December 11, 2008
By Doug Demmons
10 Great Things About NASCAR from 2008
In no particular order:
Kyle “Black Hat” Busch. NASCAR was in need of a new villain and Kyle Busch was only too happy to oblige. Punting Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond started the ball rolling. Egging on the fans who booed him lustily -- they even booed his mother on Mother’s Day weekend -- kept it going.
Carl Edwards’ banzai move at Kansas. Edwards said he saw it work once in a video game so he figured -- what the heck -- give it a try there in the last turn at Kansas Speedway. Other memorable moments courtesy of Cousin Carl were the Second Big One that took out half the Chase drivers at Talladega in October and his tete a tete with Kevin Harvick.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s fuel-mileage win at Michigan. There hasn’t been as much anxiety over a slow-speed incident since O.J. Simpson drove his white Bronco. Wondering whether Junior would make it through those final caution laps was agony for the simple reason that if he had run out of gas the conspiracy theorists would have had a field day.
Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus. There hasn’t been a team like this since Hope and Crosby. Johnson is not only a great driver, but with his third straight title he’s finally starting to get the respect and admiration he deserves. Knaus, before he hangs up his wrench, may very well replace Ray Evernham as the greatest crew chief of all time.
Racing in the rain in Montreal. After lugging those rain tires around for years Goodyear finally got to show them off during the Nationwide race in Montreal. And they proved that it is possible to race in the rain -- as long as there isn’t standing water. And as long as you aren’t someplace like, say, Talladega.
MagnetGate. What would the NASCAR season be without a juicy cheating scandal? Boring, that’s what. The past year had a couple good contenders -- SwaybarGate and OilLidGate. But MagnetGate takes the title. Magnets on the throttle pedal? You can’t make up stuff like that. If nothing else, it dispels the myth that NASCAR has snuffed all the creativity out of crew members.
Camping World. In a year in which corporations retreated en masse from NASCAR Camping World took the big plunge and assumed title sponsorship of the truck series. The company already sponsored several races and several cars and trucks, as well as what used to be the Busch East and Busch West series. And in a good sign for the sport’s future, the chairman of Camping World didn’t decide to do all this because he’s a big race fan. He’s doing it because he thinks he’s going to sell a lot more stuff.
Regan Smith. He didn’t stomp and cry when NASCAR took away his win at Talladega because he crossed below the yellow line to beat Tony Stewart at the stripe. He handled it so well he made a name for himself -- a name that will endure longer than a trip to Victory Lane would have earned him. And then he went out and won Rookie of the Year honors at Homestead and became the first such rookie to finish without a DNF. But now he has a dubious distinction -- poster boy for NASCAR layoffs.
David Ragan. The Roush Fenway driver is a rising star for 2009. He finished 13th in points and even earned the respect of Stewart, who had once called him “a dart without feathers.”
Letting drivers be drivers. The folks who make M&Ms did not pitch a public hissy fit when their sponsored driver, Kyle Busch, was turning himself into Darth Vader. Maybe being a bad boy and being politically incorrect sells more stuff than always saying the right thing. Or maybe it’s just that Double Chocolate Fudge Swirl is better than vanilla. By the end of the year, even Brian France was bemoaning how some drivers had become too corporate.
France said it is unreasonable to expect a driver who has just been wrecked “to hop out of the car and act like you’re in the library.” He wants to see more emotion from drivers.
Translation: Fights and feuds sell tickets, so have at it boys. And don’t worry about those pesky fines and suspensions and stuff. We’ll just wink and put you on the dreaded NASCAR probation.
I happen to agree with the chairman on this one. In fact, I’d take it a step further. I’d like to see more emotion from the chairman himself, less corporate blather. How can anyone expect Brian France to discover he has just lost a title sponsor or to learn he is being accused of violating federal antitrust laws or to have to explain to Bruton Smith again that he is not giving Kentucky a race date -- and act like he’s at the library.
Go ahead, Mr. Chairman. Let Brian be Brian. Tell us what you really think.
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
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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