JIMMY  HENSLEY   -   10/11/1945

a former NASCAR driver.  With a career spanning 27 seasons in all three of NASCAR's elite divisions, Hensley may be best remembered for his Rookie of the Year award won in 1992, his 15th season in the series, and for his nine career Xfinity Series wins.  He spent most of his career working as an oil truck driver in addition to racing.  He was best known as being a substitute driver for many teams.  Hensley's NASCAR Cup career began in 1972, driving for famous owner Junie Donlavey in the #90 Ford.  Both of his starts that season came at Martinsville Speedway, the track being just ten miles from Hensley's hometown of Ridgeway, VA.  Though an engine failure in his first start relegated Hensley to a 33rd place finish, he completed all but seven laps of the fall event, the Old Dominion 500, to finish fifth.  This would end up being Hensley's best finish in his 98 career Winston Cup Series races.  Hensley competed again for Donlavey in the 1973 and 1974 Virginia 500 events, coming home in seventh and sixth places, respectively.  For the 1974 Old Dominion 500, Hensley drove the #02 Chevrolet owned by Russell Large, finishing 19th.  Beginning in 1975, Hensley drove the #63 Chevrolet for part-time owner Billy Moyer, competing in both Martinsville races each year until 1977 and registering a top ten each season.  It would be last Cup race for several years.  In 1981, Hensley returned to the Cup Series, driving in the fall Martinsville event for Cecil Gordon in the #24 Buick and bringing home a seventh place result.  For the next eight seasons

Hensley competed on-and-off in the Cup Series and raced full-time in the Xfinity ranks.  His first Xfinity series start would be at Martinsville; he would start 15th and finish 7th.  He ran 11 events that season and had a best finish of second at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro NC.  In 1983 he posted five top five finishes and finished fourth in the points.  Behind the wheel of the #00 Oldsmobile in 1985, Hensley came home second in points, just 29 points behind champion Jack Ingram, after a season with three wins at Hickory, South Boston, and IRP.  His first career win came at Hickory Speedway in NC; where he started fourth and led the final 30 laps to get the win. Hensley again finished second in points in 1987 driving the #5 Advance Auto Parts Buick for Sam Ard, starting and finishing first in the season finale at Martinsville 

Xfinity 1990 Darlington

1998 Truck win - Nashville

for his only win of the season.  In 1990 he was once again second in the points after posting one win and nine top five finishes.  His final Xfinity series win would come in 1991; a year in which he claimed three victories.  At Orange County Speedway in Rougemont NC; Hensley would start second' lead 103 laps and beat out Robert Pressley by eight seconds to claim his last Xfinity Series win.  Beginning in 1995, Hensley began to compete in the newly-formed Craftsman Truck Series, driving in his first two seasons for owner Grier Lackey.  His first full season was in the #30 Mopar Performance Dodge Ram in 1996, where he had five

top-fives and a pole position.  In 1997, however, Hensley joined Petty Enterprises, piloting the #43 Cummins Dodge in the next three seasons.  At age 52 in 1998, Hensley found victory lane at Nashville and finished sixth in the final points standings.  The next year, he finished first at Martinsville, recording what would be the last win of his career.  That year, he made his final run in the Xfinity Series, filling in for Wayne Grubb.  For his career Hensley ran 146 Truck series races, winning twice.  He ran 255 Xfinity Series races posting nine wins; and he raced in 98 Cup races without posting a victory.  Some info from Wikipedia

1992 Cup ride

All Photos copyright and are property of their respective owners