NASCAR Hall of Famer Cotton Owens dies

CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 7 (UPI) -- Race car driver and owner Cotton Owens, due to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame next year, has died. He was 88.

Owens died Thursday in South Carolina, NASCAR said.

Owens was elected to the 2013 class for the NASCAR Hall of Fame in May.

He won nine NASCAR races as a driver and finished second in the 1959 championship to Lee Petty.

Owens also won 38 races as an owner. Junior Johnson and David Pearson, like Petty also in the Hall of Fame, drove for Owens. Pearson won the 1966 championship driving one of Owens' cars.