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Clint Bowyer announced that he will return to the driver’s seat in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Nashville Superspeedway in late June. He’s far from the only NASCAR driver to push the pause button on retirement, and these are some of the most prominent examples of NASCAR drivers who came out of retirement.
In 2006, NASCAR scheduled a standalone NASCAR Xfinity Series (then called Busch Series) race at Martinsville Speedway in mid-July. It featured Darrell Waltrip making his first NASCAR start in six years. As far as NASCAR races go, it was certainly one of them.
Darrell Waltrip acted as little more than some fun nostalgia as he started 41st and finished in 28th. That said, it was hard to expect much more from a driver who hadn’t raced in six years.
The late James made one of the most interesting Daytona 500 qualifying runs to date. At 72 years old, he attempted to be the oldest driver to make the Daytona 500 out of a stacked entry list of 61 cars. This meant that 18 cars would fail to make the race, with prominent names like Kenny Wallace, Bill Elliott, Jeremy Mayfield, Mike Skinner, and A.J. Allmendinger all failing to make the field.
While Hylton was on this list as well, he did not go down without a fight. He found himself well in position to make the field during the Duels only to be passed in the closing laps. However, Hylton was all smiles after the Duels, saying, “I can’t remember the last time I had that much fun”. He eventually came back to make one Xfinity Series and one Truck Series start each in 2011.
Jeff Gordon retired at the end of 2015 and quickly moved into the Fox booth alongside Mike Joy and Darrell Waltrip. However, soon after the Fox portion of the season ended, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sidelined with a concussion. The ride was split between Jeff Gordon and Alex Bowman for the rest of the year.
Gordon did alright in his eight starts, with two top 10s and only one finish outside of the top 20, but he was clearly not the driver he once was. However, he did cross the 800 start mark at Watkins Glen, and he made his last career start at Martinsville. Fittingly, Gordon finished sixth in his final Cup Series start.
Matt Kenseth was pushed out of Joe Gibbs Racing after 2017 to make room for Erik Jones. After a part-time effort in 2018, Kenseth did not race in NASCAR in 2019. Then, in 2020, Chip Ganassi tabbed Kenseth to replace a suspended Kyle Larson.
Granted, Chip Ganassi Racing wasn’t the best equipment in the garage, but Kenseth had his worst statistical season since joining full-time in 2000. He only had two top-10s with five DNFs. He was never a factor, and it was clear that Kenseth was not who he once was.
In 2019, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that 2000 Craftsman Truck Series Champion Greg Biffle would drive for the team in Texas. This was one of the most random announcements anyone had seen, but Biffle made the most of this opportunity.
He took the lead from Tyler Ankrum with 13 laps to go and held on to win. It was Biffle’s first Truck Series triumph since 2001 and his first NASCAR win since winning in the Cup Series at Michigan in June 2013. While Biffle made a few more starts after this, this race will always be the highlight of his emergence from retirement.
Drivers who come out of retirement often fail to recapture the same magic they once had. However, it doesn’t make it any less interesting. Let us know your favorite driver comebacks on Discord or X what your take is, and don’t forget you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and even YouTube.
