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NASCAR builds
new traditions, provides unprecedented excitement,
drama
DAYTONA BEACH,
Fla. (Dec. 15, 2005) – The historic finish to the
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season was one of this year’s most
compelling sports stories. The championship was won on the
last lap of the last race by driver Kurt Busch (No. 97
Sharpie/IRWIN Tools Ford), who edged out
Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) by
only eight points.
Such a finish was the
result of a change by NASCAR in the season format known as the
“Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup,” which, after race No. 26,
provided for a 10-race shootout among the Top 10 drivers.
For the NASCAR Busch
Series, it was the fairy-tale ascent of a then-unknown driver
with a then-unknown team – Martin Truex Jr. (No. 8 Bass
Pro Shops Chevrolet) with Dale Earnhardt
Inc.’s Chance 2 Motorsports – who drove all the way
from a part-time existence to the series
championship.
For the NASCAR Craftsman
Truck Series, it was the triumph of veteran Bobby
Hamilton (No. 4 Square D Dodge), who became the oldest
series champion at age 47, and the first driver-owner to clinch
a series title since the late Alan Kulwicki
did it in 1992.
Here, by series, are
other highlights:
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NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup Series … The 2004 season began
with many significant changes, among them Brian
France’s first full year as NASCAR chairman and chief
executive officer. France’s vision of the “Chase for the NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup,” where the top 10 drivers after 26 races have their
point totals reset and compete for the title over the season’s
final 10 races, proved a definite success. Kurt
Busch won the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series title on the
last lap of the season-final at Homestead-Miami Speedway,
beating runner-up Jimmie Johnson by a mere
eight points in the final standings – the closest margin of
victory in NASCAR history.
Busch’s title was the second consecutive series title
for owner Jack Roush and Roush
Racing and the first for Busch’s well-respected crew
chief, 18-year veteran Jimmy
Fennig.
Crucial to
the 2004 season was the debut of new series sponsor Nextel. The
Reston, Va.-based wireless communications company completed its
first season with a memorable advertising campaign, “Proud to
be fans,” lauding NASCAR’s history and its fans. Nextel also
contributed many tangible, technical-oriented projects,
including the popular “Nextel Experience” exhibit that travels
each week to the track.
Also
important was the 2004 advent of a new official fuel supplier,
Sunoco, the world’s largest manufacturer of racing gasoline.
Sunoco’s bright blue and yellow colors quickly became fixtures
at race track fueling stations, and the company completed a
flawless 2004 transition with on-time distribution, staging of
fuel crews, at-track signage and quality of
product.
Other memorable 2004
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series highlights included Dale
Earnhardt Jr. (No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet) winning the
Daytona 500, an emotional, immensely popular victory (he also
won the season-opening NASCAR Busch Series race at Daytona
International Speedway). And only a week later, the 2003 series
champion Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools
Ford) and eventual Raybestos Rookie of the Year
Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge)
staged a photo finish at North Carolina Speedway, Kahne’s way
of announcing himself as a valid competitor among new
peers.
As the season
progressed, the memories accumulated. On Aug. 8, Jeff
Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) won his fourth
Brickyard 400, a significant feat considering only three other
drivers have won four events at venerable Indianapolis Motor
Speedway – A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears and
Al Unser, all four-time Indianapolis 500
winners.
Meanwhile, Johnson,
Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, built
an impressive point standings lead through the season’s first
half. Elliott Sadler (No. 38 M&M’s Ford)
enjoyed a breakout season with Robert Yates
Racing, winning two races (at Texas and the Labor Day
event at California). Staring reality in the eye,
Jeremy Mayfield (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW
Dodge) won race No. 26 at Richmond, the cutoff point
for the “Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup” and thereby assured
himself a Chase berth.
Late
in 2004, Johnson was back at the forefront, winning four of his
series-high eight races during the Chase; Johnson’s emotional
Oct. 31 victory at Atlanta helped ease the grief of Hendrick
Motorsports, which had been shaken by a team plane crash the
previous Sunday.
And
finally, as one of five drivers eligible to win the NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup Series title, Busch – who led the point standings in
the last eight of the final 10 weeks – prevailed at Homestead
despite losing a right front tire as he entered pit road early
in the Ford 400. He eventually finished fifth while Roush
Racing teammate Greg Biffle (No. 16 National Guard
Ford) won the race – enough to nip Johnson by those
historic eight points.
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NASCAR
Busch Series … It was Martin Truex
Jr.’s season, but when 2004 began, no one quite knew
who Truex Jr. was. A product of the NASCAR Busch North Series,
Truex Jr. was handpicked by Dale Earnhardt Jr.
to drive the No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet,
and a quick decision by Earnhardt Jr. and co-owner
Teresa Earnhardt to run fulltime as the season
opened proved fortuitious: Truex Jr. led the series in seven
categories. Among them points (5,173), wins (six), poles
(seven), races led (21), average finish (7.6), top fives (17)
and top 10s (26).
Truex Jr.’s chief rival for the NASCAR
Busch Series was 19-year-old Raybestos Rookie of the Year
Kyle Busch (No. 5 Lowe’s Chevrolet), whose now
owns or shares seven all-time Raybestos Rookie records. Among
the six first-time NASCAR Busch Series winners, aside from
Busch and Truex Jr., were Mike Bliss (No. 20 Rockwell
Automation Chevrolet), Robby Gordon (No. 55 Fruit of the Loom
Chevrolet), Jason Leffler and Justin Labonte.
Bliss provided a season highlight with a breathtaking
late pass in the October night event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway;
the move secured his victory.
Particularly important was the mid-season announcement
that the NASCAR Busch Series will head south to Mexico for its
third event of 2005. The series will compete March 6 at Mexico
City’s famed 2.75-mile Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road
course, and that race will be the first NASCAR Busch Series
point event to be staged outside the United
States.
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NASCAR
Craftsman Truck Series … Bobby
Hamilton’s first series championship also could
qualify for fairy-tale status. A longtime NASCAR NEXTEL Cup
Series veteran, Hamilton began his third fulltime season in the
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2004, and ultimately emerged
as its oldest champion. He clinched the title at Homestead,
becoming the first driver-owner to win a series title since
Alan Kulwicki in 1992.
Hamilton battled a pair of peers, fellow
veterans Dennis Setzer (No. 46 Chevrolet Silverado
Chevrolet) and Ted Musgrave (No. 1 Mopar
Dodge), down to the wire, clinching the title by 46
points over Setzer and 70 points over the third-place Musgrave.
For the ninth time in series history, the championship was
decided in the season-finale, and for the second consecutive
season, four drivers were eligible for the title heading into
Homestead-Miami Speedway. Carl Edwards (No. 99
Superchips Ford) finished fourth in the final
standings.
A new
manufacturer, Toyota, also created plenty of buzz, debuting in
2004 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. History was made on
July 31 at Michigan International Speedway when the 2003 series
champion, Travis Kvapil (No. 24 Line-X
Toyota), won the first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
event for Toyota. And Toyota closed 2004 by fielding nine
trucks in the season finale at Homestead.
There were 13 different NASCAR Craftsman
Truck Series winners in 2004 and five first-time winners.
David Reuitmann (No. 17 NTN Bearings Toyota)
captured Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors while driving for
owner Darrell Waltrip.
Also important was NASCAR’s competitive
return to the state of Ohio. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
competed in the UAW/GM 250 at Mansfield Motorsports Park on May
16. It was the first NASCAR national series event to be staged
in Ohio in 50 years.
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