Catchfence

So 2008 has come to an end and Jimmie Johnson has yet another championship. It is Johnson’s third and Rick Hendrick’s eighth, and some may express surprise that it happened given how far behind the Hendrick effort looked for nearly half the season. Of course that success has been largely ignored with concerns about sponsorships drying up and the prospect of an economic situation for the sport far weaker than has been seen in years – decades, perhaps.

It is in keeping with what may go down as the least popular season in a long time – one can hardly recall a season with more widespread rancor than 2008. Nor can one blame anyone for feeling the sport, the sacntioning body, or a combination of participants, has let everyone down given that everything should be so much better than it presently is.

Even with that, some highlights shone through in 2008. A look at them –

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DODGE DAYTONA: FOR ONE RACE, ONE TEAM — It was supposed to be this way from the start. When Dodge reentered Winston Cup the approach in developing the brand’s new racecars was One Team. Ray Evernham, Richard Petty, and Bill Davis worked together on development and would have their teams work together, just as Petty and Davis had done when they ran Pontiacs and as Petty had done with the Keselowskis, David Hodson, and Bobby Hamilton in Dodge’s Craftsman Truck endeavor.

Chip Ganassi’s arrival into the Dodge camp helped change that, and the Dodge effort almost immediately splintered into little fiefdoms. This made what happened at the Daytona 500 all the more stunning, as Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch stormed past the dominant Joe Gibbs Toyotas on the final lap. Penske, Evernham, Ganassi, and Petty all ran stout and finished in the top-11.

That they never sustained it was one of the season’s low-lights.

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TALLADEGA: STILL THE ONLY REAL RACING — Not even the Car Of Tomorrow that had helped ruin the competitiveness of the sport everywhere else it raced could harm the quality of the racing at Talladega. The Alabama 500 saw 52 lead changes while the Autumn 500 topped that with 64, and both races topped 20 different leaders. Where everywhere else the COT meant aeropush, at Talladega dirty air was where the cars wanted to race, and this meant nonstop passing. October in particular was a stunner as Talladega broke its own international motorsports record of different leaders by hitting 28 leaders.

That a lot of other tracks have that same potential is something a lot of people who bash “cookie cutter tracks” refuse to understand. That Daytona is the only other track that is even approaching this quality of competition is the salient failing of modern NASCAR.

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A CHALLENGER TO THE HENDRICK-ROUSH DUOPOLY — Joe Gibbs Racing has always been a power in Winston Cup, but for 2008 the switch to Toyota made this organzation a superpower. JGR Toyotas led the most laps at Daytona and starting at the Atlanta 500 Kyle Busch asserted a control over the sport not seen in years. When it was all over JGR didn’t win the title, but its ten wins was serious enough accomplishment.

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DAVID RAGAN PROVES TO BE FOR REAL
— In 2007 Ragan looked lost, somehow managing three top ten finishes but otherwise being irrelevent. In 2008 there was no sophmore slump, as he started to race well and finish well, with a seventh at Vegas, a fourth at Talladega, and a fifth at Darlington. He ultimately finished with fourteen top tens and was the highest non-Chase finisher, a sign that he’s legitimate as a contender.

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REGAN SMITH’S STOLEN WIN — The fact the win was stolen is one of the scandals of NASCAR’s non-rulebook (remember, EIRI trumps everything else in NASCAR); the fact Regan Smith actually crossed the stripe first at Talladega was something the sport needed – a first-time winner and a comeback for a hard-luck team (DEI).

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JEFF BURTON’S TWIN WINS — For the first time since 2001, Jeff Burton broke through more than once, doing so at Bristol and Charlotte.

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TRAVIS KVAPIL BETTER THAN EXPECTED WITH DOUG YATES — It was way too much to expect Doug Yates Racing, as a satellite of Roush-Fenway, to win races. It was also too much expect Travis Kvapil, never a racer with much killer instinct, to win. But the combination showed some actual ability, notably at Talladega with the pole and ten laps led, which was a lot at that race with the most laps led being 24.

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MCCUMBEE FLEXES MUSCLE AT POCONO — Chad McCumbee never raced at Pocono before 2007; he raced there in 2007 and again in 2008, both times in the Petty #45, and both times he passed people, worked well with his crew, and while his finishes weren’t spectacular they were nonetheless a sign of someone who can race. It is what made the poor results elsewhere in 2008 all the more puzzling and disappointing.

It added up to moments that were worth remembering out of 2008