The NASCAR Hall of Fame will add three new members next year.
Carl Edwards, Ricky Rudd and Ralph Moody will make up the 2025 class, NASCAR revealed on Tuesday. They will be enshrined in February.
Edwards and Rudd represent the "Modern Era," while Moody is the "Pioneer" inductee. Modern Era candidates include recently retired drivers, crew chiefs, owners and contributors, while Pioneer candidates are those whose career began more than 60 years ago.
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Edwards was one of the most successful drivers to never win a Cup Series championship. He scored 28 victories in 445 career starts from 2004 to 2016, in addition to 38 wins and a championship in the second-tier Xfinity Series. At the Cup level, he had crown jewel victories at the Coca-Cola 600 (2015), Southern 500 (2015) and Bristol Night Race (2007, 2008). After each victory, Edwards was known for doing a backflip off his car and then waving to the crowd.
Edwards spent his first 11 years with Roush-Fenway Racing before two years with Joe Gibbs Racing, where he unexpectedly retired after making the Championship 4 in 2016. He also famously lost the 2011 title to Tony Stewart in a tiebreaker. This was Edwards' fourth year on the ballot.
Rudd was known as NASCAR's ironman after starting a record 788 consecutive races from 1981 to 2005 (a record later broken by Jeff Gordon). He won 23 Cup Series races, including at least one in every season from 1983 to 1998. Rudd's crowning victory was the 1997 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway while driving for his own team, Rudd Performance Motorsports.
The 67-year-old Virginia native spent time with big-name teams like Richard Childress Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Robert Yates Racing and Wood Brothers -- making more starts (906) than any driver ever besides Richard Petty. Rudd is now a Hall of Famer after eight years on the ballot.
Moody, who died in 2004, had a long and storied life and career in the sport. The Massachusetts native drove a tank under the command of General George S. Patton, then won four NASCAR Cup Series race in 47 starts from 1956 to 1962.
He then started Holman-Moody, a team and race car manufacturer that won 92 NASCAR Grand National races and two championships -- including the 1967 Daytona 500 with Mario Andretti.
Additionally, Dr. Dean Sicking was given the Landmark Award for "outstanding contributions to NASCAR, often outside of the race car."
Sicking, while he won't be inducted into the Hall of Fame, was recognized with the prestigious Landmark Award. He invented the SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barrier, which added form and impact energy management systems to wall that have undoubtedly saved lives. He was commissioned by NASCAR after Dale Earnhardt's death in 2001, and he developed the SAFER barrier. No NASCAR driver has died in an on-track accident since then.
The Modern Era candidates who were on the ballot but not chosen include Greg Biffle, Neil Bonnett, Tim Brewer, Jeff Burton, Randy Dorton, Harry Gant, Harry Hyde and Jack Sprague. Ray Hendrick, Banjo Matthews, Larry Phillips and Bob Welborn were the Pioneer candidates who missed the cut.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame opened in 2010 when Earnhardt, Petty, Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr. and Junior Johnson were inducted. Five new members were inducted each year through 2020 before the current format (two Modern Era, one Pioneer) was adopted for 2021 and beyond.
