Which Car Numbers Actually Win Squares? We Checked 115 Races.

We pulled the data from every Daytona 500 back to 1959, every Talladega race, every Indy 500, and every Coca-Cola 600 in our archive. 115 races total. 345 stage scoring moments. Here is what the numbers say about which squares actually win.

The last digit 8 appears in 42% of all stage-end scoring moments. Out of 345 stage breaks across 115 races, digit 8 showed up 144 times. No other digit comes close. Why? Because NASCAR and IndyCar have historically loaded competitive teams into cars ending in 8. The #28, #48, #88, #18, #78, #98, and #08 have all been championship-caliber rides. Dale Jarrett, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jr., Cale Yarborough, Martin Truex Jr. All ran cars that end in 8.

Across all 345 scoring moments (both P1 and P2 positions): 1. Digit 8: 144 hits 2. Digit 2: 127 hits 3. Digit 1: 95 hits 4. Digit 3: 77 hits 5. Digit 4: 64 hits Those five digits account for nearly 75% of all stage-end appearances. Digits 6 and 7 are at the bottom with just 17 and 29 hits respectively.

Digit 6 has appeared in just 17 of 345 scoring moments. That is under 5%. For comparison, digit 8 shows up eight times as often. If you draw a square with a 6 on either axis, the historical odds are against you.

The digit pair 1-8 has won the final result 9 times, more than any other combination. Denny Hamlin beating Kyle Busch in the 2019 Daytona 500 (#11 vs. #18). Dale Jr. beating Denny Hamlin in 2014 (#88 vs. #11). Mario Andretti beating car #28 in 1967. The 1-8 square has been money. At the stage level, 1-8 is even more dominant: 30 hits across all stages. Second place is 1-2 with 24.

Same-digit pairs are rare. But 2-2 has hit 8 times as a final result. That is more than most regular pairs. Cars #2, #12, #22, #42, #72 have all been competitive across different eras. Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya, Benny Parsons. The 2-2 square has friends in high places.

Out of 55 possible digit combinations, 17 have never been the final race result in 115 races. Some of the cold squares: 0-0, 0-3, 0-4, 0-5, 1-4, 1-7, 4-4, 5-5, 5-6, 6-6, 6-7, 6-9, 7-7, 9-9 Digit 6 shows up in five of those cold pairs. Digit 0 is in four. If your square has a 6 paired with anything outside of 8, history is not on your side.

The car numbers that win the most races: 1. #2 and #11: 8 wins each 2. #43: 7 wins 3. #9, #12, #24: 6 wins each 4. #3, #21, #22: 5 wins each 5. #28, #48: 5 wins each Notice that #2, #12, #22, and #42 all end in digit 2. And #28, #48, #88 all end in 8. The digit 2 and digit 8 dominance starts with which car numbers get parked in the best garages.

Not directly. The board assigns digits randomly. You cannot pick your numbers. But it tells you something useful: when the randomizer gives you an 8 on either axis, the historical data is in your favor. When you see a 6 or a 7, manage your expectations. More importantly, it makes every stage break more exciting. Now you know which squares are historically hot and which ones need a miracle. That is the whole point of playing.

115 races analyzed: 68 Daytona 500s (1959 to 2026), 17 Talladega races, 18 Indianapolis 500s, and 15 Coca-Cola 600s. Each race has 3 scoring stages, giving us 345 total scoring moments. Every number in this post comes from actual race results.