24: Joey Logano, Kenny Habul
30: Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones

June
3: Jamie McMurray, Clay Greenfield
6: Justin Allgaier
8: Carlos Contreras
11: John Hunter Nemechek, Matt Crafton
12: Jennifer Jo Cobb
20: Ryan Sieg
22: Jeffrey Earnhardt, Cole Whitt
23: Michael Annett
26: Matt Tifft
29: Martin Truex Jr.

July
3: David Levine
7: Landon Cassill
9: Mark Thompson
10: Brendan Gaughan
15: DJ Kennington, Harrison Rhodes, Tyler Young
16: Dakoda Armstrong
21: Bobby Gerhart, Cameron Hayley
27: Matt DiBenedetto
31: Kyle Larson

August
4: Kurt Busch
6: Jeb Burton
7: Blake Koch
8: Parker Kligerman
12: Ryan Reed
15: Carl Edwards
21: Paul Menard
29: Timothy Peters

September
6: Jeff Green
14: Brandon Brown
17: Jimmie Johnson
20: Carl Long
23: Regan Smith
25: Corey LaJoie
26: Joe Nemechek

October
2: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
5: JJ Yeley
8: Darrell Wallace Jr.
10: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tim Viens
11: Josh Reaume, David Starr
12: Morgan Shepherd
20: Mario Gosselin
22: Josh Berry
24: Brian Vickers
25: Ryan Preece
29: Chris Buescher

November
3: Anthony Kumpen, Derrike Cope
7: Cody Ware
16: Korbin Forrister
17: BJ McLeod
18: Denny Hamlin
20: Spencer Gallagher
28: Chase Elliott
29: Benny Gordon, Ryan Ellis, William Byron

December
1: Stanton Barrett, Chris Fontaine
4: Ross Chastain
7: Dylan Lupton, Tommy Joe Martins
8: Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman
9: Derek White
11: Eric McClure, Cody Coughlin
16: AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell
21: Michael McDowell
23: Greg Biffle
24: David Ragan, Chris Cockrum
26: Ben Kennedy
29: Kaz Grala
31: Ryan Blaney, John Wes Townley

About the author

Frontstretch.com

Rutherford is the managing editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2015 after serving on the editing staff for two years. At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.

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Walter Elliott

Thanks for the list of current or regular NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers birthdays.
My favorite NASCAR driver, Mark Donohue, was born in Orange, NJ, March 18, 1937.
He won the Jan. 1973 then-Winston Cup race at Riverside (Calif.) Int’l Raceway in a factory AMC Matador for car owner Roger Penske.
The engineer-driver also won the 1972 Indianapolis 500.
I thought about him just before I left the Maas that kicks off the annual Newark St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Thanks!