| Russ Hepler is a former NASCAR driver from Clarion, PA. He competed in thirteen Sprint Cup Series events in his career, earning two top-tens and one pole.
Hepler's debut came during the 1951 season, when he competed at Shippenville. Starting positions in the field of twenty are unknown, but Hepler just had a solid race and wound up finishing 9th.
Hepler stepped it up to a two-race schedule for the 1952 season, when he moved venues to Langhorne. That race was a tough one for the driver, only completing twenty-seven laps before overheating woes left him in 34th. Luckily, a few weeks later Hepler had a better run of it at Toledo, finishing 14th.
Hepler did not return to the sport until 1954, when a six-race schedule gave him a career-high 46th place finish in the final points. Despite three mechanical DNFs during the year, Hepler was quite solid. Excluding a 39th place finish at Mechanicsburg, Hepler never finished worse than 20th. This momentum included a solid run down south in North Carolina, finishing 14th at Raleigh in a deep field, followed by a shocking career-best fourth place showing at Charlotte.
Hepler's final four races came during the 1957, though it turned out to be a very tough close for the driver. A variety of mechanical woes took him out of each and every race, only allowing him to garner one top-twenty finish. That top-twenty finish came at Richmond - an 18th place finish after Hepler had pulled an upset to win the pole. Other notable runs for the driver were a 22nd at the prestigious Daytona Beach Road Course and a 21st at Martinsville in his final career race.
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