Nate Ryan cast a ballot Wednesday for the NASCAR Hall of Fame as NBC Sports’ digital representative.
It’s the 10th consecutive year of voting for Ryan, who is one of 60 members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame voting panel (including one online vote determined by fans).
His ballot for the ninth class (followed by his ballot for each of the preceding eight years, which included six at USA TODAY Sports):
- Jeff Gordon: The four-time champion ranks third all time for both career victories (93) and pole positions (81), and he has three Daytona 500 victories, five Brickyard 400 wins and the record for consecutive starts in the premier series (797). But Gordon nearly accomplished as much off the track as the first driver to host Saturday Night Live and a staple of Madison Ave. who became one of the most transcendent stars in NASCAR history.
- Alan Kulwicki: The 1992 champion’s life was cut short at 38 by a plane crash the year after he won the title in a watershed season for NASCAR. A true driver-owner, the Wisconsin native also was among the first college-educated engineers to have a major impact in stock-car racing.
- Buddy Baker: The winner of the 1980 Daytona 500 and 1970 Southern 500 was one of NASCAR’s home run hitters, counting several major wins among his 19 career victories on the premier circuit. One of NASCAR’s greatest ambassadors Baker also became a beloved broadcaster on TV and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
- Davey Allison: The 1987 rookie of the year and the 1992 Daytona 500 winner was involved with Kulwicki and others in perhaps the most memorable championship race in history. Three months after Kulwicki’s death, Allison was killed in a July 1993 helicopter accident, cutting short the career of a highly personable and appealing star who won in every 10th start in Cup.
- Jack Roush: The all-time winningest team owner in NASCAR national series history, Roush won back-to-back Cup championships in 2003-04 with Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch. But his legacy is about as much what he did for NASCAR as what he did in it: Roush’s strong engineering background made an impact on safety projects such as roof flaps, and he provided fresh starts and second chances for many drivers (such as Mark Martin) who became mainstays, as well as building a talent base for team members.
Ryan’s previous NASCAR Hall of Fame ballots:
2010: Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, David Pearson, Bill France Jr.
2011: Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Lee Petty
2012: Waltrip, Yarborough, Dale Inman, Raymond Parks, Curtis Turner
2013: Fireball Roberts, Turner, Fred Lorenzen, Herb Thomas, Tim Flock
2014: Roberts, Turner, Lorenzen, Flock, Joe Weatherly
2015: Lorenzen, Turner, Weatherly, O. Bruton Smith, Rick Hendrick
2016: Turner, Smith, Hendrick, Ray Evernham, Bobby Isaac
2017: Hendrick, Evernham, Benny Parsons, Parks, Red Byron
2018: Evernham, Byron, Robert Yates, Alan Kulwicki, Buddy Baker