Report: Former NASCAR Cup driver Marvin Panch dead at age 89

Marvin Panch, who captured 17 career top series NASCAR wins, including the 1961 Daytona 500, died Thursday at age 89.

According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Panch was found unresponsive in his car Thursday morning and pronounced dead of natural causes not long after.

A native of Oakland, Calif., Panch made 216 starts in what is now the Sprint Cup Series from 1951 through 1966.

Panch -- named one of NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers" in 1998 -- never won a Cup title, but finished a career-best second in the season standings in 1957, when he was runner-up to Buck Baker.

Panch, whose wife Bettie died in 2006, spent much of his life residing in Port Orange, Fla.