I would have to venture a guess and say Bill Elliott on this one. In 1985 he had a great year by winning 11 races but lost out to the championship to Darell Waltrip. It was also the year that he won the Winston Million.
Well the only other person that I think it could be is the "Silver Fox" David Pearson because he didn't run a full schedule during the latter part of his career but still won a lot of races.
Lil Momma. She does not receive any bonus points though. Richard Petty won 18 races in 1970, but lost the Championship to Bobby Isaacs who had 11 wins.
If A-Ron had answered that he would have told you the horsepower that Petty was running when he won the 7th of his 18th races based on the type of oil he was running in his rear differential.
That question was a little tricky since that was before the modern era. They used to run like 3 races per weekend back then and sometimes 60 or 70 a year. I do believe Bill would be the answer in the modern era. I think Jeff Gordon won 10 one year but lost the championship to Terry Labonte who had only won two. Earnhardt won 9 one year and barely lost out to Rusty Wallace who had only won 3 or 4 I believe.
Sorry about that. Petty is the right answer in the way that you asked the question so I digress. Just thought I'd add that little tidbit about the # of races they used to run.
Ken Schrader
I was watching the race that Sunday as I do every sunday, and Sadly but true I was not the biggest Eatnhardt fan I stick with Jarrett thru thick and thin ( with has been so so thin recently lol) And I just took for granted that he would walk away and horribly made the remark that he shouldn't block, and that was part of racing
The # 38 car [Schrader] is the one that hit Earnhart after he spun and pushed him along the guardrail,,but he's not the one that caused Dale to spin..Very good answer and very close tho..