A Year in Review: Races, Controversies and Everything Else!

Where to begin, where to begin? Well, the 2010 Cup Series Season has been anything but boring. Yeah, the races may get boring after a while (like last night’s) but there’s always something going on off the track. Every true NASCAR fan (myself included) dreads the last race of the year, when the two and a half months of tedious waiting begins and the anticipation builds to be able to see their favorite drivers battle it out on the track week after week. I’m going to warn you now, this is going to cover a lot of information, so this is a long blog! Sorry!!

I’m going to sum up all twenty-six races as quickly as I can, so bear with me! On February 6th, 2010, everyone’s wait was over; the NASCAR 2010 Season officially began! Kevin Harvick won the Bud Shootout. Five days later, the Gatorade Duel was on TV. In the first duel, Jimmie Johnson won, in the second one, Kasey Kahne won. It was now time for the crown jewel of NASCAR, the Daytona 500! On February 14th, Jamie McMurray won the prestigious race and when interviewed in Victory Lane, was extremely grateful to Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing for giving him a ride. From Daytona, we headed west to California, Fontana to be exact. Jimmie Johnson was able to conquer the two-mile “D” shaped track to win and did the same the next weekend at Las Vegas. Kurt Busch won the next race at Atlanta. We then went to most people’s favorite track, Bristol. Jimmie Johnson, once again, won. The next weekend we arrived at Martinsville and Denny Hamlin won. We’re now into April. We made our way back to the West Coast to go to Phoenix where Ryan Newman won. From there we headed south to Texas. Denny Hamlin won again. At this point it was apparent that Jimmie and Denny were the cars to beat, but Kevin Harvick was leading the point standings, even without a win, but quickly changed that. He won at Talladega. On May 1st, Kyle Busch won at Richmond, and this started the Joe Gibbs Racing good luck streak! The next weekend at Darlington, Denny won. The next weekend, Kyle Busch won (Told you about the good luck!). We’ve now arrived at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the All Star Race, and if you ask any of the drivers, they will probably tell you that this is their favorite race because there are no points are on the line and they can’t get in trouble! Martin Truex, Jr. won the Showdown, locking himself into the race. Kurt Busch was the one walking away at the end of the day with a beat-up racecar, a check for a million dollars and the bragging rights. Kurt continued his winning streak at Charlotte the next weekend, but it was short-lived when Denny Hamlin won the next two races at Pocono and Michigan. Jimmie Johnson won the next two races at Sonoma and Loudon. On July 3rd, the teams arrived back at Daytona, where Kevin Harvick won. David Reutimann won at Chicago on July 10th, surprising everyone. Jamie McMurray won the Brickyard 400, making him the winner of the two biggest races of the year! August 1st, at rainy Pocono, Greg Biffle won. The next weekend, Juan Pablo Montoya won, which surprised a lot of people. At Michigan, Kevin Harvick won. At Bristol, Kyle Busch won. September 5th, Tony Stewart got his first win of the year at Atlanta. Rounding out the season before the Chase, was Denny Hamlin at Richmond, with six wins this season! (Sorry, that was longer than I anticipated.)

Now for everyone’s favorite topic, the feuds and controversies! The new “Bad Boy” of NASCAR is nonetheless, Brad Keselowski. It seems like every weekend, he is causing trouble with one of the drivers, which brings us to two of the more memorable feuds of the year, Edwards vs. Keselowski and Busch vs. Keselowski. Starting off with Carl and Brad. Remember last year when Keselowski put Edwards into the fence in the Nationwide race? Well, this year, Carl retaliated and did the same to Brad at the Gateway Nationwide race, only he didn’t go up into the catch fence, but still, they were called to the hauler and were both penalized. Keselowski vs. Busch, this is where it gets funny. It all started at the Nationwide race at Bristol when Brad tapped Kyle and he wiggled and got around him for the top spot. Kyle didn’t like that too much and clipped the rear bumper of Brad, spinning him out. Kyle won. Brad obviously doesn’t ‘Forgive and Forget’ because the next day at driver intros for the Cup race, Brad came out and said, “Kyle Busch is an a**.” The twenty year old, Joey Logano, has also gotten into his fair share of fights this year. First at Pocono with Kevin Harvick when Harvick spun him out racing for position. Joey didn’t like this and got in Kevin’s face after the race. The next incident happened not too long ago at Michigan when Joey got loose and spun Newman out. They exchanged words. Now, onto the fights that you will be going “I forgot about that!” Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex, Jr at Infineon. Remember that? Gordon was going around a turn and hooked his front bumper under Truex’s rear bumper and spun him out. Gordon apologized, but Truex didn’t want to forgive. Last feud, AJ Allmendinger and Richard Petty at the Coke 400 at Daytona. AJ crashed and when he got out, car owner Richard Petty was there, AJ proceeded to yell at Richard about how bad his car was. That’s all we ever heard about that.

Now that all of the serious information is over with, let’s move onto the things that kept us talking! Babies. Did you all notice that everyone’s wives were having babies? Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman’s wives all had/are having a baby. Dale Earnhardt, Jr, is anyone else wondering if he should be staying at Hendrick or not? I personally feel that he needs a pep talk or something because when he takes the lead, he quickly falls back; I think it’s a confidence issue. Brian Vickers will be coming back for the 2011 season. I don’t know about you guys, but I missed seeing him in the #83 car, stupid blood clots! Last point before I wrap up this blog, the Denny Hamlin incident about the cautions. “Truthfully I don't think it matters to the fans who wins the race as long as it’s a good "show". Even if it comes as the expense of competition." He was fined and nothing else was ever said.

Chase Standings: Hamlin, Johnson, Harvick, Ky. Busch, Ku. Busch, Stewart, Biffle, Gordon, Edwards, Burton, Kenseth, Bowyer.

I hope you guys enjoy the next ten races and that your driver/team wins!!