The NASCAR Hall of Fame will induct its 16th class on 23 January 2026, a trio that includes a Cup Series champion, a stalwart of the late 1980s and early ’90s and a modified legend.
Kurt Busch and Harry Gant were voted in on the Modern Era Ballot, which is for those whose NASCAR careers began after 1966, while Ray Hendrick was the voters’ pick on the Pioneer Ballot for figures who started racing before that. Humpy Wheeler was voted the winner of the Landmark Award for contributions to the sport.
The voting process is done by a panel that includes journalists, former industry members, and reigning Cup Series champion Joey Logano.
Busch and Gant each acquired 61 percent of the Modern Era Ballot vote, beating Jeff Burton, Harry Hyde, and Randy Dorton. Others on this ballot included Neil Bonnett, Tim Brewer, Randy LaJoie, and Jack Sprague. Bob Welborn was the runner-up on the Pioneer Ballot ahead of Jake Elder, Banjo Matthews, and Larry Phillips. Wheeler received the most votes for the Landmark Award to beat candidates Lesa France Kennedy, Alvin Hawkins, Dr. Joseph Mattioli, and Les Richter.
Kurt Busch
The older brother of Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch raced in the Cup Series from 2001 to 2022 when his career was cut short by injury. In 24 years at the top level, he won 34 races and the 2004 Cup championship.
For much of his early career, Busch was viewed as a hotshot and a hothead. Reaching the Cup Series immediately from the Truck Series, he established a reputation for his foul-mouthed radio chatter and fast driving style, both labels that often landed him in hot water with NASCAR. “The Outlaw” would be his identity at Roush Racing and Penske Racing before becoming a journeyman of sort for backmarker operations Phoenix Racing and Furniture Row Racing.
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From 2013 onwards, he went from being one of the more controversial faces in the sport to an elder statesman. Having significantly mellowed out, Busch would become a fan favourite throughout the 2010s with FRR, Stewart-Haas Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, and 23XI Racing. This stretch of his career was capped off in 2017 when he won the Daytona 500 for the first and only time.
Harry Gant
Harry Gant never won a championship and only has 18 Cup Series wins to his name, but he was an icon of the 1980s. His green #33 Skoal Bandit machine, which was initially co-run by Hollywood stuntman Hal Needham and actor Burt Reynolds, was one of the most recognisable cars throughout the decade and into the early 1990s.
Nicknamed “Handsome Harry” and “Mr. September”, he holds the record for most consecutive Cup Series race wins with four in a row. Gant achieved the feat in 1991 at Darlington, Richmond, Dover, and Martinsville, as part of a stretch that saw him finish in the top five in all but one of the final nine races. He was also the 1984 championship runner-up.
If not for reliability issues plaguing his #33, it’s almost certain Gant would have notched a few more wins and possibly some championships, which would have already earned him a place in the Hall of Fame. Better late than never.
Ray Hendrick
Before he was running the legendary Hendrick Motorsports, Rick Hendrick was on the pit crew for the unrelated Ray Hendrick.
Nicknamed “Mr. Modified”, Ray Hendrick was one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR’s Modified Tour. Competing for 38 years from 1950 to 1988, his #11 Modified won four track championships at South Boston Speedway; Hendrick also won a fifth title there in a late model. While he never won a Modified championship, he scored nine top-ten points finishes throughout the 1960s.
He was also a regular in the Late Model Sportsman Division, the predecessor to what is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Humpy Wheeler
Howard Augustine “Humpy” Wheeler Jr. was considered the P.T. Barnum of NASCAR for a reason. For 33 years, he was the president of Charlotte Motor Speedway whose promotions turned the track into one of the most well-known ovals in the United States today.
A former stock car racer, he eventually got into motorsport marketing before being hired by Charlotte Motor Speedway head Bruton Smith in the 1970s. Under Wheeler’s leadership, CMS would undergo massive changes ranging from the implementation of condominiums overlooking the speedway to creating the NASCAR All-Star Race. His promotions were on the more bizarre side, such as having taxicabs race each other ahead of the 1980 World 600, re-enacting the United States invasion of Grenada to promote the 1984 race, and more perplexing plotting a fight to the death between a man and a shark. Wheeler even created his own NASCAR championship, the NASCAR Sportsman Division, that lasted six years.
He retired from CMS in 2008.
