Nate Ryan cast a ballot Aug. 2 for the NASCAR Hall of Fame as NBC Sports’ digital representative.
It’s the 14th consecutive class voted on by Ryan, who is one of 62 members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame voting panel (including one online vote determined by fans). There was no vote held in 2021 because the induction of the class that was selected in voting June 16, 2020, had its induction delayed until January 2022.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame induction process is on its second iteration. From 2010-20, the five highest vote-getters annually were inducted from a list of 20 to 25 nominees.
For the past three votes the ballot has consisted of two categories: Modern Era (10 nominees) and Pioneer (five nominees). Two inductees are chosen from the Modern Era ballot and one from Pioneer (members of the voting panel each vote for two Modern Era candidates and one Pioneer candidate).
Here is Ryan’s ballot for the 14th class (followed by his ballot for each of the preceding 13 classes, which included six at USA TODAY Sports):
MODERN ERA
1. Jimmie Johnson: One of only three seven-time Cup Series champions alongside Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, Johnson holds the record of having won five consecutive titles in NASCAR’s premier series from 2006-10. His 83 victories rank sixth all time in NASCAR, and he won multiple times in all of NASCAR’s crown jewel events: twice at the Daytona 500 (2006, ’13); four times at the Brickyard 400 (2006, ’08-09, ’12); four times at the Coca-Cola 600 (2003-05, ’14); twice at the Southern 500 (2004, ’12).
2. Chad Knaus: Was Johnson’s crew chief from his 2002 rookie season through 2018 and for all seven championships and 81 victories. With 82 wins (he guided William Byron to his first career Cup victory in 2020), Knaus is third on the crew chief victory list behind Hall of Famers Dale Inman and Leonard Wood.
PIONEER
Banjo Matthews: One of the greatest car builders in NASCAR history, his cars won 262 of the 362 Cup races from 1974-85, including all 30 races during the 1978 season that marked the third consecutive championship for a Matthews-built car. Known as “the Henry Ford of race cars,” he also served as a mentor to some great crew chiefs and mechanics, such as NASCAR Hall o Famer Ray Evernham.
LANDMARK AWARD
Janet Guthrie: She finished 15th in the 1976 World 600 in her Cup debut and also was the first woman in the Daytona 500 in 1977. She became the first woman to lead a lap in Cup at Ontario Motor Speedway in October 1977.
Ryan’s 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
2019: Jeff Gordon, Kulwicki, Baker, Davey Allison, Jack Roush
2020: Tony Stewart, Baker, Waddell Wilson, Joe Gibbs
2022: Kirk Shelmerdine, Dale Jr. (Modern Era); Jake Elder (Pioneer).
2023: Matt Kenseth, Kirk Shelmerdine (Modern Era); Hershel McGriff (Pioneer).
LANDMARK
2015: Raymond Parks
2016: Raymond Parks
2017: Raymond Parks
2018: Ralph Seagraves
2019: Jim Hunter
2020: Ralph Seagraves
2022: Janet Guthrie
2023: Janet Guthrie
