1990 PIR winner Dale Earnhardt was named the top driver in NASCAR history by ESPN's expert panel.

To commemorate the storied history of NASCAR before the network's return to regular NEXTEL Cup Series race coverage on Sunday, July 29, ESPN named six past PIR winners to its list of the sport's 20 Greatest Drivers in the first installment of the series ESPN Ultimate NASCAR.

With the November 11 Checker Auto Parts 500 Presented by Pennzoil acting as a chance for fans to check out the current and future legends of NASCAR, live from Arizona, here's a look at the top 20 drivers of all time - as selected by ESPN's panel of longtime experts - with past PIR winners highlighted in bold:

1. Dale Earnhardt (1990 winner)
2. Richard Petty
3. David Pearson
4. Bobby Allison
5. Jeff Gordon (April 2007 winner)
6. Junior Johnson
7. Cale Yarborough
8. Darrell Waltrip
9. Fireball Roberts
10. Curtis Turner
11. Tony Stewart (1999 winner)
12. Bill Elliott (1989 winner)
13. Rusty Wallace (1998 winner)
14. Mark Martin (1993 winner)
15. Lee Petty
16. Tim Flock
17. Herb Thomas
18. Ned Jarrett
19. Joe Weatherly
20. Fred Lorenzen

17 years later, Earnhardt's November 1990 triumph at PIR remains the most dominant in track history. Though it was polesitter Rusty Wallace who led the first 50 laps, Earnhardt took over on Lap 51 and never looked back from behind the wheel of his famous No. 3 Chevrolet, leading the final 262 circuits to take his ninth win of the season and his 48th career victory. With seven championships, it is Earnhardt who is remembered by the experts as NASCAR's all-time greatest wheelman.

For too long, a PIR victory had eluded Gordon and the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet. Entering 2007, the man named the fifth-best driver in history had raced in 16 NEXTEL Cup events at PIR without a victory. Another slump had dogged Gordon as well, as he had been stuck on 75 victories, one short of Earnhardt's career total, for over nine months. In the SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500™, however, things changed. Finally, a late-race dash of pit road luck had left Gordon standing and cheering in Gatorade Victory Lane, but not before hoisting a giant "3" flag from his car window to honor Earnhardt, the man whose victory total he had just matched. With one PIR trophy now among his many, Gordon will look to complete a season sweep in the Checker Auto Parts 500 Presented by Pennzoil on November 11.

Coming in at No. 11 all-time is the man who started 11th in his PIR win back in 1999: Tony Stewart. Stewart's win made him the first rookie to take the checkered flag in a NEXTEL Cup Series race on the one-mile oval in the track's 12 events. The win was the second of Stewart's career, and his first from outside the front row.

Affectionately known by his fans as "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville," Bill Elliott started ninth in the 1989 NEXTEL Cup event at PIR, driving his No. 9 Ford to its third win of the season. Elliott did not lead the race until Lap 257, but his late-race heroics took him to what was the 32nd win of his career. Elliott comes in at No. 12 on the all-time list of greats.

ESPN's experts named one of their own to the list, placing current race commentator Rusty Wallace into the 13th spot. Wallace led 196 laps at PIR in 1998 to secure his only Cup win at the track, but the win wasn't Wallace's first success in the Valley. Just the year before, Wallace finished as the runner-up to Dale Jarrett, and his 1998 win was his fifth top-five in 11 races on the Phoenix mile.

Only three drivers have competed in each of PIR's 22 NEXTEL Cup Series events, and only one has won a race on the tricky mile oval: Mark Martin, selected as the 14th-greatest driver of all time. It was in 1993 that Martin used a 0.19-second margin to edge Ernie Irvan and Kyle Petty for his first PIR win, and Martin's 212 laps led stood as the second-most dominant run in a PIR Cup race until Kurt Busch led 219 to win at PIR in April 2005. Martin will look to make start No. 23 when he returns to the Valley in November.