Has there been a better season for NASCAR than this one? We’ve had everything – close finishes, fights, suspensions and high-profile moves, accompanied by the soundtrack of drivers whining and the screech of cars prior to the crash.The first race at Daytona was started just dandily with three crew suspensions and a one of the closest finishes ever at a NASCAR race, and since then, it’s been nothing but fun.
In March at Bristol NASCAR launched its “Car of Tomorrow”, which means that the sleek machine that dominated the last years of viewing has been replaced by something which looks rather like the type of souped-up set of wheels you’d expect to be shown off in a Wal-Mart parking lot on a Friday night. Kyle Busch won the race, by the way, and immediately told the world that the car “sucked”.
Oh, and also in the first half of the year, we had more last lap battles than you can throw a fist at, even more crew chief suspensions – including those of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr – and points getting removed for swearing. Take that Formula One!!
So here are my awards for the first “half” of the season….
THE “BEST DRIVER” AWARD
Jeff Gordon (Hendrick)
Not only does he break Dale Earnhardt’s record for most career wins as a modern driver, but he’s also winning the Nextel Cup championship by a country mile. He’s had four wins, 12 Top 5s and 16 Top 10s this year – as well as a fantastic crash at Talladega.
THE “WORST DRIVER” AWARD
Juan Pablo Montoya (Chip Ganassi)
Don’t get us wrong – it was great to see `Juan’ (as he’s known to Foxsports.com’s Darrell Waltrip) get his first Nextel Cup win on the road course at Infineon Speedway, but he’s still banging and crashing his way through the rest of the field all season long. Every driver, it seems, will have a Montoya story by the season’s end – and don’t be surprised if he comes a cropper during the year when he gets on the wrong side of firebrands Tony Stewart or Kevin Harvick.
THE “FEEL GOOD STORY OF THE HALF-YEAR” AWARD
Casey Mears (Hendrick)/ Jamie McMurray (Roush)
We didn’t know what quite to decide- was it Casey Mears’ win in the Coca-Cola 600 while his car was nearly out of gas or Jamie McMurray’s first win behind a wheel in five years in a breathtaking win in Pepsi 400 at Daytona?
However, we’d also like to give a little love to Dale Earnhardt Jr, who went to Victory Lane to congratulate Jeff Gordon on breaking his father’s all-time modern age wins record as well as driving Kyle Busch’s car when Busch had left the track early at Texas.
THE “BIGGEST STORY OF THE HALF- YEAR”
Dale Earnhardt Jr’s leaves DEI and moves to Hendrick
On May 10th 2007 Dale Earnhardt Jr, NASCAR’s most popular driver, said that he would leave his team, Dale Earnhardt Inc – a move which sent shockwaves through the NASCAR world. It wasn’t quite like the day in 2001 when his father died at Daytona, but it certainly made a few people weep. Around a month later, he said that from the 2008 year he’d be driving for NASCAR’s most successful team, Hendrick Motorsports. Kyle Busch, one of Hendrick’s best young talents, promptly said that he was off – and is still looking for a team.
THE “REALLY CONTROVERSIAL” AWARD
This one goes out to the wonderful people at NASCAR. After instituting the `Car of Tomorrow’ on drivers, NASCAR’s goal was to increase safety as well as increase competition. So far, Hendrick Motorsports has won all but one of the races and the crashes don’t look any worse. Sure, the cars seems to be going a bit slower (is that what the fans want), and some of the drivers hate it. “It sucks” said one driver – after taking the thing home to Victory Lane. Other drivers suffered from inhalation problems caused by the COT. Oh joy. Oh, and NASCAR are suspending drivers left, right and centre
Not only that, but NASCAR has also been making sure that crew chiefs are messing with the rules, suspending the crew chiefs of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Michael Waltrip.
THE “INCREDIBLY DISAPPOINTING” AWARD
Tony Stewart/Kasey Kahne
Both Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne won a lot of races in 2006, but in 2007 it’s been a dry occasion for both drivers. While Tony Stewart has sat around the top 5 four times and come in the top 11, he’s also averaged 15th place in all of his starts. Kasey Kahne, the winner of six races last year – is currently 26th in the standings, averaging 24th in his starts. And although Kasey Kahne hasn’t moaned about his quite frankly rotten luck, Tony Stewart so far has blamed Kurt Busch, teammate Denny Hamlin and the gods at NASCAR themselves for his blank year. Can’t wait to see who’s next.
THE BEST RACE AWARD
You simply can’t get better than the two races at Daytona this year. At the start of the year at the Daytona 500, Kevin Harvick beat Mark Martin by inches to clinch the race, with the mayhem of a monster crash happening in their mirrors. And in the summer Pepsi 400 race, Jamie McMurray squeezed by Kyle Busch by the width of a bumper to clinch victory. Wow.