{"id":496980,"date":"2026-02-24T20:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/496980\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:02:13","slug":"some-of-the-most-damaged-cars-to-win-nascar-cup-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/496980\/","title":{"rendered":"Some of the most damaged cars to win NASCAR Cup races"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With no right-front fender, Tyler Reddick won last weekend&#8217;s NASCAR Cup race in Atlanta, going back-to-back to open the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p>While impressive, it&#8217;s not unprecedented. NASCAR is a full-contact sport in the end and we&#8217;ve seen plenty of race winning cars take the checkered flag in less-than-ideal shape.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So, let&#8217;s take a look at some of the most beat up cars to win at the highest level of NASCAR. And no, crashing across the line doesn&#8217;t count, so don&#8217;t expect to find Terry Labonte&#8217;s 1995 Bristol car or Davey Allison&#8217;s 1992 All-Star car here! Though we did have a spirited debate over Jeff Burton slamming the wall as the rain came and ended Darlington in 1999&#8230;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But honestly, we could never highlight them all &#8212; NASCAR races can get pretty wild with the checkered flag in sight. But here&#8217;s some of the more famous moments where a wrecked or damaged car still won the day:<\/p>\n<p>Atlanta 2025 &#8212; Tyler Reddick with a missing fender<br \/>\n   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771963329_712_tyler-reddick-no-45-23xi-racin.jpg\" alt=\"Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"title\">Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota<\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: Jonathan Bachman &#8211; Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Talladega 2024 &#8212; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with a hole in the door<br \/>\n   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/gettyimages-2176332957.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: Jeff Robinson \/ Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Daytona Clash 2020 &#8212; Erik Jones with the nose punched in<br \/>\n   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/gettyimages-1199727780.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: David Rosenblum \/ Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Chicagoland 2018 &#8212; Kyle Busch with a pancaked right-side door<br \/>\n   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/gettyimages-989113880.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: Jonathan Daniel via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Daytona 500 2017 &#8212; Kurt Busch with battle-scars and tape<br \/>\n   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/gettyimages-645653638.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: Jeff Robinson \/ Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Martinsville 1991 &#8212; Harry Gant with a twisted nose and no fender<br \/>\n   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/harry.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: ESPN broadcast<\/p>\n<p>Daytona 500 1976 &#8212; David Pearson with a destroyed frontend<br \/>\n   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771963333_693_david.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: ISC Archives<\/p>\n<p>North Wilkesboro 1972 &#8212; Richard Petty with the front bumper hanging off<br \/>\n   <img decoding=\"async\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/gettyimages-102844806.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"photographer\">Photo by: SC Images &amp; Archives via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>            We want your opinion!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-auto\">What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"#\" class=\"ms-link text-link font-bold\">Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mt-1 text-body\">&#8211; The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With no right-front fender, Tyler Reddick won last weekend&#8217;s NASCAR Cup race in Atlanta, going back-to-back to open&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[505,159416,49,48,634,3628,199175,82],"class_list":["post-496980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-motor-speedway","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-cup","tag-pictures-some-of-the-most-damaged-cars-to-win-nascar-cup-races","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}