From Dale Earnhardt to Chase Elliott: NASCAR Drivers to Win a Race on April Fool’s Day

Not that anyone would be curious about such things, but for those who are, here’s a question – Has there ever been a NASCAR driver who won a race on April Fool’s day? Because that’d be something.

Think about it, winning a race, telling people you won a race, and nobody believing you for a while?

Anyway, jokes apart, there indeed have been several drivers who have won a race on April 1st.

The first driver who won a race on April 1 was David Pearson when he won the Atlanta 500 in 1973. Then it was Dale Earnhardt in 1979 when he won in Bristol.

Darrell Waltrip won at Bristol in 1984, followed by Dale Earnhardt who won a race on April’s Fool again in 1990 at Darlington.

Then it was Steve Grissom in 1995 at Bristol, Mark Martin in 2000 at Texas, both of whom won in the Busch series.

Also on that list are Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman, who both won at Martinsville in 2007 and 2012, respectively.

And the most recent winner of a NASCAR race on April Fool’s is NASCAR’s current most popular driver, Chase Elliott, who won a Truck Series race at Martinsville in 2017.

Who will win the post-April Fools NASCAR race in Richmond this weekend?

Despite their slow start to the season, one simply can’t rule out Joe Gibbs Racing having a good weekend in Richmond. After all, they have won eight of the last twelve races at the track, finishing 1-2-3 in two of the last five.

So, keeping that in mind, let’s take a look at Martin Truex Jr’s chances at Richmond on Sunday. Truex is the obvious candidate to take a win this weekend, considering he has won three of the last five races at Richmond.

Moreover, he seems to have found the right setting with his car, which reflects in his recent finishes as well. The JGR driver failed to finish in Phoenix but finished eighth in Atlanta, and seventh in COTA.

He’s currently sitting seventh in the points and would surely hope to capitalize on his past results, and his current momentum to register his, and his team’s first win of the season.

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