NASCAR Hall of Fame announces new inductees, awards Humpy Wheeler

WFAE | By Woody Cain

Published May 21, 2025 at 9:54 AM EDT

The NASCAR Hall of Fame has announced its 2026 Class after the voting panel met in uptown Charlotte on Tuesday. Former Cup Series champion Kurt Busch and 18-time Cup winner Harry Gant of Taylorsville were selected along with modified driver Ray Hendrick. Former Charlotte Motor Speedway general manager Humpy Wheeler was voted the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR. He spoke after the announcement.

"Well, that's what makes racing, is people would step up and say 'Hey, we're gonna have some fun this afternoon or tonight,’ and that's what I wanted to do," he said.

The newest Hall of Fame group will be inducted in January.

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Woody Cain

Woody is a Charlotte native who came to WFAE from the world of NASCAR where he was host of NASCAR Today for MRN Radio as well as a pit reporter, turn announcer and host of the NASCAR Live pre race show for Cup Series races. Before that, he was a news anchor at WBT radio in Charlotte, a traffic reporter, editor of The Charlotte Observer’s University City Magazine, News/Sports Director at WEGO-AM in Concord and a Swiss Army knife in local cable television. His first job after graduating from Appalachian State University was news reporter at The Daily Independent in Kannapolis. Along the way he’s covered everything from murder trials and a national political convention to high school sports and minor league baseball.

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