FOX broadcaster Mike Joy seems to have gone down the route of outright defense for a forgotten road course master.

It started when a NASCAR Insights on X posted a list of drivers with most road course wins in NASCAR history. It listed Jeff Gordon with nine road-course victories, Tony Stewart with eight, and Shane van Gisbergen with seven, and so on, until it listed nine drivers.

But those nine drivers still didn't have the name Mike Joy was looking for. He noted that the list completely omitted legend Dan Gurney, a Hall of Famer.

The list immediately prompted Joy to argue that there is one essential category where Gurney's achievements cannot be matched.

Responding on X, Joy wrote, “Please add Dan Gurney, whose 5 wins in 9 road course starts is still the standard (highest winning percentage).”

And Mike Joy here does not seem to be wrong. Gurney's NASCAR résumé remains extremely remarkable. The multi-discipline racing icon made just 16 Cup Series starts but won five times, with every one of those victories coming at California's Riverside International Raceway.

Gurney captured Riverside victories in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, and 1968, including a streak of four consecutive wins from 1963 through 1966.

During the years Motor Trend sponsored Riverside's marquee NASCAR event, Gurney won five of the nine editions. Thus, Mike Joy's opinion carries weight, even more so as his defense remained amicable when debating other fans on the matter.

Mike Joy pushes back against modern statistical comparisons

The discussion around the inclusion intensified further when journalist Seth Eggert said that Gurney is tied for 10th all-time in Cup Series road-course wins and referenced combined road-course victories across NASCAR's three national series.

This was met with a strong rebuttal from Joy, who replied, “There's no such stat as ‘combined RC wins’. Anyone promoting this is just trying to pad current/recent driver stats by adding in minor league wins.”

He continued, “When those guys raced, no one ever added a driver's Grand National, Late Model Sportsman, and Modified wins together.”

Joy then went on to explain why it is necessary to hold Gurney's accomplishments to a higher standard. “If you'd ever seen Dan race, you might get it,” he wrote while recalling Gurney's legendary battles with Parnelli Jones across multiple racing disciplines.

Another fan then found it appropriate to point out that Xfinity Series victories could be considered more impressive than some older NASCAR wins, to which Joy responded, “I understand your logic, and you're not wrong. The difference is that '60's GN win came racing against the very best drivers of the day, in the biggest stock car series of the day.”

Joy seems to hold some ground here. For Gurney's record, which amassed 696 laps led, five victories, and two poles in just 16 Cup starts, is not one that can simply be ignored because it is ancient. If anything, it inspired many current racers and unforgettable memories for generations of NASCAR fans.

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!

Written by

Uday Jakhar

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason