It’s almost time to induct three new people into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
The 2026 class will be announced on Tuesday, May 20. And while any of the 15 nominees would be deserving of a spot in the Hall, there are three men who stand clearly above the rest.
Before we dive into them, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say there a few names who weren’t even nominated who may be more deserving than any of the actual nominees: Smokey Yunick, Sam Ard and maybe even Bill Rexford.
Yunick has never been nominated because of his beefs with the France family. But come on, the man has been dead for 24 years now. Holy grudge, Batman. Pete Rose died last year and did much worse things than Yunick, and the MLB has already started forgiving him.
Ard was nominated a few years ago, but has sadly fallen to the wayside the past few years … even after he was selected as one of NASCAR’s 75 greatest drivers. Go look at Ard’s stats in the NASCAR Xfinity Series vs. new nominee Randy LaJoie and tell me who belongs in the Hall first.
Rexford has never been nominated, as most of the voters probably have no idea he even existed. He only has one career NASCAR Cup Series win way back in 1950, but he also won the championship that year. Every other Cup champion who is eligible has been inducted, so it only feels right to include Rexford as well. Also, he remains the youngest Cup champion ever, winning at age 23.
But Yunick, Ard and Rexford will have to wait at least another year to get in. As for the ones who could actually get in, let’s first take a look at who those 15 candidates split into Modern Era and Pioneer categories, because the actual Hall of Fame website in no way made that clear. Remember that two get selected from the Modern Era ballot and one from the Pioneer.
Modern Era: Greg Biffle, Neil Bonnett, Tim Brewer, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch (new), Randy Dorton, Harry Gant, Harry Hyde, Randy LaJoie (new) and Jack Sprague
Pioneer: Jake Elder (new), Ray Hendrick, Banjo Matthews, Larry Phillips and Bob Welborn
And the should-be winners are …
Kurt Busch
Busch feels like the selection most will agree on. He has over 30 wins, a championship and recency bias all on his side. There are people with less of all three of those categories already in the Hall. No other driver on this ballot even has a Cup championship.
The only factor I could see hurting Busch is how many bridges he burned early in his career when he was a hothead. See: Yunick for how folks in NASCAR love to hold themselves a petty little grudge. But it feels like Busch atoned for a lot of his earlier antics later in his career when he truly seemed like a changed man.
Busch deserves to be in, and he will probably be voted in on Tuesday.
Harry Gant
It gets a little tougher for the second Modern Era selection, but my vote would go toward Gant.
Yes, some nominees have more Cup wins than him. You have to remember, though, that Gant was 39 years old before he even ran his rookie Cup season. The run Gant had in his 40s and early 50s is simply unheard of in today’s NASCAR: 18 wins, runner-up in the 1984 championship and the oldest winner in Cup history at age 52. And four of those wins came consecutively in September 1991 at the age of 51, coining him the nickname Mr. September. He also won 21 Xfinity races over than span in just 128 starts.
But Gant had numbers that could put him in the argument for the Hall of Fame before he even went Cup racing. It’s estimated that in the 1970s, Gant won more than 300 short track races in addition to winning a track title at Hickory Motor Speedway and three national championships. Heck, had he stuck to doing that instead of going Cup racing, who knows where those numbers would be at? He may already be in the Hall of Fame had he not gone to Cup.
Also, I always hear people say it’s the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Stats. Well, Gant’s Skoal Bandit car became iconic, especially when it was owned by actor Burt Reynolds and director Hal Needham, who were both larger than life at the time.
Randy Dorton is also one of the best candidates for this class and absolutely deserves to get in some day. But Dorton passed away over 20 years ago, so waiting another year isn’t a huge deal. Gant is 85 years old, and it’d be great to put him in while he is still with us and can attend the ceremony.
If you don’t think my case for Gant is strong enough, let Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace sway you the rest of the way, who said a few years ago that it was “bullshit” Gant wasn’t already in.
Ray Hendrick
I admit, I’m a little biased in thinking Hendrick should be selected for the Hall of Fame. He’s a fellow Richmond, Va., native, and I grew up seeing his son Roy Hendrick and others race with his iconic Flying 11 paint scheme. Just last year, there were two paint schemes in Martinsville Speedway’s Late Model Stock Car race paying tribute to Ray and Roy, and Denny Hamlin did likewise in the Southern 500 … for the second time.
Even without that though, Ray Hendrick has the numbers and iconic status worthy of the Hall of Fame. The man had over 700 wins in modifieds and the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Division, which became the Xfinity Series. 700 wins is impressive no matter the series.
I don’t want to repeat myself from last year when I made the case for Hendrick in the Hall of Fame, so click here for that full argument and list of his accomplishments. I will add this, though: After interviewing his son Roy for that piece, Roy notified me that one of the voters (I won’t say who, as I’ll leave it up to them if they want to reveal themselves) read that article to help sway the voting panel. Ray got second in the Pioneer vote last year, so this time he could, and should, get in.
Sadly, Roy Hendrick unexpectedly passed away just a few months after the class was selected last year. It would’ve been a lot more special had he gotten to see his father get inducted into the Hall. But that’s all the more reason for why Ray should be voted in this year.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.