Carl Edwards, Ricky Rudd, Ralph Moody, and Dr. Dean Sicking are the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025, the sanctioning body announced on Wednesday evening. The announcement was made at the facility in Charlotte, North Carolina.
NASCAR divides the ballot into three categories: Modern Era, Pioneer, and Landmark, each recognizing different categories of contributions to the sport. All winners were picked by votes from the Voting Panel, which includes representatives from the sanctioning body, racetracks, manufacturers, media, and former competitors. Defending champion Ryan Blaney also got a vote. In addition, the winner of the fan vote hosted on NASCAR’s website was awarded one vote to bring the total to 62 votes each.
Two nominees were selected from the Modern Era ballot, made up of racers and competitors that are some of the most well-known characters in the sport’s recent years. This year, the nominees were Greg Biffle, Neil Bonnett, Tim Brewer, Jeff Burton, Randy Dorton, Carl Edwards, Harry Gant, Harry Hyde, Ricky Rudd and Jack Sprague.
Ricky Rudd was inducted with 87% of the votes in his favor. Rudd has the second-most career starts in the Cup Series and picked up 23 wins in the process, including maintaining the second-longest streak of seasons with a win in the sport’s history. He went on to field a multiple-race-winning team to continue his legacy on the racetrack.
Carl Edwards received 52% of the votes, enough to be inducted alongside Rudd. Edwards won 28 times in the Cup Series and finished runner-up in the championship standings twice, losing in 2011 in the closest points battle in series history. Edwards was able to break through in the Xfinity Series, where he scored 38 wins in total and won the 2007 series championship.
Harry Gant received the third-most votes, followed by followed by Jeff Burton and Harry Hyde on the Modern Era ballot.
The Pioneer ballot honors those who shaped the sport in its earliest days. This year’s nominees were Ray Hendrick, Banjo Matthews, Ralph Moody, Larry Phillips, Bob Welborn, with one winner selected from those five.
Ralph Moody has been inducted from the Pioneer ballot. After a time as a driver, Ralph set up the Holman-Moody race team, renowned as perhaps the most successful race team in history. The team built and fielded Ford’s factory programs across global motorsports series from the ’50s to the ’70s. In NASCAR, Holman Moody won two championships and won two Daytona 500s. Holman Moody also most famously built the Ford GT40s that finished 1-2-3 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, upsetting the dominant Ferrari factory program on the French tarmac.
Moody received 60% of the votes in total, with Ray Hendrick getting the second-most.
The Landmark ballot recognizes individuals whose contribution to some aspect of NASCAR has permanently impacted the sport. The nominees were Alvin Hawkins, Lesa France Kennedy, Dr. Joseph Mattioli, Les Richter, Dr. Dean Sicking.
Dr. Dean Sicking has been inducted from that ballot.
The safety researcher is most famous for inventing the SAFER (Steel And Foam Energy Reduction) barrier, which has been introduced by NASCAR and other motorsports series throughout the world. Dr. Sicking also created other impact-reduction systems which have saved lives on and off the racetrack.
The nominees will formally enter the Hall on February 7th of next year in the Induction Ceremony.
The winners were applauded by figures throughout the NASCAR world. Ricky Rudd drove for Richard Childress early in his career, and the now-Hall of Famer’s former boss laid praises on Rudd and the others.
“I think they picked a great group of guys to go in the Hall of Fame,” Childress told CupScene editor-in-chief Greg Engle. “Ricky Rudd’s done so much, Carl Edwards is a super driver, and then you look at Ralph Moody: he’s one of the pioneers that helped build this sport.”
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