CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The induction billing labeled them as legends, but Rusty Wallace may have been more accurate when he called them “royalty” on the red carpet.

In either case, five titans of stock-car racing were officially enshrined as the 10th induction class into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Friday night, joining the ranks of the best ever in the sport in the process.

Led by four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and first-ballot Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon, the Class of 2019 also included late drivers Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki, as well as legendary car owners Roger Penske and Jack Roush.

“Our five inductees this year are so diverse,” noted event host and NASCAR on FOX play-by-play announcer Mike Joy. “The ways they got here to the NASCAR Hall of Fame were so different, but they were all driven … driven to succeed and excel.”

That drive fueled Hall of Fame careers for each of this year’s five inductees.

Gordon is largely hailed as the driver that transformed NASCAR from a niche sport in the Southeast into a mainstream phenomenon across the country. California-born and Indiana-raised, Gordon tallied four Cup championships and 93 victories over a 25-year career that built him into one of the all-time greats.

Now a NASCAR on FOX analyst, Gordon was inducted into the Hall of Fame by his Cup Series car owner Rick Hendrick, the only owner he drove for across his 805 career premier series starts.

“What a special evening. I’m so honored to be here surrounded by friends, family, fans and many people that have worked very hard behind the scenes for me over the years,” Gordon said during his acceptance speech. “Thank you to the fans who make racing the great sport that it is. You make being a race car driver a dream come true.”

Allison’s legacy comes from his family name and his driving prowess, regarded by his competitors as one of the most purely-talented drivers to ever hold a steering wheel. He won 19 Cup Series races and 14 poles during his career, which was tragically cut short when he died in a helicopter crash in 1993.

Perhaps Allison’s greatest triumph came in 1992, the year he won the season-opening Daytona 500.

Kulwicki moved from Wisconsin to North Carolina in 1984 with a pickup truck and a self-built race car, desperate to find success in NASCAR after earning a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He later found it, winning Cup Series rookie-of-the-year honors in 1986 and following that up with his first Cup Series victory at Phoenix Int’l Raceway in 1988.

But Kulwicki’s biggest moment came in the final moments of the 1992 season, when he overcame a 278-point deficit over the final six races of the season to become the last owner-driver of a single-car operation to capture the NASCAR Cup Series championship at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway.

Meanwhile, both Penske and Roush’s career legacies are continuing to grow across NASCAR’s top-three series.

Penske has 114 Cup Series wins to his credit, along with four Xfinity Series owner titles and two Cup Series championships, while Roush boasts a record 324 NASCAR national series races and five owner titles, including back-to-back Cup Series owner titles in 2003 and 2004.

“This Hall of Fame honor and this moment is very special to me, and I am so glad to share it with my family and friends,” Penske said. “Racing has been a part of my life almost as long as I can remember. It is a common thread that is woven throughout all of our Penske business. Racing is simply who we are.”

Each inductee received a special video message prior to their induction into the Hall of Fame. Those messages came from Lee Greenwood (Roush), Brian Williams (Kulwicki), Nick Saban (Allison), Jay Leno (Penske) and Kelly Ripa (Gordon).

The five inductees were then introduced by prominent NASCAR figures who either tied into their careers or represented similar parallels.

Roush Fenway Racing driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. introduced Roush, while fellow Wisconsin native Matt Kenseth introduced Kulwicki. Journeyman drivers Matt Crafton and Regan Smith combined on the introduction of Davey Allison, while Penske’s three drivers – Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano – introduced him and Gordon was welcomed to the stage by fellow Californian Kyle Larson.

With 10 induction classes since its inception in 2010, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is now home to 50 inductees in total.

In addition to the Class of 2019, other living Hall of Famers in attendance Friday night included Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett, Dale Inman, Darrell Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Leonard Wood, Jack Ingram, Bill Elliott, Jerry Cook, Terry Labonte, Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Mark Martin, Ray Evernham, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Ken Squier.

The late Jim Hunter was also honored Friday night as the fifth recipient of the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.

Friday night’s ceremony was televised live on NBCSN and completed in a tidy two-hour time block.