Daniel Joseph Pardus (born April 2, 1963) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He was a regular on the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series, and also competed in events in the Busch and Winston Cup Series, as well as the ARCA Re/Max Series.

Racing career A native of Port Orange, Florida, a suburb of Daytona Beach, Pardus, a graduate of Mainland High School, won back to back track championships at New Smyrna Speedway in 1980 and 1981. Pardus began racing in NASCAR's touring series in 1992, competing in the Goody's Dash Series, a series for four-cylinder subcompact cars. He ran in the series for several years, running a Chevrolet Cavalier and, later, a Pontiac Grand Am; he joined Jim & Judie Motorsports, the team he would run the majority of the remainder of his racing career for, before the 1995 season.

Pardus moved to the ARCA Re/MAX Series, a full-size stock car series, in 1997; running approximately half the series schedule, he placed third in the series' Rookie of the Year award standings and 12th overall. He ran only five races in the series in 1998, as he attempted to make his debut at the top level of NASCAR competition, the Winston Cup Series; he failed to qualify for a number of races through the season, and was injured early in the season in a practice crash at Texas Motor Speedway. In October he successfully made his debut, in what would prove to be his only start in the series, in the Pepsi 400 in October. Pardus finished 36th in the event, which had been delayed from July by extensive wildfires in central Florida.

Pardus entered the 1999 season intending to run the full 1999 Winston Cup Series schedule, competing for Rookie of the Year driving the No. 50 for Midwest Transit Racing. The team ran a limited schedule due to limited sponsorship; following his third failure to qualify in three attempts, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Pardus was released as the team's driver, moving to a management position.

In 2000, driving for the Gardners, Pardus failed to qualify for the Daytona 500; after running a limited ARCA schedule in 2000, Pardus and the team moved to the NASCAR Busch Series in 2001, with sponsorship from The Outdoor Channel; he made his debut in the series at Nashville Superspeedway. In his second Busch Series race, at Chicagoland Speedway, Pardus was involved in a hard crash with David Donohue, suffering a broken back; he returned to competition later in the year, and ran a partial schedule in 2002, competing in twelve races, all but one for Jim & Judie Motorsports; the exception being a drive for Jay Robinson Racing in the GNC Live Well 250 at Daytona International Speedway; he also failed to qualify for six other races. Pardus' team hired pit crews from Winston Cup Series teams to pit their cars; at Nashville, due to a scheduling conflict, the crew for ML Motorsports pitted the car.

Following the 2002 season, The Outdoor Channel ended their sponsorship of Jim & Judie Motorsports; Pardus attempted to qualify for two races in 2003, at Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway failing to qualify for both. Pardus would make one more attempt at a NASCAR start, in 2005 at Daytona, driving the No. 73 Chevrolet for Raabe Racing Enterprises in qualifying for the Pepsi 400; he failed to qualify for the event.

Personal life Pardus is married, to Alice. He has two children, Danielle and Preston, both of whom also race cars; Preston won the Sports Car Club of America Spec Miata national championship in 2017.

Pardus currently works as a utilities contractor, and worked as a part-time commentator for radio and TV broadcasts of racing events on SPEED Channel and HD Net, which he joined following his racing career.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series NASCAR Winston Cup Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Pts Ref 1998 Midwest Transit Racing 07 Chevy DAYDNQ CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX MAR TALDNQ CAL CLTDNQ DOV RCH MCH POC SON NHA POC INDDNQ GLN MCH BRI NHADNQ DAR RCH DOV MAR CLT TALDNQ DAY36 PHO CAR ATL 68th 55 1999 50 DAYDNQ CARWth† LVS ATL DAR TEX BRI MAR TALDNQ CAL RCH CLTDNQ DOV MCH POC SON DAY NHA POC IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH NHA DOV MAR CLT TAL CAR PHO HOM ATL N/A – 2000 Jim & Judie Motorsports 65 Chevy DAYDNQ CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX MAR TAL CAL RCH CLT DOV MCH POC SON DAY NHA POC IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH NHA DOV MAR CLT TAL CAR PHO HOM ATL N/A – † - Replaced after first round qualifying by Billy Standridge

Daytona 500 Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish 1998 Midwest Transit Racing Chevrolet DNQ 1999 DNQ 2000 Jim & Judie Motorsports Chevrolet DNQ

Busch Series NASCAR Busch Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Pts Ref 2001 Jim & Judie Motorsports 32 Chevy DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX NSH35 TAL CAL RCH NHA NZH CLTDNQ DOV KENDNQ MLW GLN CHI36 GTY PPR IRP MCH BRI DAR31 RCH DOV KAN CLT36 MEM PHO29 CAR31 HOMDNQ 61st 384 2002 DAYDNQ CAR34 LVS33 DAR23 BRI TEXDNQ NSH32 TAL CAL RCH34 NHA NZH CLT25 DOV NSH35 KEN27 MLW CHIDNQ GTY PPR IRP MCH27 BRI DAR39 RCHDNQ DOV KAN CLT42 MEMDNQ ATL CARDNQ PHO HOM 49th 780 Jay Robinson Racing 49 Ford DAY41 2003 39 DAY CAR LVS DAR BRI TEX TAL NSH CAL RCH GTY NZH CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAYDNQ CHI NHA PPR IRP MCH BRI N/A – Red Racing 91 Chevy DARDNQ RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM ATL PHO CAR HOM

ARCA Re/Max Series (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.) ARCA Re/Max Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 1997 Jim & Judie Motorsports 42 Chevy DAY9 ATL8 SLM25 CLT31 CLT19 POC MCH23 SBS TOL KIL FRS MIN16 POC MCH11 DSF32 GTW28 SLM WIN CLT16 TAL8 ISF ATL24 12th – 1998 DAY18 ATL SLM4 CLT MEM MCH29 POC SBS TOL PPR POC KIL FRS ISF ATL DSF SLM32 TEX WIN CLT TAL3 ATL N/A – 1999 DAY38 ATL40 SLM15 AND CLT9 MCH29 POC TOL16 SBS BLN POC27 KIL FRS FLM ISF WIN DSF SLM CLT40 TAL25 ATL22 32nd 1000 2000 DAY7 SLM AND CLT14 KIL FRS MCH12 POC3 TOL KEN4 BLN POC22 WIN ISF KEN35 DSF SLM CLTDNQ TAL18 ATL11 22nd 1530 2001 DAY24 NSH WIN SLM GTY KEN CLT KAN MCH POC MEM GLN KEN MCH POC NSH ISF CHI DSF SLM TOL BLN CLT TAL ATL 151st 115

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