Irvan grew up in California and began racing karts at age nine in 1968, winning the California Championship at fifteen. He moved into stock cars at Stockton 99 Speedway at age sixteen, racing weekly at Madera and Stockton through 1981 while racking up numerous feature wins. In 1982, he left California for North Carolina with $700 and a homemade trailer, supporting himself by welding grandstand seats at Charlotte Motor Speedway and building race cars, all while winning nine times in Charlotte-area late model competition.
Irvan made his Winston Cup debut on September 13, 1987, at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway in a car he and partner Marc Reno had built and prepared themselves. He narrowly missed Rookie of the Year honours in 1988, losing to Ken Bouchard by just three points (242–239) in the closest such battle in Winston Cup history.
After joining Morgan-McClure Motorsports in 1990 to drive the No. 4 Kodak Oldsmobile, Irvan immediately became a contender. He won his first Cup race that year at Bristol and finished ninth in points. In February 1991 he drove the Morgan-McClure Chevrolet to victory in the Daytona 500 — four years after watching the race on a borrowed black-and-white television while washing cars to support his family. Irvan's aggressive style earned him the "Swervin' Irvan" nickname from fellow competitors, and following discussions with Darrell Waltrip and Richard Petty, he publicly apologised for his driving at the 1991 DieHard 500 drivers' meeting. He recorded two wins in 1991 and three each in 1992 and 1993, emerging as one of the fastest drivers in the series.
In July 1993, Irvan's friend and fellow driver Davey Allison died from injuries sustained in a helicopter crash. Allison's team owner Robert Yates asked Irvan to replace him in the No. 28 Texaco-Havoline Ford, prompting a legal dispute with Morgan-McClure before his release was secured. In nine races with Yates at the end of 1993, Irvan won twice at Martinsville and Charlotte and climbed from ninth to sixth in the final standings.
The 1994 season saw Irvan mount a serious championship challenge. Through twenty races he was locked in a tight battle with Dale Earnhardt, leading Earnhardt in top-five finishes and winnings while trailing by just 27 points. He had also led more miles than any other driver in the first twenty events.
On August 21, 1994, during a Saturday morning practice session at Michigan International Speedway, a tire failure caused Irvan's No. 28 Ford to careen into the concrete wall exiting turn two at approximately 170 mph. The impact left him with a basilar skull fracture and severe lung injuries. Airlifted to Saint Joseph's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he was given only a 10% chance of surviving the night.
Irvan clung to life for two days. By early September he was removed from ventilator support. Within months he appeared on stage at the NASCAR Awards Banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York to receive the True Value Hard Charger Award, having still ranked among the top five in laps led for the season despite missing the final eleven races.
Irvan spent 1995 recovering and doing broadcast work for TNN. NASCAR cleared him to compete in September of that year. He re-entered a Winston Cup race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, starting seventh in an extra No. 88 entry from Robert Yates, advancing to third by lap 47, leading for 31 laps, and finishing sixth. It was less than thirteen months after his near-fatal accident.
For 1996, Irvan returned to the No. 28 full-time. He won at New Hampshire and Richmond, qualified on the front row at Daytona, and finished in the top ten in the championship standings. In June 1997, he recorded his fifteenth and final Cup victory at Michigan Speedway — the very track that had nearly killed him three years earlier. He also ran five top-fives and thirteen top-tens that season before being released by Robert Yates Racing at year's end.
Irvan drove the No. 36 Skittles Pontiac for MB2 Motorsports in 1998, scoring eleven top-tens despite missing the final three races after a crash at Talladega. On August 20, 1999, exactly five years after his Michigan accident, Irvan crashed again in practice at the same track while driving in a Busch Series event, sustaining a mild head injury and bruised lung. On September 3, 1999, surrounded by his wife and children, he announced his retirement at a tearful press conference in Darlington, South Carolina.
Irvan finished his Winston Cup career with 15 victories, 22 poles, 68 top-fives, 124 top-tens, and over eleven million dollars in career earnings.
Irvan's story is one of the most dramatic in NASCAR history: an aggressive competitor who reformed his public image, built himself into a championship contender, survived what should have been a fatal crash, and returned to win at the same circuit that nearly claimed his life. He has been inducted into multiple halls of fame and established the Race2Safety foundation to promote head-injury awareness, particularly among children. He was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.