2012 NASCAR PREVIEW
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012
NASCAR TRIVIA
1)W hatyearw asN ASCAR foun ded? A:1908 B:1928 C:1948 D:1968
TABLE OF CONTENTS N a sca rTrivia .........................2 2012 N a sca rS ch ed u le...........3 2011 Top Perform a n ces......4 -5 2012 H a llO f Fa m e..............6-7 Ra cin g AcrossAm erica ........8-9 Ch ild ressS pecificsfor2012..10 N a sca rFu el.........................11 Top M om en tsof 2011.....12-13 Ra cin g Fla g s.......................14 In d u ction Process................14 S prin g Cu p Ca r....................15
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2)W hatcolorstrip acrossthe rearofa racecar sign ifiesa rookie driver? A:W hite B:Yellow C:Red D:Green 3)Enterin g 2005,w hich Cup regularfin ished in the top 10 in points19 tim es? A:Ricky Rudd B:BillElliott C:Terry Labonte D:Dale Jarrett 4)W ho isthe on ly Cup driverto everw in a race on hisow n birthday? A:Richard Petty B:Cale Yarborough C:Dale Earn hardt D:Ern ie Irvan 5)W ho w asN ASCAR’sfirstthree-tim e cham pion ? A:H erb Thom as B:Lee Petty C:Red Byron D:Tim Flock AN SW ERS:1-C,2-B,3-A,4-B,5-B
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2012 NASCAR PREVIEW
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012
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Feb. 18.......Budweiser Shootout Feb. 23.......Duel 1 & 2 Feb. 26.......Daytona Mar. 4.........Phoenix Mar. 11.......Las Vegas Mar. 18.......Bristol Mar. 25.......Fontana April 1........Martinsville April 14......Texas April 22......Kansas April 28......Richmond May 6.........Talladega May 12.......Darlington May 19.......All Star Race May 27.......Charlotte June 3........Dover June 10......Pocono June 17......Michigan June 24......Sonoma June 30......Kentucky
July 7.........Daytona July 15.......Loudon July 29.......Indianapolis Aug. 5........Pocono Aug. 12......Watkins Glen Aug. 19......Michigan Aug. 25......Bristol Sept. 2........Atlanta Sept. 8........Richmond Sept. 16......Chicago Sept. 23......Loudon Sept. 30......Dover Oct. 7.........Talladega Oct. 13.......Charlotte Oct. 21.......Kansas Oct. 28.......Martinsville Nov. 4.........Texas Nov. 11.......Phoenix Nov. 18.......Homestead
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012
2011
TOP CUP PERFORMANCES
From the 2007 season -Jimmie Johnson's first as a defending champion -through 2010, exactly 100 drivers started at least one Sprint Cup Series race. All took aim at Johnson's throne. All of them missed. A shocking victor claimed NASCAR's most famous race to open the 2011 season, as Trevor Bayne, 20, became the youngest driver to ever win the Daytona 500.
Bayne's storybook win signaled a season of change and surprise, none more remarkable than this: Tony Stewart, 2011 Sprint Cup Series champion. (Getty Images) Winning his way Tony Stewart's fifth Chase victory made him a three-time Cup Series champ. Smoke needed every one as he and Carl Edwards finished in a dead heat and Stewart won on the tiebreaker.
Johnson's five-year reign as king ended. Somebody didn't miss. That somebody was Tony Stewart. Stewart's record-breaking, five-win playoff run in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was just one of the many outstanding performances
that took place during the recently completed 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. The following is a look back at some of those standout performers and memorable races, as selected from discussions with the national series directors, competition department and NASCAR IMC managers. Additionally, click on the following links for special audio, video and photo packages commemorating the 2011 season. Top Driver
Tony Stewart -- Some may argue Stewart was NOT the top driver of 2011 -- at least not all of it. He failed to win a single race in the 26-race regular season, thereby starting the Chase as the ninth seed. But on the big stage, Stewart shined -- and that's why he gets the nod. Over the final 10 races, Stewart won a Chaserecord five races -- including the historic "walk-off win" at Homestead-Miami Speedway that won him a championship. With the victory, Stewart became A) the ninth driver with three or more championships; B) the first champion to win the finale since 1998; and C) the first driver-owner to win the title since Alan Kulwicki in 1992. Even after the winless regular season,
Stewart's five victories in 2011 were a series-high. Now, one hole remains in Stewart's career: a Daytona 500 victory. He'll get his chance to fill it soon enough -- on Feb. 26 (FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90).
Carl Edwards (Honorable Mention) -- Edwards captured just one victory in 2011 -- and that was the reason he lost a tie-breaker that cost him the championship to Stewart. Still, 2011 was an impressive and productive season for Edwards. He held the points lead after 21 of 36 points races, by far the longest stretch of any driver this season. By comparison, Kyle Busch was second, leading the points for seven weeks in 2011. Edwards adds two other accolades to his impressive season. He won his first NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (famously tearing up the front of his Ford while celebrating), and set a Chase record of his own. Edwards' average finish in the 10-race Chase was 4.9, the lowest ever in the Chase's eight-year history. The previous best was Jimmie Johnson's 5.0 in 2007. Comeback Driver of the Year
Dale Earnhardt Jr. -Welcome back to the Chase
for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and championship contention. NASCAR's Most Popular Driver for the ninth consecutive season, Earnhardt enjoyed a rebirth of sorts under new crew chief Steve Letarte. With a fresh slate in 2011, Earnhardt piled up four top fives and 12 top 10s, his highest figures since his first season with Hendrick Motorsports in 2008. He also returned to the Chase for the first time in three years, finishing the season seventh in points. That points finish was his best since 2006, when he finished fifth. Despite a winless drought that stretched to 129 starts, Earnhardt flirted with Victory Lane a couple of times in 2011. At Martinsville Speedway, he held the lead with four laps remaining, but lost it to a charging Kevin Harvick. At the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, he led on the final lap only to run out of gas -and was passed by Harvick yet again. Kasey Kahne (Honorable Mention) -- Despite missing the Chase for the second consecutive season, Kasey Kahne lit up the back end of the schedule, finishing in the top 10 in seven of the final eight races. His 368 points scored in the Chase trailed only Stewart and Edwards,
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and his victory at Phoenix in the penultimate race of the season snapped an 81-race winless drought. Kahne's lateseason surge provided booming optimism for next season, when he and crew chief Kenny Francis join powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports. Season of surprise
In 2011, 36 races were won by 18 different drivers -- five of them were first-time winners - on 23 different tracks in 20 different states. Winless streaks were broken, feuds continued and a remarkable reign ended. Top Team
Stewart-Haas Racing -- That didn't take long. Stewart-Haas Racing needed just three years to win their first championship, as Stewart became the first driver-owner to win the title since 1992. SHR racked up six wins in 2011, tied for most on the season. Five of those belonged to Stewart. Ryan Newman nabbed the other in the most dominant effort by a team this season. At New Hampshire in July, Newman and Stewart started 1-2, and finished 1-2 - the first time since 1957 that a team started and finished 12 with the same drivers starting and finishing in the same order. Richard Childress Racing (Honorable Mention) -- This was a tough one, as Roush Fenway Racing made a big play for inclusion into this cat-
2012 NASCAR PREVIEW
egory. But again, RFR lost the tiebreak to victories. Richard Childress Racing nabbed six victories in 2011. Roush Fenway had five.
But the win total alone isn't everything. RCR captured glory in one of NASCAR's crown jewels, with Paul Menard claiming his first career win in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. During the Chase, Clint Bowyer -- who moves to Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012 -- collected RCR's milestone 100th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, in the Talladega Superspeedway Chase race. Kevin Harvick, RCR's wins leader with four, finished third in the points for the second consecutive season. Top Performer
Breakthrough
Brad Keselowski -- Don't be surprised if more drivers attempt Keselowski's patented broken ankle-to-victory strategy. During a test session at Road Atlanta in early August, Keselowski broke his left ankle, leaving his availability for the upcoming event at Pocono Raceway in question. He did race. And won. He did the same a few weeks later at Bristol. His three victories after race No. 26 were enough to land him the No. 1 Wild Card spot in the Chase. After a solid Chase that included four top-five finishes, he finished the season fifth in points.
Regan Smith (Honorable Mention) -- Coming into 2011, here were Regan Smith's career statistics: zero wins, zero top fives and zero top 10s. Any type of success whatsoever would land him a Breakthrough Performer nod. Instead, he built a career-year that included a victory in one of NASCAR's most historic races -- the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. To that feat, he added a third-place finish on another grand stage -- the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. In all, Smith had one win, two top fives and five top 10s. Top Race
Ford 400, Homestead-Miami Speedway -- If this race were smack in the middle of the season, it still would get consideration for Top Race -thanks to record-breaking numbers in leaders (15) and lead changes (26). But the implications of this race -- and the clutch performances of those with everything to win and lose -- made this an instant classic. Championship clinch scenarios going in were simple: If Carl Edwards wins, he's the champion. If Tony Stewart wins, he's the champion. Edwards shrugged off any pressure as a first championship neared, leading a race-high 119 laps. But this was Stewart's show. With some early pit road
PAGE 5
magic to repair a grapefruitsized hole in his grill, Stewart worked his way back to the front with daring four-wide passes. NASCAR's Loop Data counted a total of 118 green flag passes for Stewart, who led the final 36 laps en route to the walk-off win and his third career Cup Series championship. Stewart and Edwards finished 1-2 at Homestead, leaving the 2011 season in a points tie. Stewart won the tiebreaker with five wins to Edwards' one.
Aaron's 499, Talladega Superspeedway (Honorable Mention) -- Talladega's April spring race matched two major NASCAR records -that of lead changes and margin of victory. There were 88 lead changes, which matched the record previously set in 2010, also in Talladega's spring race. With a margin of victory of .002 seconds, the race tied the closest MOV since the inception of electronic scoring in 1993. The record was previously set at Darlingon Raceway in 2003, when Ricky Craven edged Kurt Busch to the finish line.
In this one, Jimmie Johnson - with teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind him -barely beat Clint Bowyer to the finish line. It was Johnson's first victory of the season. His next wouldn't come until October at Kansas.
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2012 NASCAR PREVIEW
PAGE 6
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012
Yarborough’s Route To NASCAR Hall Of Fame Had Many Twists, Turns DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 4, 2012) – Larger than life.
Those three words describe Cale Yarborough – before the Sardis, S.C. native even became a racing legend who will be inducted along with Richie Evans, Dale Inman, Darrell Waltrip and Glen Wood on Friday, Jan. 20 as the third class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Now 72, Yarborough flew an airplane without benefit of lessons, somehow forgetting that flight was easy; but landing was another story. He wrestled an alligator and survived being struck by lightning. At 5-feet-7 inches and 130 pounds, he was a ferocious prep fullback and linebacker at Timmonsville (S.C.) High School and likely could have
been a collegiate football star. He “worked out” wrestling bales in a tobacco barn and credited that labor with making him one of the era’s most fit competitors. And in his spare time, Yarborough drove a school bus. Oh, and Yarborough was ejected – three times – from his first race, the 1957 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway – because NASCAR officials found out he’d lied about his age on his license application. The 18year-old, who said he was 21, qualified 44th. He’d hidden on the Ford’s floorboards and took the wheel as owner Bobby Weatherly exited while inspectors’ were looking elsewhere.
Yarborough actually started the race – wearing a helmet and goggles, he got “lost” in
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but flag the was
From those beginnings, William Caleb Yarborough became the first to win three consecutive NASCAR premier series championships (1976-78) and three times finished second in the standings. During a career that began ignominiously in 1957 and concluded after the 1988 season, Yarborough won 83 races – sixth on the all-time list. He won the Daytona 500 four times. Driving Chevrolets prepared and ultimately owned by NASCAR Hall of Fame member Junior Johnson, Yarborough won nine or more races in four different seasons. He also won 69 poles, fourth all-time,
including a record 12 at Daytona – four in the Daytona 500.
What had become a dynasty ended after the 1980 season – leaving, many say, more victories and championships on the table. Yarborough, whose father was killed in a plane crash when he was 11, felt he needed to spend more time with his children and never again pursued a fulltime driving schedule. Ironically, the seat in Johnson’s Chevrolet went to Waltrip who won championships in 1981-82 and 1985. “I gave up a lot but I gained a lot more,” he wrote in his 1986 biography “Cale,” a book co-written with Bill Neely. Fourteen of Yarborough’s victories – including the 1983 Daytona 500 and his fourth Southern
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012 500 – came in the postJohnson years behind the wheel of cars owned by M.C. Anderson and Harry Ranier. Yarborough fielded his own team between 1987 and 1999 employing among others Dale Jarrett, Derrike Cope and John Andretti. Andretti scored the organization’s lone victory in July 1997 at Daytona International Speedway. Growing up, Yarborough considered himself a risktaker. If the tree limb from which he and his friends hung the tire over the swimming hole wasn’t high enough, Yarborough would find a way to make it higher. He built an 80-foot platform to dive into the Lynches River – which was only five-feetdeep.
That went well, at least until Yarborough came up and touched a log that wasn’t a log but an alligator. “There was no way I could outswim him to the banks so I did the only thing there was to do,” he wrote in “Cale.” “I grabbed him around the head. It rolled and rolled. First I saw the sky; and then my vision was blurred by the sandy river bottom.”
Yarborough and the gator
2012 NASCAR PREVIEW made it to the bank where friends drove the reptile off. “Aside from swallowing about half the Lynches River and looking like I’d been in a hatchet fight, I was all right,” said Yarborough. “I hoped I had given up alligator wrestling for all time.”
PAGE 7
age 14, Yarborough’s first car was a Model A Ford he purchased working for 25 cents an hour in the tobacco warehouse. He and his friends would race on the long, straight rural roads around Sardis and Timmonsville. “One of the old timers in Sardis said to me,
and dust flying everywhere,” he said. “Man, this sure beat anything I had ever done. I was as happy as a kid in a candy store.”
Yarborough soon was driving for others. His car lacked power and Yarborough lacked money to make it faster. His first NASCAR premier series victory came June 27, 1965 in a 100mile race over a ½-mile dirt track in Valdosta, Ga. Yarborough, driving a 1964 Ford, beat J.T. Putney by three laps. The field included twotime NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Buck Baker and NASCAR Hall of Fame member Ned Jarrett as well as Wendell Scott and Buddy Baker.
His first taste of wheeled competition was the Soap Box Derby for which he and his father, who owned a general store and cotton gin, built a car. Yarborough lost his first race which turned out to be a sobering experience that would remain with him throughout his racing career.
‘every time we heard a fast car go by, we’d say there goes Cale.’”
Getting his driver’s license at
“There was metal scraping
“I never forgot how bad it felt to lose,” he said.
Yarborough bought a 1953 Ford coupe while a senior in high school, tuned it up, painted his football number – 35 – on the doors and with friends towed it to a local dirt track. He finished third in his first heat race, the last car running. That was all it took.
Yarborough drove for fellow Hall of Fame inductee Glen Wood from mid-1966 through 1970 winning 13 times. They won three consecutive races at Daytona International Speedway in 1967-68 including the 1968 Daytona 500.
Yarborough admits he hated to lose. He ranks ninth alltime with a 14.77 winning percentage. “When you get right down to it, there are only two parts to racing: winning and losing,” he wrote in 1986. “No second, third or fourth. You win or you lose.”
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2012 NASCAR PREVIEW
PAGE 10
Childress Reveals Specifics for 2012 Season
Written By: Joe NASCAR.com
Menzer,
Richard Childress is confident about his team, even as it parts ways with Clint Bowyer. Despite being unable to come to contract terms with driver Clint Bowyer, who announced last Friday that he will drive beginning in 2012 for Michael Waltrip Racing, Richard Childress said Thursday that he could not be more pleased with the future direction in which his company appears to be headed. Speaking after a function where he appeared together with Bowyer to promote an upcoming special paint scheme on the No. 33 Chevrolet Bowyer currently drives for Richard Childress Racing, Childress said he tentatively plans to scale down from four full-time Sprint Cup teams to three full-time teams in 2012. But he did not rule out running a fourth car, Bowyer's vacated No. 33, in at least a handful of races -- possibly with his grandson, Austin Dillon, behind the wheel. Childress also did not completely rule out fielding the No. 33 car full-time. This season
RCR fields not only that car, but also the No. 29 driven by Kevin Harvick, the No. 31 driven by Jeff Burton and the No. 27 driven by Paul Menard.
"Right now we're looking at three Cup cars with an occasional Cup race [in the 33]. Who knows what may come up between now and then?" Childress said. "I've had offers to race people and race drivers, and had another full sponsorship for a driver. I just want to make sure it's the right move when we make it. So we're still as of right now three Cup teams.
"I'm sure if we don't have a [fulltime] team, we might stick Austin in the car one or two times. We've got a couple other people who have said they might like to run. If it's the right opportunity, as far as chance to test something or take a look at a driver or something, we may do that. ... I'd rather have three teams that you can be competitive with -and occasionally pick up a race or two along the way, where if you've got something you want to try, you go and do it." Asked specifically if the primary order of business at RCR right now is trying to obtain sponsorship for Austin Dillon's 2012 Nationwide ride and Austin's younger brother Ty in the Camping World Truck Series, Childress replied: "We're down the road pretty good with all of that. Like I've said, we feel pretty good about how RCR is positioned for the future with the sponsors we
have for the next two or three years. I couldn't be happier with a lot of things in front of RCR as far as sponsorshipwise and employee-wise and just the overall direction of the company."
Earlier last week, it was announced that the General Mills sponsorship that had been on the No. 33 car will be moving to Burton's No. 31 Chevy beginning next season. Childress said he was pleased to be able to keep General Mills associated with RCR, and that he is happy overall with the general state of NASCAR as the 2011 season winds down. "I think everybody's business model changed a couple of years ago, and we're all still having to adjust to it," Childress said. "But at RCR, we've been fortunate. We've been able to re-sign sponsors, we have a lot of interest from new companies who are looking at it and hopefully in the near future will be making some announcements. So things are looking good for RCR and I think it's looking good for the sport as well. The TV ratings are up, we're getting people back in the stands. I'm really happy with what I'm seeing out of the sport these days." Even though Childress may be reducing the number of Cup teams he fields next season, he said the recent absorption of Kevin Harvick Inc.'s Nationwide Series program and the fact that the Sprint Cup Series is preparing to move to
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"We're hoping to add a few more people," Childress said. "We've got a couple other good programs working, and the number we're coming up with now is just a few more employees than we have today." Childress admitted -- again -that he would have liked to have re-signed Bowyer. But he said he could not afford to pay Bowyer the salary that the driver was being offered by MWR.
"Well, we all have to adjust to the [new business] model. It's just a matter of if you've got X dollars to race with, you've got to figure out how to make that work," Childress said. "I think NASCAR understands the challenges that are out there today for the teams, and they're going to make their adjustments as well. ... All of us have had to make adjustments to deal with the economic environment. "We knew what our financial model was, and Clint knew where he needed to be. We just couldn't come together to make it work. We had the car completely sponsored, but it just didn't work out. I'm very sad that it didn't, because I really like Clint and he's going to be a great driver. Never say never. I hope that someday he can be back at RCR."
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2012 NASCAR PREVIEW
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012
TOP MOMENTS OF 2011
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 8, 2011) — In a special season during which magic moments were many, Tony Stewart’s championshipclinching victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway has been voted the Top Moment of 2011. Members of NASCARMedia.com voted in the week-long poll, casting ballots for the top-10 moments from the just-completed NASCAR season.
10th and final race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™. Both drivers had predicted the championship wouldn’t be decided until the final lap, and they were right. Edwards, who started on the pole, led the most laps while Stewart yo-
– falling in Stewart’s favor.
NUMBER 2 Trevor Bayne’s Daytona 500 Win
Winning The Great American Race is a career achieve-
NUMBER 3 Brad Keselowski’s Wreckers-to-Checkers Win at Pocono
Stewart’s walk-off win in the season finale, however, didn’t exactly prevail in a landslide among voting by members of the news media.
Trevor Bayne’s historic Daytona 500 victory – which opened the year on a spectacular note at Daytona International Speedway – barely missed out on the No. 1 spot. Below are the top 10 vote-getters from 2011. Click here to view special audio, video and photo packages on the top moments from 2011. NUMBER 1 Tony Stewart’s HomesteadMiami Clincher
Stewart trailed Carl Edwards by three points entering the
although his team – the legendary Wood Brothers – had won the Daytona 500 on four previous occasions. Bayne, who started 32nd and led only the final six laps as a record 74 lead changes were recorded became the youngest Daytona 500 winner and just the seventh to make the race his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory. The win was Ford’s 600th and 98th for the Wood Brothers.
yoed through the field after fixing damage to the front of his Chevrolet. Amazingly, Stewart took the lead with 36 laps remaining. Edwards, in second place, stayed in fullout pursuit mode until the checkered flag waved, but finished 1.306 seconds behind Stewart. Both drivers scored 2,403 points with the tiebreaker – five wins to one
ment no matter how many races or championships are won elsewhere. Example: Seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt needed 20 starts to win his Daytona 500 at age 46. All of which made Bayne’s victory both surprising and historic. Bayne, at age 20 years and one day, was making just his second NASCAR Sprint Cup start,
Playing hurt is the measure of athletic success, as Brad Keselowski won August’s Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono Raceway just days after breaking his left ankle in a road course testing accident. Few might have projected a healthy Keselowski as a Pocono favorite. He’d won at Kansas Speedway earlier in the summer, but came to Pennsylvania ranked 21st in points. The race turned out to be a coming-out party for the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion, who followed the performance with three more top-three finishes
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capped by a Bristol victory, a Chase wild card berth and a fifth place finish in final NASCAR Sprint Cup standings. NUMBER 4 Jeff Gordon’s 85th NASCAR Sprint Cup Win
Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon fell short in his title bid, but the 2011 season was his first with multiple victories since 2007. He broke a 66-race winless streak at Phoenix International Raceway in February, added another win at Pocono Raceway in June and scored a historic 85th career victory in a weatherdelayed AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September. Atlanta’s victory gave Gordon sole possession of third among all NASCAR Sprint Cup winners, breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Fame member Bobby Allison and soonto-be-inducted Darrell Waltrip. NUMBER 5 Regan Smith’s Southern 500 Win
What Trevor Bayne began in February, Regan Smith continued in May. Smith entered Darlington Raceway’s SHOWTIME Southern 500 with a lean resume to say the least: no wins, top fives or top 10s in 104 NASCAR Sprint Cup starts. Smith, then 27, became the upset winner of NASCAR’s oldest "crown
2012 NASCAR PREVIEW
jewel." He led just the final 11 laps and held off Carl Edwards by 0.196 seconds to give Furniture Row Racing – a team headquartered in Colorado – its first series victory. NUMBER 6 Jimmie Johnson’s Aaron’s 499 Win at Talladega
At the time, Jimmie Johnson’s final-lap victory – with an assist by teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. – appeared to be an early harbinger of a sixth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Johnson’s second Talladega Superspeedway win – and 54th overall – boosted him from fourth to second in the point standings. The race matched records for lead changes (88) and margin of victory under electronic scoring (0.002 seconds). NUMBER 7 Paul Menard Holds Off Jeff Gordon to Win Brickyard 400
Surprise winners in 2011, take three. For much of its 19 years, Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Brickyard 400 had been won by the greatest names in NASCAR: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, bill Elliott – champions all. No first-time winners in the bunch – until this July. Midwesterner Paul Menard wound up kissing the start-finish line bricks after prevailing in a torrid battle with four-time Brickyard 400
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winner Jeff Gordon. Menard joined Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne and SHOWTIME Southern 500 winner Regan Smith to score a first victory on the schedule’s largest stages. NUMBER 8 Austin Dillon Becomes Youngest NASCAR Camping World Truck Champion
Though a number of young drivers have used their experience in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as a springboard to NASCAR Sprint Cup success – think Carl Edwards, among others – veteran drivers, for the most part, have had a stranglehold on its championships. Only Travis Kvapil (age 27 in 2003) was younger than 30 in the series’ first 16 seasons. All that changed in 2011 as thirdgeneration driver Austin Dillon, 21, became the youngest to win an NCWTS title. Dillon, a two-time winner, finished six points ahead of NASCAR national series veteran Johnny Sauter. Dillon, Richard Childress’ grandson, returned a title to RCR that Mike Skinner won in the series’ 1995 inaugural season. NUMBER 9 Danica Patrick Posts Best Finish in NASCAR by a Female Driver
All agreed that Danica Patrick’s part-time NASCAR career was on the upswing in its second season. Patrick
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proved that with an exclamation point on March 5 with a solid, fourth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The performance was record-setting: Patrick became not only the highestfinishing female driver in a NASCAR Nationwide Series race but also in any NASCAR national series event. Patrick’s feat broke a record from NASCAR’s earliest years – Sara Christian’s fifthplace finish in a NASCAR Sprint Cup (then Strictly Stock) race on Oct. 2, 1949 at Heidelberg, Pa. NUMBER 10 2010 Sunoco Rookies-of-theYear Win Championship
Two NASCAR national series champions gave media and fans yet another reason to keep an eye on the newcomers. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., whose uneven performance nearly cost him his job with Roush Fenway Racing in 2010, recovered to claim NASCAR Nationwide Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. Roush’s faith was rewarded as Stenhouse won twice en route to the 2011 championship. Austin Dillon’s rookie of the year run in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wasn’t quite so dramatic but like Stenhouse, he "graduated" to the champion’s chair. The season marked the first time that both Nationwide and truck rookies became champions in their sophomore years.
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2012 NASCAR PREVIEW
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The NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Process
Each year five inductees will be selected by a voting panel consisting of NASCAR industry leaders, manufacturer representatives, former competitors, the media and fans. Inductees will be chosen from an annual list of no more than 25 candidates. The main criteria for nomination and induction: NASCAR accomplishments and contributions to the sport. To be eligible
Former drivers must have competed 10 years in NASCAR and be retired from racing for a minimum of three years. Non-drivers must have worked at least 10 years in the industry. (Potential candidates with shorter careers may be considered if there are special circumstances.) After a 21-member nominating committee selects its list of candidates, the voting will entail a total of 53 ballots. Twenty-one ballots will be from the nominating committee; 31 ballots will come from a group consisting of former drivers, former owners, former crew chiefs, manufacturer representatives and media; one ballot will represent the results of a nationwide fan vote.
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