December 2, 2010
By Doug Demmons
The Top 20 Biggest Moments of the NASCAR 2010 season, in no particular order:
Junior winning the Nationwide race in the No. 3 at Daytona.... Dale Earnhardt Jr. broke a longstanding decision not to drive the No. 3 his father made so famous, making an exception to honor his father’s induction into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame. With a Wrangler-sponsored Nationwide Series No. 3 car Junior drove it to an emotional victory at Daytona in his only win of the year.
Elliott Sadler’s wreck at Pocono.... The TV cameras missed all of Elliott Sadler’s wreck at Pocono except for the very end where his car slammed head-on into a walled embankment. Analysis later showed it to be the hardest hit ever recorded. But Sadler walked away from it thanks to the improved safety features mandated over the last decade.
Montoya blows it for a second straight year at Indy.... For two straight years, Juan Pablo Montoya has had the dominant car at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And for two straight years he has snatched defeat from the jaws of his first oval victory. In 2009 it was a pit road speeding penalty that cost him. This past July it was pit strategy that cost him. On a late caution Montoya’s team opted for a four-tiure change when the rest of the leaders went with two tires. Montoya lost vital track position and the race.
Harvick’s win at Talladega breaks a long winless streak.... Kevin Harvick’s last win had come all the way back in February 2007 at the Daytona 500. And in 2009 Harvick sounded like a man who wanted out at Richard Childress Racing. But at Talladega in April Harvick posted notice that RCR was back with a vengeance, holding off Jamie McMurray to win a race that set a record for lead changes.
Kyle Busch’s triple at Bristol.... Busch may be NASCAR’s Most Unpopular Drive judging by the boos at driver introductions, but he continues to amaze with his on-track prowess. In August at Bristol he did what no other driver has managed to accomplish. He won the Camping World Truck Series race, the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup race.
Boris Said’s win at Montreal.... Boris Said has long been known as a road course ace and has spent a lot of time helping other NASCAR drivers learn the tricks of turning right as well as left. In August at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Said helped himself to Victory Lane in the Nationwide race, beating Max Papis by 0.012 seconds. The green-white-checkered finish ended with Said and Papis in a drag race to the stripe in one of the most exciting races of the year.
Tony Stewart running out of gas at Loudon.... Stewart is the last driver to win a Sprint Cup championship not named Johnson. In a make-or-break effort to win his third Cup title, Stewart gambled during the first Chase race at New Hampshire that he had enough fuel to make it to the end. He didn’t. And he never recovered in the standings,
Johnny Sauter winning at Kansas.... In one of the more amazing sights in the Camping World Truck Series, Sauter and Ron Hornaday were racing each other hard on the final laps at Kansas Speedway when they both went for a spin that almost seemed choreographed. Both drivers made incredible saves to keep their trucks out of the wall. Sauter went on to win the race.
Carl Edwards wrecking Brad Keselowski at Atlanta.... In the first big test of “Boys, Have At It” Carl Edwards became incensed that he was wrecked by Brad Keselowski early at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. Getting back on the track late in the race Edwards decided to exact payback immediately, driving straight through Keselowski’s No. 12. The move turned Keselowski and got his car airborne and up into the fence in a scary wreck eerily reminiscent of Edwards getting launched into the Talladega fence the year before. NASCAR parked Edwards and called him into the Hauler of Doom for a stern lecture, but nothing else.
Carl Edwards wrecking Brad Keselowski at Gateway.... Keselowski dominated the July Nationwide race at Gateway but Edwards had him in his sights on the final lap. Coming out of the final turn, Edwards turned left into Keselowski’s right rear and put him into the wall, triggering one of the biggest wrecks of the Nationwide season. Edwards won the race.
Marcos Ambrose coming to a stop at Sonoma.... Ambrose had his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in sight this year at Sonoma. His No. 47 was the dominant car but on a late caution he was shutting off the engine to conserve fuel and had trouble restarting it. By the time he got it fired again he had been passed. He lost valuable track position and the race to Jimmie Johnson.
Jamie McMurray wins the Daytona 500.... McMurray had been dropped by Roush fenway the previous year only to be picked up by his old team at Ganassi. In the first and biggest race of the year at Daytona, McMurray was in the right place at the right time -- in front of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and getting a massive push to the front on the last lap. He won that Race and the second biggest at Indianapolis on the way to a stellar comeback year. The Daytona race was also marked by a delay of 2 hours and 25 minutes as track officials repaired a pothole. The embarrassing delay prompted International Speedway Corp. to spend the money to repave the historic track.
Denny Hamlin and Mike Ford psyching out the No. 48 team at Texas.... Proving that racing is as much mental as anything else, crew chief Mike Ford made the call of the race when he chose the pit stall directly in front of Jimmie Johnson’s. The idea was to put pressure on the No. 48 team and it worked. Johnson’s crew choked and was replaced mid-race by the crew of Jeff Godon;s No. 24 team. Hamlin won the race and took over the points lead.
Hamlin’s wreck with Biffle at Homestead.... In the short history of the Chase no driver who was leading at Homestead had lost the championship. But Denny Hamlin’s precarious lead over Jimmie Johnson evaporated when he got together with Greg Biffle. Hamlin’s car never did recover from the damage and Johnson won title No. 5.
Jimmie Johnson can play bump and run too.... Johnson and Kurt Busch have history. Johnson wrecked Busch hard at Pocono this year. At New Hampshire a few weeks later Busch was all over Johnson’s back bumper with nine laps left. Busch pulled the classic bump and run move to get by Johnson for the lead. But he did it too early. Johnson had enough time to get back to Busch and return the favor. Johnson won the race.
Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick at Pocono.... Joey Logano really has to learn the fine art of payback. Kevin Harvick pretty blatantly wrecked him late in the race. Logano’s response was to confront Harvick on pit road after the race, egged on by his father, creating a scene in which he was restrained by crew members. After the confrontation, Logano famously told a TV reporter that Harvick’s “wife wears the firesuit in the family.” It was supposed to be a put-down, but the Harvicks turned it into a T-shirt.
David Reutimann delivers payback to Kyle Busch at Kansas.... Reutimann and his crew figured he had been pushed around enough this year. Unfortunately for Kyle Busch, he was the guy doing the pushing when the camel’s back broke at Kansas Speedway. After wrecking Reutimann, Busch was on the receiving end when the No. 00 came back on the track. The payback ended up putting Busch out of the hunt for the Sprint Cup title.
Jeff Gordon making enemies at Sonoma.... Gordon hit everything but the pace car during the summer race at Infineon Raceway, compiling a list of enemies that would of made Richard Nixon proud. Gordon took out Martin Truex Jr. in most dramatic fashion in the track’s hairpin turn, but he also wrecked Mattias Ekstrom. Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer and Elliott Sadler.
Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton do the Texas Two Step.... If there had been a contest at the start of the season to pick the two drivers least likely to get into a fight on the track with punches thrown and lots of shoving, whoever picked Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton would have won. Nonetheless, it happened at Texas Motor Speedway, as much the result of frustration as anything else.
Send in the clowns.... Kevin Harvick was unapologetic about wrecking Kyle Busch at Homestead. Harvick said Busch “raced me like a clown,” so Harvick wrecked Busch in turn. Busch, however, is unlikely to have forgiven and forgotten the incident when the 2011 season begins.
Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at Blog of Tommorow
Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougdemmons
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