Friday 5: After 30 years of trying, Bobby Dotter made it to NASCAR Victory Lane

Until last Saturday, SS Green Light Racing owner Bobby Dotter had won only once in NASCAR’s national series. Even then, he didn’t get to enjoy the spoils of Victory Lane.

It was 1992. Dotter drove in what was then the Busch Series. He led 58 of 200 laps at what is now Motor Mile Speedway in Dublin, Virginia, before Jeff Burton passed him with seven laps to go and took the checkered flag.

Burton’s car failed inspection after the race and was disqualified. That gave the win to Dotter, who crossed the finish line second, ahead of such drivers as Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Ward Burton. 

Dotter was gone when Burton’s car was disqualified. His crew chief called him at home, awakening Dotter, to tell him he had won.

Dotter didn’t believe him.

“Am I dreaming?” Dotter said he thought at the time. “This has got to be a dream. This just doesn’t happen to me.”

It would be his only victory as a driver in 209 NASCAR Xfinity and 73 Camping World Truck series races spanning 1988-2004.

Dotter went on to become a team owner, competing in the Truck Series before moving to the Xfinity Series. His team was winless in 305 Truck starts and in 320 Xfinity starts until last weekend when Cole Custer won at Auto Club Speedway.

It would have been easy for anyone to give up, even the son of a racer, but Dotter persisted through those lean times.

“Through the years, it’s just the small victories,” he told NBC Sports of what kept him going. “There’s only one winner, but for us for so many years, a top 10 was a win or a top 15.”

Dotter finally got to experience a victory as a team owner — and a trip to Victory Lane — after Custer led the final 21 laps last weekend at Auto Club Speedway, holding off the field on the final four restarts.

Even after