Robby Irwin

## Career

### Achievements and Awards

1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2008, 2013, 2016 NASCAR Citi Series Champion1988, 1990, 1993, 1995, 2005 GasTrac 600 Champion

1996, 1999, 2003 Driver Of The Year

1988, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010 Lap Champion

1987 NASCAR BiC Pens Series Rookie Of The Year

1999 Comeback Driver Of The Year

1990s Driver Of The Decade

1977, 1979, 1981, 1982 Go-Kart USA Champion

### Best Points Finish

1st (1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2008, 2013, 2016)

## Race Info

### Total Number Of Wins

TBA (Over 70)

**Robert “Robby” Nilvell Irwin** (born July 23, 1973) is a retired American stock car racer that mostly competed in the NASCAR Citi Series in which he won a record eleven titles in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2008, 2013, and 2016. He last competed full-time in the Citi Series in the No. 68 for LaPayne Motorsports in 2018. He is a five-time GasTrac 600 winner after winning in 1988, 1990, 1993, 1995, and 2005, the second most times a driver has won that race. He is the only driver that has won at least one title in three different decades, as he has won a title in four decades (1 in the 1980s, 6 in the 1990s, 2 in the 2000s, and 2 in the 2010s). He competed in the series part-time in 1986 and raced full-time from 1987 to 2018, a record 32 full-time seasons straight, that has never been matched. He has the most wins in the series ever, with UU.

## Personal Life:

Robby Irwin was the oldest of seventeen children from Graham and Tessa Irwin. Born in Alabama, Georgia, he would have an instant click to NASCAR. He started racing go-karts at the age of three. He would go on to win the 1977 Go-Kart USA championship at just the age of four. He would keep racing here until 1984, winning three more championships in 1979 (age six), 1981 (age eight), and 1982 (age nine). He has four children, Danny (born 1995) who races full-time in the Citi Series, Vinnie (1996-2013) who was a MotoGP racer, Jessica (born 2001) who works as Danny's agent, and Jared (born 2005) who works as a mechanic for a Buick dealership. His younger brothers, Ricky and Garrison also raced in NASCAR alongside him.

## NASCAR Citi Series Career:

### 1986-1987

In 1986, at the age of thirteen, he caught the eyes of NASCAR scouts and NeeHi Racing quickly signed him up to drive their No. 35 part-time in the Citi Series (BiC Pens Series at the time) and would start in eight events with a highest finish of second to Xavier Polaris at Watkins Glen in his debut. He would drive his first full-time season in 1987 at fourteen and would win Rookie Of The Year honors after winning two races (with his first coming in the Valvoline 400 at Dover), getting seven top fives, and eighteen top tens, finishing fourth in points.

### 1988

Irwin started the 1988 season by winning the GasTrac 600 at Daytona after leading 127 of the 240 laps and passing Devin Smith on the last lap. He did not win another race during the regular season but he still made the playoffs by just six points after finishing 13th at Wichita. He would gain consistency, making the championship six but would spin and crash with defending series champion Devin Smith and Tyler Vance Jr. finishing fourth in points.

### 1989

He would go into the 1989 season as a title favorite after winning four races in the first thirteen races. From Iowa to Texas, he would finish outside the top ten in each of those six races. He would barely make the playoffs after Ken Richards had an engine failure, allowing Irwin to pass him and finish 7th at Wichita. He would go on to win two more races and would make the championship six and would ultimately win his first championship at Oregon at just the age of sixteen after four of the other five championship contenders, Devin Smith, Xavier Polaris, Benjamin Jervis, and Harry Smirton wrecked out. Victor Gerwol, who was the only one of the six who didn’t wreck, ran out of fuel with four laps to go. He is the second-youngest champion to date, being sixteen years, four months, and two days old. He is second to Timothy Green III, who was fifteen years, seven months, and nineteen days old at the time of his first title in 2001.

### 1990

Irwin would start the 1990 season by winning his second GasTrac 600 after leading on caution as a title defender. After that, he had a eight-race streak of top fives, a record which still stands today. Three of those were wins in fact. At Wichita he would get a top ten finish (6th) and would automatically go into the playoffs. He would be a hard person to beat. He would make the championship six. At Oregon, the finale AT&T 550, on the last lap, fellow championship contender Victor Gerwol would pass him below the yellow line, which meant he was black flagged and Irwin came across the line first and successfully defended his title to win a second championship.

### 1991

He would start the 1991 season as a championship favorite again but would wreck out at Daytona. He would not get a top ten finish until the sixth race of the season which would put him twenty-second in points. He would miss the playoffs after wrecking out at Wichita and would get his only win that season at the season finale at Oregon while Victor Gerwol won his first and only championship. He finished 16th in points.

### 1992

On December 15th, 1991, Kevin Daniels, the owner of NeeHi Racing, passed away due to stage four cancer. Due to no one wanting to own the team, it shut down, leaving Irwin without a ride for 1992. He would move to Heparil Motor Racing and their No. 99 for the 1992 season. He was looking as a championship favorite but would wreck out at Daytona. After six races, he was sitting thirtieth in points. At this point, no one thought he would even make the playoffs, but from the seventh race to the eleventh race, he would move from twenty-ninth to ninth in the standings from getting a top five in each race with two wins included. He would clinch a playoff spot after winning the twenty-fifth race at Pierre and would go into the Round of 14 as a bystanding driver. He would barely make the Rounds of 9 and 7 and at the first race in the Round of 7 at Pocono, he would lead the most laps but would run out of fuel on the last lap after a late race restart and would come in sixteenth, the lowest of all the playoff drivers. He would wreck out the next week at St. Lawrence and was sitting 119 points behind the cutoff line. Heading into the final race in the Round of 7 at, many people thought the finalists were decided, but no one expected what would happen. He would qualify 28th and would go on to lead 164 of 425 laps and would take the victory over Xavier Polaris to clinch a spot in the championship six, knocking Jake Klink out of contention. He would go into the championship six as an underdog, starting 14th, the lowest of all championship contenders. He would find a charge and would ride in 4th place for most of the race. He would get a penalty in pit road which would kill his chances but as soon as he was serving his penalty, the caution came out. He would get the free pass and would speed all the way to 2nd after restarting 23rd. He passed Victor Gerwol on the final lap to win and secure his third title and tied Xavier Polaris for the most Citi Series championships with three.

### 1993

Heading into the 1993 season, he would receive a crew chief switch from Roger Goodell to Jacob Rolandson. He won his third GasTrac 600 after being extremely dominant, leading 217 of the 240 laps from the pole. Though he was very consistent through the first half of the season, with thirteen top tens, and seven top fives, that was his only win during that half. He would become more inconsistent and by the time the Round of 14 ended, he was eliminated. He would win at St. Lawrence which would be his last win of 1993. He ended with two wins, nine top fives, eighteen top tens, and a 11th place points finish. After the season, the team announced that crew chief, Jacob Rolandson, would be replaced with Jimmy Garlin for the 1994 season.

### 1994

Going into 1994, the whole fanbase was expecting another championship year for Irwin and for him to finally break that most championship record. Instead, it was a huge flip-flop year, a last at Daytona, a fifteenth the next week. After the first quarter of the season, he had one top-ten, a ninth at Texas and was sitting twenty-seventh in the points with two DNFs. He would miss the playoffs and score a win at Charlotte but this would be Irwin's worst season to date (with the exception of 1998 where he was injured for most of the season), with one win, three top fives (his win, a fourth at St. Lawrence, and a fifth at Oregon), six top tens, an average finish of 21.4 and a dismal 24th in the standings with eight DNFs. After 1994, Irwin announced that he had signed a two-year contract with HerbFern Motorsports in their No. 68.

### 1995

1995 would be Irwin's most consistent season with career highs and all but wins, After winning the GasTrac 600 for the fourth time, he would get six top fives and eight top tens in the first quarter, he would get seven more top tens with three top fives included in the next nine races and was holding the points lead every week. He would lose the playoff race in Milwaukee in a very controversial fashion, by getting turned right before the finish line by defending champion, Benjamin Jervis. But he would go on to the championship six and would win the title by finishing second, seventeen points in front of Jervis. His 1995 championship made him the driver with the most titles in the Citi Series. He ended 1995 with one win, seventeen top fives, twenty-nine top tens, and an average finish of 9.8.

### 1996

1996 would be Irwin's first year in a Chevy but that wouldn't stop him, scoring six straight top tens after Daytona. He got a strong second place finish to teammate, Harry Helips at Rockingham, his highest finish ever at the track. After a violent wreck at Sonoma where he flew over the hill and landed on his roof, he came out fine. Irwin was not completely into the playoffs sitting ninth at the time Wichita came around. He would get second at Wichita to advance into the playoffs as the only driver not to win in the regular season. He would be so consistent, with three top fives which were all runner-ups to easily climb though the Round of 14. He stayed with two top tens and came in eleventh at Milwaukee. He made the championship six and on excellent strategy, he held off Helips to win his fifth Citi title, becoming the first to win the title winless. It was his first ever winless full-time season. He ended 1996 with zero wins, fifteen top fives, twenty-four top tens, and an average finish of 10.4.

### 1997

Irwin would switch to the development team of HerbFern, Identically Opposite Racing in a one-off season. Irwin would lose the GasTrac 600 in a three-wide finish to Kevin Polaris. He would get his first win since the 1995 GasTrac 600 in Atlanta three weeks later. He would be a little more inconsistent with two more wins but only six more top tens in the next twelve races until he won at Wichita to make the playoffs. He won at Milwaukee and would go into the championship six in one of the most memorable championship races. He, rookie Kevin Polaris, 1994 champion Benjamin Jervis, 1993 champion Dollar Oppoly, teammate Harry Helips, and Morty Scotts all were in contention to win the title. Scotts would win the pole, Helips and Jervis in row two, Polaris in fifth, and Oppoly and Irwin in row five. Irwin would stay in a somewhat conservative role, staying behind Scotts and Jervis but staying ahead of the other three. Scotts would be the most dominant until lap 282 when his brakes stopped working, Jervis looked like he was going to win the title but the pack caught up and the last three laps showed intense battle for the lead. Helips took over the lead before he and Polaris wrecked on lap 315 and Irwin took over the lead and Jervis couldn't catch him allowing Irwin to win the race and his sixth title and his third straight. He ended 1997 with six wins, fourteen top fives, twenty-three top tens, and an average finish of 11.5.

### 1998

1998 would start off strong with four top tens right away but in Michigan in the tenth race of the season, while sitting seventh in the standings, he crashed into the wall on lap 67 and flipped over thirteen times, he broke a leg, and his foot. He was credited with a 33rd-place finish. He would return at Martinsville with four races left in the season. He got two top fives and three top tens with a best of third at Oregon, the finale right in front of eventual champion, Kevin Polaris. In fourteen starts, he finished 1998 with zero wins, two top fives, seven top tens, an average finish of 15.2 and a 35th place points finish, the highest of all the drivers that didn't run the full season.

### 1999

Irwin would bring speed straight away into the 1999 season, posting an average race speed record in the GasTrac 600 of 211.593 miles per hour despite finishing sixth. He would be involved in a major controversy in Rockingham known as "Soregate", where he was turned on the final lap while leading by Rash McSpot and Irwin came up and turned McSpot, ending both of their chances of winning, allowing Benjamin Jervis to get his final career win. He had the points lead for a very little time in the first half, with no wins and twelve top tens, he won at Wichita and cruised through the Round of 14. He got his second win of 1999 in the Outback Steakhouse 350 at Charlotte by one full lap ahead of second place, Joshua Johnson. That race was the last one won by a full lap. He made it through the Round of 9 in the points lead every race, and by the time the championship six came around, he had crashed in qualifying, putting him thirty-three points behind the leader, Kevin Polaris. On lap 165, Polaris spun, collecting his brother, Edgar Minsky, Dollar Oppoly, and Irwin, all the six contenders. Irwin was able to fix his car and by virtue of being the last championship six contender running, he won his seventh title, twenty points ahead of Minsky by finishing thirteenth. He finished 1999 with two wins, ten top fives, twenty top tens, and an average finish of 13.7. This would be Irwin's last title under the playoff format.

### 2000

CEO of the series, Avery Foster, announced that the playoffs would be removed due to many complaints about it being unfair that a win means a playoff berth and veterans with consistency but no wins like Xavier Polaris in 1992 being not in. This meant you had to be consistent in order to win the title. At first, it looked like it wasn't a problem for Irwin, seven top tens and three top fives in the first nine races, but after, he fell off a cliff, only one top ten in the next fourteen races and fell from tenth to twenty-first in the points. He got seven more top tens but he just couldn’t improve, finishing 18th in the standings.

### 2001

2001 started off as an improvement compared to 2000, winning at Dover and having six top tens in the first fifteen races but another leg injury following Riverhead practice caused him to miss two races. He came back at Atlanta coming in seventh, he got five top fives and eight top tens which included a runner-up at Wichita, which was also the same race where his brother Ricky got his tenth and final Citi Series win. He then regressed with two DNFs in the final ten races but got three top tens. He described 2001, as "mediocre" after Oregon stating he was acting too lazy. He ended 2001 with one win, seven top fives, nineteen top tens, an average finish of 14.6 and finished tenth in the standings.

### 2002

2002 showed speed early on and kept it, getting the pole in the GasTrac 600, and got two wins at Michigan and Chicagoland. He looked to challenge Timothy Green III for the title. He got thirteen top tens in the first half of the season. He regressed slightly in the second half though, with another win at St. Lawrence but having four DNFs. In Oregon, he qualified on the pole but ignition problems did him in causing Green III to win another title. He ended 2002 with three wins, eleven top fives, twenty-one top tens, an average finish of 12.1 and a fourth place points finish.

### 2003

2003 was Irwin's most dominant, with four wins at (Dover, Atlanta, Richmond, and Kingwood) in the first nine races. He got eight top tens in that span. He won at Milwaukee in very crazy fashion, beating defending champion Timothy Green III by 0.0009 of a second. After his father, Graham passed during the weekend of Kenyon, the sport renamed that race the Graham Irwin Tribute 145. Irwin ended up leading the most laps and winning the race from the pole saying very emotionally in victory lane, "Ingrid, Lucy, Ricky, David, Gary, Rachel, Robin, Keith, Joslyn, Craig, George, Jackie, Nelle, Warren, Michelle, and Aiel, this one's for Dad! Danny, Vinnie, Jessica, Grandpa misses us and is proud!" He followed that up with six more top tens in seven races. Though his five DNFs kept him close to the pack, four more wins intimidated the field. Heading into the finale at Oregon, he was sixteen points ahead of Farrell Kiio and Timothy Green III. He led the most laps and won his eighth title by winning the race. He ended 2003 with ten wins, twenty top fives, twenty-five top tens, and an average finish of 10.1.

### 2004

Irwin, being an eight-time champion, drove in 2004 mostly in the top ten week in and week out but was not as consistent as he was the year prior, only scoring one win in the first eighteen races, at Kingwood, which was one of his seven top tens. He got two more wins later on in the season at Milwaukee and Wichita but in the last parts of the season, he was running mid-pack mostly, leading to a fall in the standings. He ended the season with three wins, ten top fives, fifteen top tens, four DNFs, and a ninth place finish in points.

### 2005

Irwin has always said 2005 was the season that “he couldn’t reel in”, as he won the 2005 GasTrac 600 in the most memorable way possible, winning four-wide across the line, then spinning off of Mickey Benson and flipping on the tri-oval. He was up in points for most of the first half of the season, scoring a win at Kansas, where he ran out of fuel off turn four and coasted to the line, won Dover after being penalized twice in the pits, and he won Richmond. He did have two DNFs in the timespan and at Kingwood, he did something that always said costed him the championship in 2005, teammate and brother, Garrison was in front and instead of passing him on the back stretch, he had the urge to pass on the outside, which cost him the win and he regretted in a lot. Heading into the final 10 races, he sat just 12 points behind Timothy Green III, but he finished behind him in five of those races and were separated by 1 point heading into the finale at Oregon, Green III got the edge though, finishing 3rd while Irwin 4th. Had Irwin won Kingwood, he would've won the title by 2 points. He ended the season with four wins, eighteen top fives, twenty-two top tens, and a runner-up in the standings.

### 2006

In January of 2006, HerbFern Motorsports announced that Irwin would be moving to the No. 69 and the 68 would be taken by journeyman and 1998 champion, Kevin Polaris. The 2006 season for the team was a downswing, he got a win at Texas early on, but he and Polaris were not friendly to each other, as frequently, they would bump each other off the track on numerous occasions. This ended up costing them both, as they were as low as 16th and 17th in the standings in the summertime. They upped their game, especially Irwin, who got more top fives and tens in the second half than in all of 1998. Irwin went on to finish fifth in points, with two wins (he later won in Nashville), fourteen top fives, sixteen top tens, and five DNFs. Polaris would move up to eighth.

### 2007

In a surprise announcement, Irwin stated that he had signed a two-year deal with Richard Petty Motorsports from 2007 to 2008, and 2007 started quiet, getting seven top tens in the first seven races but no top fives. He would be extremely consistent but he had no wins in the whole first half of the season and sat atop the leaderboard with fifteen top tens and one top five, a fourth at Kansas. He had three races robbed from him winning, at Kingwood, where he got held up on pit road by Rash McSpot and fell back to sixth. At Atlanta, his tire blew off turn four on the last lap and Timothy Green III passed him for the win as he fell to seventh. At Dover, he had a pit road mishap after leading with 10 to go and fell to eighth. He would get so many top tens but no wins cost him, as even though he won at Mansfield for the first time, he ended the season with one win, three top fives, twenty-seven top tens, and third in points.

### 2008

2008 started with a win early in the year at Michigan and was consistent. He was in the top five in points all year. During the midpoint however, he was very unlucky, he had an awful wreck at Talladega while leading when his car lost steering and went straight into the wall. After five straight races with a finish of 27th or worse, he fell from fourth all the way to seventeenth in points, 355 points behind leader Rusty Cleveland; the points battle was tight that whole year. But then all of a sudden his performance meter skyrocketed, after getting a third place finish at Kenyon, he racked up six straight wins at Kansas, New Smyrna, Darlington, Martinsville, Daytona, and Mansfield, his six straight wins are a Citi Series record and he rocketed from seventeenth, 355 back all the way to second only 14 points back to Cleveland. He would be inconsistent toward the end of the year, scoring another win at Bristol and four top tens, but three DNFs in the final 10 races. What would transpire would be the biggest championship battle in Citi Series history, the playoff format from 1979 to 1999 always had six drivers in contention for the title. Since this format started in 2000, the most drivers ever in contention heading into the last race was four in 2002, which Irwin would happen to be involved in. The 2008 AT&T 550 at Oregon had nine drivers in contention for the championship, and Irwin finished just high enough in those last races to be the ninth man.

Heading into Oregon, the points battle was this tight (the farthest you can be back in order to take the points lead from someone is 150 while to tie them is 151), leader Timothy Green III (4113) had four wins and had just taken the points lead heading into this race and he was looking for his sixth championship and fourth in a row, Mickey Benson, sat 3 points behind (4110) Green III, Benson had just 1 win but was arguably the most consistent out of everyone, as his worst finish in the last 12 races was 17th. Sitting third in points, 5 points behind, was Kevin Polaris (4108), who after taking a sabbatical year in 2007, came back to score 2 wins and one of them was the GasTrac 600. He was second in points for most of the year but fell off in the last 5 races, lowering his hopes for a second title. Fourth in the standings, sitting just 11 points behind Green III, was Rusty Cleveland (4102), who had 5 wins and led the points toward the end of the season but had three DNFs in the last 6 races. David Cooper sat fifth in points, 23 points behind Green III (4090). He was the only one of the nine with no wins, but he was consistent enough to get the most laps led, and he had 7 poles too. Sitting sixth in points was Jack Wendell, who sat 30 points behind Green III (4083). He had 3 wins and no DNFs, with a worst finish of 31st, the problem was that even though he had no DNFs, he finished in the back multiple times, leading him to lose ground in the title hunt. Seventh in points was Harry Phelps, 58 points back to the lead (4055), he had 2 wins and only four top fives, but had the most top 10s at 27. The problem was his five DNFs in the last six races. Eighth in points, 83 points back was veteran and 2004 champion, Rash McSpot (4030), he had 1 win and a respectable statbook, leading to him being able to contend for the championship. Finally, sitting in ninth, 131 points back, was Robby Irwin (3982), with his 8 wins was the most anyone had, but you already read about his season. There could have been 10 in the hunt but David Mixell was 154 behind the lead.

The start of the race had Benson on pole, Phelps in third, Green III in fourth, Wendell in seventh, Irwin in tenth, Polaris in fourteenth, McSpot in sixteenth, Cooper in twenty-first, and even though Cleveland was the best in practice, he drifted through turns one and two on his qualifying lap, leading to starting in thirty-fourth. At the start of the race, Cleveland moved up fast and Benson lost the lead to Rick Aston. On lap 13, Timothy Green III got around Mickey Benson and had the lead in the championship, then all of a sudden, Robby Irwin started tearing through the pack. By lap 18, he was in front of all the contenders but was not leading the championship. Irwin took the lead on lap 22 from Aston and held it for a while. The championship contenders were all super close to each other by lap 50 and at one point, were all one position away from each other. When the first pit cycle took place on lap 51, Irwin was the leader and everyone was on different strategies. The first caution came out on lap 63 and the field was all bunched up again, at this point, Kevin Polaris was leading the points, by 3 over Green III. At the green flag, Rash McSpot got loose and bunched up the field and fell down to 25th. As Rusty Cleveland moved into the top five, Irwin was losing time and the other seven were closing in. On lap 74, Cleveland took the lead and was leading the championship. In the second pit cycle, Cleveland lost a ton of time on pit road by overshooting the stall, and David Cooper hit the back of Edwin Quinn as he came out. Irwin took back the lead and then on lap 95, another caution flew, and Irwin was the leader. He was within 60 points to the lead. As Irwin continued to lead, Jack Wendell moved up the field and almost wrecked Irwin when he moved to second. They swapped the lead for about 20 laps and by lap 130, Rusty Cleveland was back in the top 10. Eight of the nine contenders were in the top 15 except Rash McSpot who was a lap down in 23rd. As the sun set on Oregon Speedway, 197 laps out of 425 had been completed. Under the lights, Wendell led and was leading the championship. Another caution flew on lap 212, this time, Rash McSpot had slammed the wall in turn 3, ending his hopes at a second title. McSpot still ran the race but wouldn’t come back until lap 335. On the green flag, Wendell spun his tires and fell back a lot and Irwin took back the lead. Polaris and Benson swapped the lead for the championship throughout the night but it all came down to the last pit cycle.

The last pit cycle took place on laps 396-413, Irwin led, Cleveland was in the top five, Wendell and Cooper were in the top 10, while the others were outside the top 15. Once the cycle started, Green III took two tires and moved up front, while the rest all took four tires and then, a caution flew. Every one of the contenders had gotten back to the lead lap. On lap 416, the final ten laps of the 2008 season began, Green III lost the lead to Irwin after one lap, and was desperately trying to hold the field at bay, but unfortunately lost a cylinder and dropped like a rock. With five laps to go, Cleveland was trying to get to Irwin and by then everyone behind them began to fade but they were losing time. With two laps left, Cleveland was right on Irwin’s bumper and on the white flag, coming off of turn 2, got loose and spun and the whole field went berserk when no caution was thrown and Irwin coasted to the win, and everyone froze. Who was the champion? After the spin, Cleveland spun in the racing lane and everyone had to slow down tremendously, and Oregon Speedway's backstretch was very narrow at the time, so many people lost positions, and since not many people were out of the race, the contenders lost so many spots as many people spun out and blocked the track. After review, it was official, Robby Irwin had made up over 131 points to win his ninth championship by tying Jack Wendell and Mickey Benson but Irwin won because he had the most wins and Wendell had 3 and Benson had 1 so they finished second and third respectively. While Irwin won and maximized points, Wendell finished 28th, Phelps 25th, Cooper 29th, Benson 37th, Polaris 38th, Green III 40th, Cleveland 39th, and McSpot 36th.

#### Points Battle:

1. Robby Irwin 4167
2. Jack Wendell 4167
3. Mickey Benson 4167
4. David Cooper 4166
5. Timothy Green III 4161
6. Kevin Polaris 4157
7. Rusty Cleveland 4153
8. Harry Phelps 4143
9. Rash McSpot 4085

Irwin’s 2008 stats are this: nine wins, twenty top fives, twenty-five top tens, six DNFs, a pole, and an average finish of 16.3. The 2008 season ended with Irwin getting a miracle ninth title and the top 8 all spread out by just 24 points (McSpot was 82 off the lead), and the top three were tied, fourth was one point out, fifth was six points out, sixth was ten points out, seventh was fourteen points out, and eighth was twenty-four points out.

### 2009

Going into 2009, many rumors were swirling around about Irwin’s contract extension, as he was in a contract year for 2008. He signed a one-year deal and started the year. He had a slow start to 2009, not scoring a top ten until the fifth race at Atlanta, finishing seventh. He would later regain his consistency, winning three of the next seven races. After he and Rusty Cleveland swapped the points lead throughout the midseason, Irwin fell into a six-race slump, where he had DNFed in four of those races. He fell to fifth in points and toward the end of the season, he got two more wins, at Watkins Glen and Darlington and moved to third in points. In the title battle, he was on the short end of the stick, as he finished second in points to Kevin Polaris, who got his first title since 1998.

### 2010

Irwin signed with LaPayne Motorsports in 2010 on a three-year deal in the number 81 and was granted a win early on at Atlanta and TBA

### Points Finishes:

1986: 33rd, 0 wins

1987: 4th. 2 wins

1988: 4th, 1 win (GasTrac 600 #1)

1989: 1st, 6 wins

1990: 1st, 5 wins (GasTrac 600 #2)

1991: 16th, 1 win

1992: 1st, 5 wins

1993: 11th, 2 wins (GasTrac 600 #3)

1994: 24th, 1 win

1995: 1st, 1 win (GasTrac 600 #4)

1996: 1st, 0 wins

1997: 1st, 6 wins

1998: 35th, 0 wins (injured mid-season)

1999: 1st, 2 wins

2000: 18th, 0 wins

2001: 10th, 1 win

2002: 4th, 3 wins

2003: 1st, 10 wins

2004: 9th, 3 wins

2005: 2nd, 4 wins (GasTrac 600 #5)

2006: 5th, 2 wins

2007: 3rd, 1 win

2008: 1st, 8 wins

2009: 2nd, 5 wins

2010: 2nd

2011: 8th, 1 win

2012: 4th

2013: 1st

2014: 7th

2015: 8th

2016: 1st

2017: 6th

2018: 14th