35 Facts About Jimmy Spencer

James Peter Spencer was born on February 15,1957 and is an American former racing driver, team owner, talk show host and television commentator.

Jimmy Spencer is one of the few drivers to have won a race in all three of NASCAR's top series: the NASCAR Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Truck Series.

Jimmy Spencer captured his first win in the Late Model division at Port Royal Speedway in 1976.

Jimmy Spencer moved to NASCAR Modifieds at Shangri-La Speedway, then branched out to bigger events throughout the Northeast.

In 1984, Jimmy Spencer was one of the top contenders for NASCAR's National Modified Championship, at a time when all sanctioned races counted toward that title; after running over sixty races, he was second to Richie Evans in the final standings.

When NASCAR changed the National Modified Championship into the smaller-schedule Winston Modified Tour in 1985, Jimmy Spencer continued to run, and won the title in 1986 and 1987.

Jimmy Spencer debuted in the Busch Series in 1985, finishing 19th at North Carolina Motor Speedway in the No 67 Pontiac for Frank Cicci Racing, which was his Modified team.

In 1989, Jimmy Spencer won his first career Busch race, the Mountain Dew 400 at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Jimmy Spencer later won another two that season at Orange County and Myrtle Beach, finishing 15th in the final standings.

Jimmy Spencer posted three top 10's and finished 34th in points.

Jimmy Spencer then ran full-time in 1990, finishing in the top 10 twice for Rod Osterlund Racing in the No 57 Heinz-sponsored Pontiac and finished 24th in points.

In 1991, Jimmy Spencer moved to the No 98 Banquet Foods Chevrolet for Travis Carter Motorsports.

Jimmy Spencer responded with his second career wins at both Myrtle Beach Speedway and Orange County Speedway.

Late in the 1992 season, Jimmy Spencer joined Bobby Allison Motorsports' Cup team and posted three top-fives in the last four races of the season.

Jimmy Spencer signed to drive Allison's No 12 Meineke-sponsored Ford Thunderbird full-time in 1993, and finished in the top 5 five times, resulting in a career-best 12th-place in the final standings.

Jimmy Spencer won his first career pole award for the Tyson Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Jimmy Spencer finished in the Top 10 four times in 1995 and in 1996, Spencer had two Top 5's en route to a 15th-place finish in points.

Jimmy Spencer had two Top 5's and in 2001 won the pole positions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway and advanced to 16th in points.

Jimmy Spencer began the season by failing to qualify for the Daytona 500, then had a streak of four top-5 qualifying efforts, including at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he started fourth and was leading the race when he was bumped by Kurt Busch to win, starting a long rivalry between the two.

Also in 2002, Jimmy Spencer won his last career Busch Series race, the Food City 250 at Bristol driving for Phoenix Racing.

Jimmy Spencer joined Ultra Motorsports in 2003, piloting the No 7 Sirius Satellite Radio-sponsored Dodge.

Jimmy Spencer was suspended for the next week's race, the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway while Busch was placed on probation.

Jimmy Spencer was hired to drive three races for in the No 2 Team ASE Racing Dodge Ram for Ultra's Truck Series team, winning the pole and the race in his second start at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Jimmy Spencer became a part-owner of the Cicci organization that season, when he put Stuart Kirby in Cicci's No 34 United States Air Force-sponsored Chevy, but that partnership soon dissolved.

Jimmy Spencer began 2004 with Ultra's Cup team at the Daytona 500, but when the team closed down due to a lack of sponsorship, he replaced Kevin Lepage at Morgan-McClure Motorsports, which had been running unsponsored.

Jimmy Spencer came close to a victory in the season opener at Daytona.

Jimmy Spencer held the lead late in the race and held off 2004 series champion Bobby Hamilton until just before the caution came out on the last lap.

Jimmy Spencer had run both Cup races at Pocono Raceway for Furniture Row Racing in 2006, finishing 32nd and 36th, respectively, which ended up being his last NASCAR starts as a driver.

Jimmy Spencer then worked full-time as an analyst for NASCAR on Speed on the NASCAR RaceDay pre-race show and NASCAR Victory Lane post-race show.

Jimmy Spencer became a co-anchor on NASCAR Race Hub on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Jimmy Spencer continued to co-host Race Hub, mainly alongside Steve Byrnes and Danielle Trotta, until the end of 2013.

Jimmy Spencer quietly left NASCAR on Fox and NASCAR Race Hub after the 2013 season.

Jimmy Spencer has been largely inactive in the NASCAR community since then aside from an appearance on The Dale Jr.

Jimmy Spencer is married to his wife Pat and has two children and five dogs.

Jimmy Spencer had a sister, Chrissy, who died of ovarian cancer in 2010.