January 3, 2010
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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Welcome to 2010 my fellow NASCAR fans. Time to wipe the slate clean and begin a fresh page in life as we begin a new decade.
As we look ahead to the new NASCAR season (Daytona is only six weeks away!), I wanted to take a look back at the top five moments that have stuck with me from last season.
FIVE.. Starting in fifth place on my list is the success of Stewart-Haas racing. When Tony Stewart made the announcement that he was leaving his Championship team at Joe Gibbs Racing to strike out on his own, there was a lot of doubt as to the level of success he would be able to achieve in his first year.
Yes, he wasn’t starting from scratch as Robby Gordon or Michael Waltrip had, but he was taking over a sub-par team that had barely kept one of their cars in the top 35 in 2008. Ryan Newman joined Stewart, taking the wheel of the No. 39 Army Chevrolet and starting the season using the points from the car that was in the top 35, while Smoke and his No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet started the season outside of the top 35 for the first time in his NASCAR career, relying on his past Champion status to get him in to the first five races should the need arise. (The status was never needed). Almost out of the gate, the two men were strong.
FOUR.. Fourth are the crashes. Not just one crash, but several that in a race not so long ago might have landed the driver in the hospital –- or worse –- but instead left the cars in pieces, but the drivers were uninjured.
Carl Edwards crash at Talladega was reminiscent of Bobby Allison’s crash that resulted in NASCAR using restrictor plates to slow the cars down.
At Daytona in July, Kyle Busch was spun by Tony Stewart coming to the checkered flag, and then was rear-ended by Kasey Kahne, sending his No. 18 car airborne briefly, eliciting a collective gasp from the fans who weren’t sure if Kyle or Kasey were OK.
Joey Logano was tapped from behind at Dover and flipped half a dozen times on the concrete surface before coming to rest wheels down in Turn 3. Ryan Newman somehow topped Edwards' crash at Talladega with his own in the fall race, where he flipped multiple times before coming to a rest upside-down on the back-stretch grass with rescue crews working to flip the car over to extricate him.
In the past, when we had crashes like these, the driver ended up in the hospital, and possibly was injured so badly their careers were over. But in all of the crashes that we saw in 2009, while the car was left in pieces –- the driver climbed out and walked away, slightly shaken and bruised, but otherwise uninjured.
THREE.. Third on my list is something that made racing oh so much better: Double-file restarts. Who says NASCAR doesn’t listen to the fans?
Sure, we officially restarted races in two rows after cautions before this season, but when the restarts moved the lap-down cars to the back of the field and stacked the pack according to where they were in the field, instead of where they came out with regards to the pace car, the drop of the green flag got a whole lot better.
Instead of racing lapped cars to try and get back to the front of the pack from five rows back at a restart, the leader always took the green flag at the front of the field, and every move from the front row back was for position. Fans had been calling for NASCAR to go to double-file restarts for ages and once they finally made the decision to go that way, there really wasn’t a bad race to be seen.
I can’t wait until they do double-file restarts in the Truck Series.
TWO.. Second on my list is the accomplishment that the No. 48 team made this year. 2008 was memorable because Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus teamed up to tie a 30-year old record and win three consecutive Championships in NASCAR’s top series -– a feat only accomplished by one other person, Cale Yarborough.
Almost as soon as the 2008 Championship banquet ended and the teams headed back to their hotel rooms at the Waldorf, the rumblings began about a fourth title for the Lowe's team. Could they do something that no one else had ever been able to do in NASCAR?
Four in a row seemed unattainable, until 2009. And for a while in 2009, it seemed that No. 48 team might not be able to live up to the effort. At the end of 26 races, it seemed that the Championship race was between Tony Stewart and Mark Martin. But sure enough, as the final ten races clicked down, the No. 48 team kicked it into high gear, and surged back to the top of the point’s standings, and when the checkered flag fell in Homestead, the Champion had made history by becoming the only person in the sport’s 60 year history to win four consecutive titles.
Now, the question is, will they make it five?
ONE.. Last but not least, what I believe will stick with me the most from last year is a moment in time in the middle of a race, where there was nothing but silence.
It happened on Memorial Day in Charlotte at Lowe's Motor Speedway. We weren’t even supposed to be racing that day, but Mother Nature had other plans, having rained out the race on Sunday night, forcing teams to spend their holiday under threatening skies.
President Obama had requested that people across the country stop what they were doing at 3 p.m. and observe a moment of silence to honor the troops fighting overseas for our freedom. When NASCAR realized that the race was going to still be going on at 3 p.m., they made the decision to stop the race and honor the troops.
I don’t know of any other time when a race had been halted at the midpoint –- lap 164 -– and the teams asked to shut off the cars on the track. But as the clock approached the top of the hour, the yellow flag was shown, the pace car picked up the field, and they were stopped on the front-stretch. The team members stopped what they were doing and walked on to pit road, many carrying small American flags.
As the clock struck three, I stood along the pit road wall and found myself fighting tears as I looked around me at the thousands of soggy fans, crewmembers, and media, standing silently to pay tribute to the thousands of men and women fighting for our ability to do just that overseas. I wasn’t the only one with damp eyes, as I noted several crewmen shedding a tear as they held their flag high and covered their hearts with their hand.
It added to the day that David Reutimann won his first race, albeit in the rain, on that same day.
Of all of the things I witnessed this past year…the crashes and battles and wins and championships, nothing will stick with me longer than that moment at 3 p.m. on May 25, 2009, when a crowded track in North Carolina fell silent, and brought tears to many eyes.
A final note today. As I mentioned last week, the Dakar Rally kicked off in Argentina yesterday. Robby Gordon and his No. 302 Monster Hummer H3 began the race from the third position, and finished yesterday’s first stage in sixth, 4:48 behind the leader.
While losing three spots might not sound like a plus in racing, in this case, it is much better than how Robby ended the same stage last year, and he still has the leader in sight as they move to stage two today. You can keep tabs on Robby’s efforts by visiting PlanetRobby.com, or by going to Robby Gordon Motorsports.
Even though he is in what we consider to be a truck, by Dakar standards he is in a car (Dakar trucks are gigantic trucks that the British call Lorries…you should see them lumbering through the desert!).
Have a great first week of 2010 -- oh, and finally, GO GATORS!
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