Well, it's been nearly a month since we wrapped up the 2016 season at Homestead and we still have a little over 2 months before the cars hit the track again at Daytona. There were a lot of great moments this season from teammates pulling the bump and run on each other to 18 car pileups. From rainy days in Ohio to some of the closest finishes in NASCAR history. From the first foreign born champion, and to a future Hall of Famer joining the greats. Let's take a moment and review what I feel were the 10 best moments of the 2016 NASCAR Season.
The Coca-Cola 600 is NASCAR's longest race and one of it's most challenging races to win. Car setup is difficult as the race starts in the daytime, transitions into dusk, and finishes under the lights, giving the race 3 distinct phases. Because of this the "600" is known for having it's comers and goers. Cars that are good in the daylight often fade towards the end of the race while cars that are great under the lights are often mediocre early on. That was far from the case this year. Martin Truex Jr. put on a show by winning the pole and leading 392 of the 400 laps. While that is not the record for the most laps led in a race nor the highest percentage of laps led (NASCAR has had several drivers lead every lap in a race over its history. Most recently Jeff Burton in 2000 at Loudon), Truex's 588 miles led is the most by any one driver in any one race.
Going into the August race at Michigan Kyle Larson four Top 5's on the season, including a very near win at Dover, and had finished 2nd four times in his career without tasting victory. Chase Elliott had six Top 5's, including three near misses at Talladega, Pocono, and the June Michigan race. Ryan Blaney had just two career Top 5's, including one at Kansas earlier in the year. These three drivers restarted 1st, 2nd, and 4th respectively with 9 laps to go all looking for their first career win. Larson and Elliott had both led over 30 laps on the day and both spun their tires on the restart, but Kyle was able to pull away and hold off a hard charging Elliott in the final laps to pick up the win.
Christopher Bell won the Truck Series race at Gateway back in June, but nobody really remembers that. With 15 laps to go Spencer Gallagher got into John Wes Townley, sending Townley into the wall. 10 laps later the 10 would get together again, but this time both trucks would be taken out. The two trucks were sitting next to each other as the safety crew pulled up. Both drivers exited their vehicles and Townley walked over to Gallagher and wrestled him to the ground. Both Spencer and John Wes got up and continued to wrestle each other as they walked down the banking. As they got to the apron Gallagher was able to undo Townley's footing and John Wes fell on his back with Spencer on top of him. After wrestling around a bit more they were both able to get up and Townley landed 4 good punches to Gallagher's face. By this time both drivers were worn out and they separated, walking away in different directions.
Phoenix International Raceway. The sight of the penultimate race in the NASCAR season and sets the stage for the final four showdown the following week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards had already punched their tickets to the final four with wins in the previous two weeks leaving six drivers to battle for the last two spots. By the end of the race it appeared to be a three man show. Matt Kenseth was the leader and cruising to victory (a win that would lock his spot in the final four) and Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, who came into the race tied in points, were battling on the track for the 4th spot in the finale. Enter Michael McDowell. The driver of the 95 car spun off of turn three with two laps to go to bring out the caution and send the race into overtime. Kyle Busch, who was running 3rd, asked his teammate Kenseth to take the inside lane on the restart so he could get a better launch to stay ahead of rival Logano, who was in 4th. Kenseth refused, knowing that the outside lane gave him a better chance and that put Alex Bowman, who had led nearly half the race, on the inside lane of the front row looking for his first career win. Matt got a good jump on the restart and so did Kyle. Busch looked to the inside of Bowman entering turn one, Bowman tried to block, but Busch was there and they made contact. Because of the contact Alex went into turn one harder than Kenseth expected and the bottom lane, which Kenseth thought was clear, wasn't. Matt cut across the front bumber of Bowman and spun up into the wall ending his championship run. Joey Logano would go on to win the race and ironically, both he and Busch advanced to the final four.
The All-Star race always brings fun and excitement. Even if the racing isn't great, the festivities are always fun. This year the fun came the night before the All-Star Race at the Sprint Showdown. Keep in mind that the All-Star Race mainly consists of drivers who have won races in the past year. The Showdown allows any driver who isn't in the All-Star field the opportunity to race their way in. So most of the Showdown drivers either have not won a race or have not won a race in a long time. This year's format consisted of three segments and each segment winner got to advance on to the big show for a chance to win $1 Million. Segment one had a restart with two laps to go. Chase Elliott was the leader, Ryan Blaney 2nd, Austin Dillon 3rd, and Trevor Bayne 4th. Blaney jumped the start, but before NASCAR announced the penalty Bayne jumped in the middle three-wide to take a shot at the lead. Blaney fell back and Bayne and Elliott ran side by side to the finish line in a finish that was too close to call. Bayne ended up winning by .005 seconds. The 2nd segment wasn't nearly as exciting, with Greg Biffle easily winning. Segment three brought back the excitement with our "young guns" back up front. Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Ryan Blaney were running 1-2-3 as they took the white flag with Larson holding a quarter of a second lead of Elliott. Chase got a big run down the back stretch and jumped to the outside of Larson in turn three to inch ahead of him coming off turn four. Larson wasn't going to give up easily and slid up into Elliott making him brush the wall. The 2 banged fenders coming through the tri-oval and it was Larson edging ahead by a nose to take the victory.
The Daytona 500 is always one of the most thrilling races of the year and this year was no exception. The JGR powered Toyotas were obviously the class of the field and coming to the white flag they had led 155 of 199 laps and were running single file, 1st through 5th. Matt Kenseth was the leader followed by Martin Truex, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Carl Edwards. Hamlin, who had led a race high 94 laps, was not content with running in 4th place and jumped to the outside lane in front of Kevin Harvick. By the time they reached turn three Hamlin had gotten side by side with Truex for 2nd. Denny went high all the way to the top of the track and Kenseth moved up to block, leaving just enough room for Hamlin to cross him over and squeeze in between he and Truex. With no help behind him, Kenseth faded and Hamlin and Truex battled side by side, banging fenders, to the checkered flag in which Hamlin won by .010 seconds, the closest finish in Daytona 500 history.
It was the kind of thing you read in storybooks, Tony Stewart taking the lead with 22 laps to go at Sonoma in his final season. At the time the thought ran through my mind that this is really nice, but there's no way he'll hold on to win, but as the laps started winding down the reality that he could actually do it started to sink in. Tony had about a one second lead on Denny Hamlin with 2 laps to go when he wheel hopped entering turn seven. He was able to recover and hold off Hamlin, but the lead had been cut in half. Then on the final lap it happened. This time it was Hamlin that wheel hopped in turn seven, but his momentum carried him into Stewart, correcting Hamlin's car, but hurting Tony, and Denny took the lead. Tony needed some help and going into the final turn, the hairpin turn 11, Hamlin wheel hopped again and went wide. Tony used the old dirt racing philosophy of 8 wheels are better than 4 and used Hamlin's car to help him turn. Denny hit the wall and Tony ran off into the sunset to go to victory lane one last time.
10. War of Attrition
Over the last few years Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA has given us some outstanding finishes at the Cup level. This year, however, it was the Xfinity race that stole the show. The Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, and Daniel Suarez were leading the pack in what was turning into a fuel mileage race. The leader, Busch, had backed the pace down in the final laps to conserve fuel and (hopefully) make it to the end. With 3 laps to go Erik Jones, who was running 2nd, ran out of fuel, giving Busch an 8 second advantage over now 2nd place Suarez. Daniel was closing in quick, gaining quick and trailed by only 3 seconds as they took the white flag. Unfortunately for Kyle, he blew a left front tire entering turn 1 and handed the lead over to his teammate. Suarez's lead was short lived, though, as he ran out of gas exiting turn 2, giving the lead back to Busch who was trying to nurse his car back home. As Busch entered turn 3 he now had a 4 second lead over new 2nd place driver Austin Dillon, who had enough fuel to make it to the finish. Dillon caught Kyle exiting turn 4 and what looked like a last ditch effort by Busch to win, he turned right, clipping the left rear quarter panel of Dillon. Although Austin did scrape the wall, he was able to hold on for the win. Kyle Busch would later claim that he did not "intentionally" turn right, but he could not control his car with the flat tire.
9. Cinderella Story
Back in August at Pocono Raceway it was looking like we were surely going to see someone pick up their first career victory. Kyle Larson had the best car and Austin Dillon was giving him a run for his money. The two were closing in on the end of a fuel run with under 40 laps to go, but there was weather in the area. As other drivers further back in the pack began to make their final green flag pit stops, Larson and Dillon remained out on the track, stretching their fuel to the limits. With 36 laps to go, Larson surrendered the lead to Dillon and Austin then pitted the following lap, which handed the lead over to Chris Buescher. Buescher had received the free pass on the previous caution and pitted while the leaders stayed on the track. Because of that, Chris still had about a half tank of fuel left and would most likely need to pit with 15-20 laps to go. With 28 laps to go, the caution came out due to fog and the inability to see the whole track. After 12 laps of rolling around under caution the red flag was displayed and the race would never resume and instead of Kyle Larson or Austin Dillon getting their first career victory, it was Chris Buescher.
8. Drag Race in the Grass
The Truck Series has been known to have some incredible finishes and so have road courses. The two were mixed only one time this year and that was in September at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and the finish was EPIC! Cole Custer had been having a difficult season with no wins and only three Top 5's in the first 14 races. He was leading the race going into the Green-White-Checker finish, hoping to get his first win of the year and lock himself into the Chase. John Hunter Nemechek, who had won earlier in the year and already locked up his spot in the Chase, was running second and looking to get another win. In the penultimate turn Nemechek put the bumper to Custer and got him loose enough to take the inside going into the final turn, but instead of just trying to pull off the pass John Hunter plowed into Custer's truck. Cole got sideways, but recovered only to have Nemechek turn left and slam him into the wall. The two trucks remained locked together running through the glass to the checkered flag where Nemechek edged him out by a nose. After the cool down lap John Hunter got out of his truck and ran to the flag stand to collect the checkers. As he waited Cole sprinted from pit lane across the track and, with a launch that would make any linebacker proud, tackled Nemechek to the ground.
7. Sheer Dominance
The Coca-Cola 600 is NASCAR's longest race and one of it's most challenging races to win. Car setup is difficult as the race starts in the daytime, transitions into dusk, and finishes under the lights, giving the race 3 distinct phases. Because of this the "600" is known for having it's comers and goers. Cars that are good in the daylight often fade towards the end of the race while cars that are great under the lights are often mediocre early on. That was far from the case this year. Martin Truex Jr. put on a show by winning the pole and leading 392 of the 400 laps. While that is not the record for the most laps led in a race nor the highest percentage of laps led (NASCAR has had several drivers lead every lap in a race over its history. Most recently Jeff Burton in 2000 at Loudon), Truex's 588 miles led is the most by any one driver in any one race.6. Youth Movement
Going into the August race at Michigan Kyle Larson four Top 5's on the season, including a very near win at Dover, and had finished 2nd four times in his career without tasting victory. Chase Elliott had six Top 5's, including three near misses at Talladega, Pocono, and the June Michigan race. Ryan Blaney had just two career Top 5's, including one at Kansas earlier in the year. These three drivers restarted 1st, 2nd, and 4th respectively with 9 laps to go all looking for their first career win. Larson and Elliott had both led over 30 laps on the day and both spun their tires on the restart, but Kyle was able to pull away and hold off a hard charging Elliott in the final laps to pick up the win.5. Battle Royale
Christopher Bell won the Truck Series race at Gateway back in June, but nobody really remembers that. With 15 laps to go Spencer Gallagher got into John Wes Townley, sending Townley into the wall. 10 laps later the 10 would get together again, but this time both trucks would be taken out. The two trucks were sitting next to each other as the safety crew pulled up. Both drivers exited their vehicles and Townley walked over to Gallagher and wrestled him to the ground. Both Spencer and John Wes got up and continued to wrestle each other as they walked down the banking. As they got to the apron Gallagher was able to undo Townley's footing and John Wes fell on his back with Spencer on top of him. After wrestling around a bit more they were both able to get up and Townley landed 4 good punches to Gallagher's face. By this time both drivers were worn out and they separated, walking away in different directions.4. Calamity in the Desert
Phoenix International Raceway. The sight of the penultimate race in the NASCAR season and sets the stage for the final four showdown the following week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards had already punched their tickets to the final four with wins in the previous two weeks leaving six drivers to battle for the last two spots. By the end of the race it appeared to be a three man show. Matt Kenseth was the leader and cruising to victory (a win that would lock his spot in the final four) and Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, who came into the race tied in points, were battling on the track for the 4th spot in the finale. Enter Michael McDowell. The driver of the 95 car spun off of turn three with two laps to go to bring out the caution and send the race into overtime. Kyle Busch, who was running 3rd, asked his teammate Kenseth to take the inside lane on the restart so he could get a better launch to stay ahead of rival Logano, who was in 4th. Kenseth refused, knowing that the outside lane gave him a better chance and that put Alex Bowman, who had led nearly half the race, on the inside lane of the front row looking for his first career win. Matt got a good jump on the restart and so did Kyle. Busch looked to the inside of Bowman entering turn one, Bowman tried to block, but Busch was there and they made contact. Because of the contact Alex went into turn one harder than Kenseth expected and the bottom lane, which Kenseth thought was clear, wasn't. Matt cut across the front bumber of Bowman and spun up into the wall ending his championship run. Joey Logano would go on to win the race and ironically, both he and Busch advanced to the final four. 3. The Showdown
The All-Star race always brings fun and excitement. Even if the racing isn't great, the festivities are always fun. This year the fun came the night before the All-Star Race at the Sprint Showdown. Keep in mind that the All-Star Race mainly consists of drivers who have won races in the past year. The Showdown allows any driver who isn't in the All-Star field the opportunity to race their way in. So most of the Showdown drivers either have not won a race or have not won a race in a long time. This year's format consisted of three segments and each segment winner got to advance on to the big show for a chance to win $1 Million. Segment one had a restart with two laps to go. Chase Elliott was the leader, Ryan Blaney 2nd, Austin Dillon 3rd, and Trevor Bayne 4th. Blaney jumped the start, but before NASCAR announced the penalty Bayne jumped in the middle three-wide to take a shot at the lead. Blaney fell back and Bayne and Elliott ran side by side to the finish line in a finish that was too close to call. Bayne ended up winning by .005 seconds. The 2nd segment wasn't nearly as exciting, with Greg Biffle easily winning. Segment three brought back the excitement with our "young guns" back up front. Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Ryan Blaney were running 1-2-3 as they took the white flag with Larson holding a quarter of a second lead of Elliott. Chase got a big run down the back stretch and jumped to the outside of Larson in turn three to inch ahead of him coming off turn four. Larson wasn't going to give up easily and slid up into Elliott making him brush the wall. The 2 banged fenders coming through the tri-oval and it was Larson edging ahead by a nose to take the victory. 2. Starting the Season Off With a Bang
The Daytona 500 is always one of the most thrilling races of the year and this year was no exception. The JGR powered Toyotas were obviously the class of the field and coming to the white flag they had led 155 of 199 laps and were running single file, 1st through 5th. Matt Kenseth was the leader followed by Martin Truex, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Carl Edwards. Hamlin, who had led a race high 94 laps, was not content with running in 4th place and jumped to the outside lane in front of Kevin Harvick. By the time they reached turn three Hamlin had gotten side by side with Truex for 2nd. Denny went high all the way to the top of the track and Kenseth moved up to block, leaving just enough room for Hamlin to cross him over and squeeze in between he and Truex. With no help behind him, Kenseth faded and Hamlin and Truex battled side by side, banging fenders, to the checkered flag in which Hamlin won by .010 seconds, the closest finish in Daytona 500 history.1. One More Time for Old Time's Sake
It was the kind of thing you read in storybooks, Tony Stewart taking the lead with 22 laps to go at Sonoma in his final season. At the time the thought ran through my mind that this is really nice, but there's no way he'll hold on to win, but as the laps started winding down the reality that he could actually do it started to sink in. Tony had about a one second lead on Denny Hamlin with 2 laps to go when he wheel hopped entering turn seven. He was able to recover and hold off Hamlin, but the lead had been cut in half. Then on the final lap it happened. This time it was Hamlin that wheel hopped in turn seven, but his momentum carried him into Stewart, correcting Hamlin's car, but hurting Tony, and Denny took the lead. Tony needed some help and going into the final turn, the hairpin turn 11, Hamlin wheel hopped again and went wide. Tony used the old dirt racing philosophy of 8 wheels are better than 4 and used Hamlin's car to help him turn. Denny hit the wall and Tony ran off into the sunset to go to victory lane one last time.
Honorable Mentions:
Kevin Harvick & Carl Edwards photo finish at Phoenix
Matt Kenseth holds off Kyle Larson & Chase Elliott to win at Dover after an 18 car crash.
Carl Edwards pulls the bump and run on Kyle Busch to win at Richmond
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