Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards are among the newest additions to the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s nomination class for 2021, NASCAR announced Tuesday, April 7.
Five nominees have been inducted every year since the shrine’s inception in 2010, but that number has been reduced to three starting in 2021.
Two individuals in the Modern Era section of the ballot will be inducted, while one from the Pioneer class will also be enshrined.
New names for the Modern Era consist of Earnhardt, Burton and Edwards. Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 two times en route to 26 NASCAR Cup Series victories along with back-to-back Xfinity Series titles in 1998 and 1999. Burton won 21 races at the Cup level, while Edwards scored 28 wins and two runner-up finishes in the season standings.
The Pioneer class’ two additions are Jake Elder and Banjo Matthews. Elder won two championships as a crew chief with David Pearson, while Matthews’ tenure as a crew chief and builder earned him a place in NASCAR history. Matthews owned cars driven by a host of drivers that included Junior Johnson, Fireball Roberts and Cale Yarborough.
Holdovers from last year’s ballot in the Modern Era section include Harry Gant, Ricky Rudd and Mike Stefanik. Pioneer holdovers include team owner Ralph Moody and driver Red Farmer.
The Hall’s 2020 class was made up of drivers Buddy Baker, Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte, along with crew chief Waddell Wilson and team owner Joe Gibbs.
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.