Every sport has its athletes, women and men alike. Some sports have not had women athletes for a long period of time, sports like ice hockey and American football. Some sports have evolved faster and allowed women to not only compete, but make a living out of an otherwise problematic sport. 

NASCAR has had a history of women drivers, as well as men drivers. Most fans are familiar with the legendary men drivers in NASCAR but what they tend to forget is that there are as many women drivers.

Here are the best NASCAR women drivers of all time.

Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick is the first woman driver to win an IndyCar event. She started her career in 2012, at least professionally, and has been racing since. With 6 top 10 finishes, she is one of the most iconic drivers, especially since she was the first to come to the professional scene. She has a single pole position and has had multiple rookie victories.

As a professional, she stands out as the first woman to be a NASCAR winner, not to mention that she has a huge following. She is also the first woman to win a Sprint Cup pole position. 

Sara Christian

NASCAR has been welcoming women since more than half a century ago. Back in 1949, Sara Christian was the first ever woman to race in NASCAR. She hasn’t had the longest of careers, racing in 1949 and 1950. She started in 6 of the many inaugural races in 1949, and finished thirteenth overall, while having two top 10 finishes. Her 1950 season had a single race, after which she retired. The first woman to race in NASCAR raced with everyone else, at the very start of NASCAR.

Janet Guthrie

Not many women in NASCAR are also aerospace engineers. Janet Guthrie is both, and is the first woman to race in a superspeedway event. She is also the first woman to compete at the very famous and iconic Daytona 500. She also competed at the Indy 500. She started in 1976, and had a relatively short career with 33 races and 4 top 10 finishes. 

Sometimes, the only victory that you need is to inspire everyone else to go in your footsteps, or in this case, to follow your tire tracks. 

Lella Lombardi

Of the many women who competed in NASCAR, Lella Lombardi was the first woman to earn points in Formula 1, as well as NASCAR. She raced in 1977, beating all the other women at the Firecracker 400, getting position 31 out of 41, beating the other two women, as well as some men, obviously. 

These are the most interesting women in NASCAR history, from the first one to race, to the first overall winner of a NASCAR event.