The story of car numbers in NASCAR is deeply intertwined with the sport’s origins and its evolution through various technical eras. In the 1950s and 1960s, numbers, even triple digits or letters, were commonplace, assigned more for logistical convenience than for branding appeal. Over the decades, as teams grew more professionalized and sponsors sought strong brand identities, standout numbers like 3 for Dale Earnhardt, 24 for Jeff Gordon, and 48 for Jimmie Johnson became the iconic symbols of racing dynasties.
As NASCAR entered the Gen-4 and later Gen-6 eras, car numbers too came into even greater significance as visual identifiers on increasingly homogenous car bodies. Amid this evolution, numbers 01-09 faced dwindling use. Their assignments mostly occurred on a provisional basis. Jim Hill’s 03 in the early ’90s, Team Penske’s 06 in the 2000s, or Robby Gordon’s 07 for a handful of races, before being retired due to sponsorship loss, team closures, or mergers. So, what exactly happened to these cars? Let’s find out.
When NASCAR numbers meant more than just branding
The #01 made 501 Cup starts but claimed just one victory, when Joe Nemechek triumphed at Kansas in 2004 after separating from Hendrick Motorsports. Afterward, Regan Smith piloted the #01 part-time through 2008, almost winning Talladega only to have the title rescinded due to a post-race penalty. Earlier in 2001, Jason Leffler ran solo in the #01 for Chip Ganassi Racing while mastering road courses. By the end of 2008, MB2/DEI merged, and the #01 quietly disappeared as sponsorship dried up.
Although Ryan Newman nearly won in the #02 at Kansas in 2000, the car never scored a victory, a theme in its 294 races. Early runs included Mark Martin driving the #02 under a Bud Redder co-ownership in the early 80s, while Joey Logano and Dale Jarrett recorded starts in later seasons. The number’s fate highlighted NASCAR’s consolidation, with sponsors and team shifts gradually pushing part-time cars like the #02 off the grid.
With just 135 starts in Cup history, the #03 has been one of NASCAR’s most obscure numbers, with its last appearance in 1994, driven by Butch Leitzinger. Prior sporadic usage included Kerry Teague in 1992 and Dave Pletcher in 1998, but no sustained career or standout story ever emerged. The number faded well before NASCAR’s major team consolidations of the 2000s.
The #04 resurfaced only briefly in the mid-200s. Johnny Miller ran it in 2003, Eric McClure in 2004, and Bobby Hamilton twice in 2005 before Robby Gordon brought it back for two more races in 2009 with PJ Jones. That would mark its end, no long-term driver or competitive results cemented its stay. After a string of DNQs and no sponsor backing, the #04 quietly vanished amid overall tightening roster numbers.
Across its brief lifespan, #05 managed just 204 starts and seven Top-5s, most notably in the 1980s when Slick Johnson drove it in 4 races, and Bill Meacham made a lone start in 1991. Ed Feree delivered the last Cup appearances for the #05 in 1993 over two races before the number faded. It lacked marquee sponsorship or consistent backers, symbolizing how numbers without legacy or funding often disappear early.
The #06 made surprising appearances in the mid-2000s, including three starts by Travis Kvapil in 2004 under Team Penske, and a split season in 2006 at Roush Racing between David Ragan and Todd Kluever, evaluating potential successors to Mark Martin. In 2007, Sam Hornish Jr. debuted in the #06. By the end of that year, the number had served its purpose and vanished, another casualty of shifting team dynamics.
The #07 spent 289 races in Cup history, but its bright moment came courtesy of Clint Bowyer, who recorded 2 wins in the Jack Daniel ””s-sponsored car at Richard Childress Racing. Besides Bowyer, drivers like Dave Blaney and Casey Mears took turns behind the wheel in part-time efforts. After Jack Daniel’s exited and RCR restructured in 2009, the #07 was retired, though Robby Gordon briefly revived it in 2010.
Though Billy Carden first ran a #8 back in 1949, its fame came from Joe Weatherly, who won championships in the early 1960s, and especially Dale Earnhardt Jr., who transformed the number into a brand between 1999 and 2007. Following his departure, RCR revived the number part-time for Daniel Hemric and Tyler Reddick (2020-22), before handing it to Kyle Busch in 2023, where it continues under RCR. The #08 of John Carter Racing that appeared through 2009 didn’t share a Cup lineage tied to the single-digit legacy.
The #09 saw its most memorable moment in 2009 when Brad Keselowski scored his first Cup win in a dramatic Talladega photo finish in James Finch’s Miccosukee-liveried car. Other names like Sterling Marlin, Johnny Benson Jr., Landon Cassill, and Bobby Labonte each made appearances in the #09, but no one made an extended claim to it. After Landon Cassill’s start in the 2011 Coca-Cola 600, Phoenix Racing switched to #51, and the #09 disappeared, despite having a win in its toolkit.
The rapid decline of the 01-09 number block, mostly disappearing between 2007-2011, has been largely due to mergers, sponsor attrition, and NASCAR tightening field rules. These digits, lacking iconic lineage, failed to survive into the Gen-6 era. Absent from a nostalgia-driven revival or owner interest, they have left only statistical footnotes, and perhaps a rare throwback shot in exhibit or memory lanes of NASCAR history.
NASCAR’s silent march toward the next revolution
NASCAR has never been afraid of change, and the whispers around the garage suggest that change may be coming sooner than expected. The Gen 7 car, which only debuted in 2022, was meant to be a cost-cutting, competition-leveling reset. But after just a few seasons, murmurs from within the industry point toward something bigger brewing on the horizon.
A seemingly innocent tweet asking about the next car generation: “Could we be looking at a new car generation in 2028? 2029?” was answered by a respected motorsport analyst, Bozi Tatarevic, in April 2025, “I would expect an evolution of the current Cup car to happen around 2028 or so to go along with an updated engine formula.” That’s not just speculation. It’s an early clue that NASCAR might be plotting a Gen 8 rollout well before the decade ends, timed with larger powertrain shifts towards sustainability.
With manufacturers advocating for innovation and electric prototypes already being quietly tested, the writing is on the wall. If Tatarevic’s prediction holds, the next iteration of the Cup car won’t just be another update, but a statement. One that blends tradition with transformation, and redefines what stock car racing could look like heading into the 2030s.
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