75 — The r/NASCAR Historian (2024)

In NASCAR Cup Series competition the #75 car has started 822 races and has 6 wins, 8 poles, 63 top 5s, 194 top 10s, and 278 DNFs

Neil Bonnett has the most starts in #75 with 83 in 1983 & 1987-1988. In 1983 Bonnett left the Wood Brothers Racing team and signed with the RahMoc Racing to drive the #75 car.

Bonnett finshed 4th in points after winning the Busch Clash, his Daytona Duel 125 races, the World 600, and the Atlanta Journal 500.

In 1984 Bonnett left RahMoc for Junior Johnson’s team. He would return, though, in 1987 with Valvoline as a new sponsor. Bonnett was on his way to a top-10 points finish before he was sidelined by a broken hip suffered in a crash at the Oakwood Homes 500.

Bonnett returned to the team in 1988, immediately finding success. Bonnett won 3 of the first 4 races of the year- The Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond, the NASCAR Exhibition race in Melbourne, Australia, and the Goodwrench 400 at Rockingham. Bonnett would again be sidelined for 2 races in the summer due to poor health. Follwing the 1988 season Bonnett would return to the Wood Brothers #21 car. Bonnett won several exhibition races in #75, but officially only scored 4 points-paying victories in the car.

Morgan Shepherd drove #75 on several different occassions, beginning in 1986 when he drove the RahMoc car part-time.

In 1988, Shepherd will fill in for Neil Bonnett in 2 races due to Bonnett’s health. When Bonnett left RahMoc in 1989, Shepherd was named as the new, full-time driver. Shepherd would leave after the 1989 season.

In 1996, Shepherd would return to the #75 with Butch Mock Motorsports, the former co-owner of RahMoc. Shepherd finished the year with 5 top-1o finished, 19th in points. Shepherd has a total of 73 starts in #75.

Following Shepherd’s departure Rick Mast piloted the Butch Mock #75 for the 1997-1998 seasons. Mast struggled both years with the team, failing to qualify for a handful of events each year.

Joe Ruttman drove the RahMoc #75 during several different parts of his career. In 1982 Ruttman made 23 starts in the car.

In 1987 Ruttman returned to RahMoc for 3 races to replace Neil Bonnett, who was unable drive due to a broken hip. Finally, in 1991 Ruttman ran the full season for RahMoc with a best finish of 3rd in the Daytona 500. Ruttman started a total of 55 races in #75.

Todd Bodine drove the RahMoc/Butch Mock #75 in 68 races from 1993-1995. In 1994 Bodine scored 7 top-10 finishes, but was unable to replicate his success. Bodine was released after the 1995 season in favor of Morgan Shepherd.

Dave Marcus, Lake Speed, Rick Wilson, and Ted Musgrave all drove the #75 RahMoc/Butch Mock are in single season stints. Marcus drove in 30 races in the 1984 season, Lake Speed drove 28 races in 1985 and 4 races in 1986, Rick Wilson drove the car in 29 races during the 1990 season, and Ted Musgrave drove all 32 races in the final year of Butch Mock Motorsports- 1999.

In 2000, the #75 was acquired by the new Galaxy Motorsports team. Wally Dallenbach Jr. was hired to drive the car and started 30 races. The team ran into sponsorship issues as several agreements fell through and contracts remained unpaid. The team folded after only one year.

Jim Paschal started 32 races in #75 between 1956-1957. In 1956 Paschal won a 100 mile race at the Oklahoma State Fair. Only 12 drivers were entered in the race.

In 2016 Kyle Busch started the #75 M&M’s Toyota Camry in the All-Star race at Charlotte, a celebration of M&M’s 75th anniversary. Since this was not a points race, Busch officially has 0 starts in the number.

In 2017 Brendan Gaughan attempted and made all 4 restrictor plate races finishing 11th in the Daytona 500, earning a top-10 finish with a 7th place effort at Daytona in July, and leading laps in the Fall race at Talladega before coming home with a 17th place finish. These are the only 4 races the team has started in the Cup Series with #75, changing the number to Gaughan’s signature #62 for 2018.