The 2011 Sprint All-Star Race came down to Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin battling for the win. Denny fades high exiting Turn 2 as DW says, “Put ‘em een the wawll!!!” Kyle’s post-race reaction was succinct (ear muffs!) and complete with memorable radio wire yank from. I understand him being mad for getting run up into the wall, but did he really have it won? Busch never even got along side Hamlin …

by Vito Pugliese
 

Kurt Busch offers a hand to Roush teammate Greg Biffle here in 2004. Unfortunately, you can’t really bump draft with Gen 4 cars. And not at Charlotte. And not through the quad-oval. What results when one does is a 195 mph debacle, taking out the two team cars, nearly a third, as well as Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and others. It also helped set the stage for Biffle’s then-girlfriend (now wife) Nicole getting into it with Busch’s then-wife (now ex) Eva at Texas two years later after a similar incident. By the way, check out Junior driving through that, managing to miss everything.

by Vito Pugliese
 

Witness Kyle Busch attempt to execute a move that I once tried in my fourth career season in NASCAR Thunder 2003. There’s no way in hell it’s going to stick, but it’s the All-Star Race and it was for the win. Mike Joy’s summation isn’t much different than what we’d hear over the next five years or so. This incident in part also helped set the stage for Busch’s move to Joe Gibbs Racing a year later. Kurt. Meanwhile, gives a great interview around the 3:00 mark. Joy’s comment following is even better. “So much ...”

by Vito Pugliese
 
 

Picking up the action at 3:33, the race gets going just as it gets going raining, with cars sideways out of Turn 4 and into Turn 1 as the sky opens. NASCAR made the, uh, "unprecedented" decision to let those involved in the wreck go to back up cars since it was a non-points paying exhibition race. One of those involved, Jeff Gordon, rebounds to win in the replacement ride.

by Vito Pugliese  

Fresh off his first career win at Texas Motor Speedway just a month earlier, Dale Earnhardt Jr. pits while running second for a couple of adjustments to get him a car capable of contending for the win in the 200 All-Star Race. He proceeds to mow down the veterans in front of him setting up a duel with defending Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett. Junior wins the battle, and I find myself missing that exuberant guy celebrating with his team as opposed to the quiet and corporate dude of 2013. I also miss the other guy coming into congratulate him by putting him in a headlock.

by Vito Pugliese
 

Sometimes the fastest car doesn’t win; the smartest team does. Jeff Burton’s No. 99 crew, led by crew chief Frankie Stoddard, did just that in the first segment of the 2002 running of The Winston. Burton’s pit stall was positioned just 50 yards from the start-finish line, so the required four-tire stop was able to be delayed until the last lap. Burton lapped the field as others pitted, then cruised to a runner-up finish in Segment 1.

by Vito Pugliese
 

In 1998, the new Ford Taurus was on a tear. Engineered from the get-go to make maximum downforce and excel on intermediate tracks like Charlotte, it was in a perfect position to continue its early season dominance. That is until Jeff Gordon and his Ray Evernham-engineered No. 24 showed up. Gordon and Mark Martin had dominated the event and the former was leading into the last lap of the final 10-lap segment with Martin and Bobby Labonte on new tires gobbling up his lead. As the 24 took the white flag, all went silent in the car. Later, Evernham would say they forgot to refuel it. Hmmm ... maybe. Or maybe they just didn’t want to call attention to something else. After all, Gordon would go on to win the 600 a week later.

by Vito Pugliese  

It’s been debated for nearly 30 years now. Did he or didn’t he? As Darrell Waltrip crosses the finish line in the inaugural Winston in 1985, the engine goes up in a thick cloud of smoke. Like, literally as he crosses the finish line. Did he clutch it? Or did car owner Junior Johnson build, as Mike Joy notes, a 105-mile hand grenade? Johnson is a legend and all, but what are the odds? Let the debate rage on.

by Vito Pugliese   

Michael Waltrip had been racing for 10 years and made 309 career starts when he raced his way into The Winston in 1996. On the final lap, Dale Earnhardt rattles Terry Labonte’s cage, clearing the way for Mikey and the Wood Brothers Ford to cruise home to his first Cup win. As Waltrip would later recount, his first thoughts upon celebrating were, “It doesn’t count.” He would have to wait another five years for his first “official” Cup win.

by Vito Pugliese
 

Yeah, it’s kind of a misnomer. It’s not really “a pass in the grass” so much as a “block Bill, almost spin yourself out and save it while in the grass.” There was something special about that mid- to late-80s generation of cars and bias-ply tires that was a thing of beauty to watch. Sliding sideways, smoking the rear tires at 17 0mph, cars that legitimately looked “stock” … and “Woaaah, Nelly!” how about Keith Jackson calling the action?

by Vito Pugliese
 

While The Winston was first run in 1985, it wasn’t until ’89 that it really came of age with a watershed moment that “defined” what was to be expected forever more. Coming to take the white flag, Rusty Wallace makes ever-such-slight contact with a rejuvenated Darrell Waltrip — who had won three races already that season, including the Daytona 500. The contact sent DW’s Tide Ride sliding through the grass and triggered a fracas in the garage between the two teams. While the incident may have cost “Jaws” the $185,000 payday, it transformed him from heel to fan-favorite in an instant — propelling him to Most Popular Driver honors in ’89 and 1990.

by Vito Pugliese
 

While the 1989 dust-up between Darrell and Rusty may have ruffled some feathers and bruised some egos, the 1992 running of The Winston went further: it sent Davey Allison to the hospital. Guys in cars do weird things when there’s big money on the line, and on the last lap they did just that in NASCAR’s first 1.5-mile night race. Kyle Petty’s Mello Yello Pontiac pulls down to pass Dale Earnhardt, and things get interesting. Of note, much like Kyle Busch and Kasey Kasey last week at Darlington, Petty never makes contact with Earnhardt. This also proves you don’t have to be going 200 mph on a 1.5-mile track for the racing to be exciting, and why SAFER Barriers should not be taken for granted.

by Vito Pugliese
 

“Reganomics” was the rule last Saturday at Talladega and paid huge dividends for the winner Regan Smith in the Nationwide Series event. However, the first installment of Reganonmics was at the 2011 Southern 500. After getting jobbed out of a win at Talladega in 2008, Smith would have to wait three years to get another crack at one — and he delivered in the clutch in Darlington, holding off Carl Edwards on new tires for the final two laps. The win did get a bit overshadowed with the antics between Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch in the final laps and on pit road following the race. To Busch’s credit, he actually did try to avoid confrontation twice before Harvick’s car went on a ghost ride into the wall. Busch would later claim his transmission wouldn’t grab reverse, and he didn’t want to get clobbered by Harvick.

by Vito Pugliese
 

In recent years, NASCAR has made great strides in safety, notably with the installation of “soft wall” SAFER Barriers that line most walls around the circuit’s 23 tracks. Cale Yarborough could have used something like that at Darlinton at the 1965 Southern 500, as his Banjo Matthews owned No. 27 Ford ollies the guardrail and parks it with the fans outside of Turn 1. Check out his comments about it at 3:05 with Richard Petty, Benny Parsons and Darrell Waltrip — as well as those retro New Balances that have just been re-released.

by Vito Pugliese
 

A scary moment in the opening laps of the 1997 Southern 500 occurred when Dale Earnhardt basically blacked out coming to take the green flag and then had trouble finding his way onto pit road. He would later say that he had an episode of double-vision before the incident, but then didn’t remember anything until he got out of the car. Doctors attributed it to a migraine-like episode or broken blood vessel in his brain. A couple of years later, Earnhardt would have surgery to remove a piece of metal from his skull that occurred during a shop incident in the 70’s. Fitting since he was nicknamed “Ironhead.”

by Vito Pugliese
 

After seeing the rash of accidents at Talladega — including Kurt Busch barrel rolling and landing atop Ryan Newman’s windshield — it is a wonder nobody was injured. Such was not the case during the height of speedway racing in late 1960s and early ’70s. Richard Petty endures this violent head-on impact into the concrete retaining wall (nothing “soft” about these walls), blasting it apart, and then barrel rolling his Roadrunner, with his body hanging halfway out of the window. Petty would miss the next five races with a broken shoulder, and despite 18 wins that season, finished fourth in the final point standings.

by Vito Pugliese
 

Mark Martin’s No. 6 Valvoline Thunderbird was on a roll in 1993, and the train kept booking through Darlington. A race that was delayed once for rain, but only featured three caution flags was the perfect complement to the Roush team’s raked Ford that ran roughshod all summer long, tying the modern era record for consecutive wins at four. Ford honored the win by placing a full page ad in the USA Today that read, “It Was Labor Day Weekend, But We Celebrated The Fourth.” Pick up the action around the 3:04 mark and check out the banzai run by Dale Earnahardt. Think things were dark at ‘Dega last weekend? Check out the sun setting behind Turn 2 when Martin pulls into Victory Lane. Also, awesome hat.

by Vito Pugliese
 

Jeff Gordon was eligible for the Winston Million in 1997 after winning the Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600. We pick up the action at 2:25, with five laps to go, as Jeff Burton gets past Dale Jarrett to get a shot at Gordon’s lead. Don’t let Tony Stewart see this last lap — he will lose it after seeing Gordon’s defensive maneuver coming to take the white flag. After the race, Burton said he would have nailed Gordon had he been able to get back to him. It was only the second time the Winston Million had been won at the time.

by Vito Pugliese
 

From 1950 to 2004, the Southern 500 was run on Labor Day Weekend. That changed in 2005, when the push for major market exposure meant that Labor Day weekends would move to — gulp! — Southern California. The final “true” Southern 500 was the set up to the inaugural Nextel Cup under the new Chase format. We pick up the action at the 21:00 mark, as the final “true” Southern 500 finds a great race with championship implications unfolding. Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray exchange the lead over the final 100 laps, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has battery problems and some new guy named Carl Edwards is making video game passes with 25 to go. Remind me again why they aren’t racing here twice a year?

by Vito Pugliese
 

In 1985, Bill Elliott was deemed “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville” after his Ernie Elliott-powered Coors Ford became the scourge of the speedways in NASCAR. He won the Daytona 500 and Talladega 500, making him eligible for the $1 million bonus put up by Winston for any driver who could win three of NASCAR’s four most prestigious races: Daytona 500, Talladega 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500. Equally awesome call by Larry Nuber here, as Elliott comes to the checkers to become the first winner of the Winston Million. The fans seem pretty excited too, even though he had to beat native South Carolina son Cale Yarborough to do so. Mind you, this was a million dollars in 1985 money — back before the days of multi-million dollar driver contracts, huge purses and lucrative endorsement deals. I mean because now, a million dollars is chump change …

by Vito Pugliese
 

Picking up the action at the 6:20 mark, three-time Formula 1 champion Jackie Stewart calls the final five laps with ABC’s “Wide World of Sports’” Jim McKay. This race is cited as the changing of the guard between the previous generation to the next, led by drivers such as Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt and Bill Elliott. Richard Petty and Waltrip battle back and forth, exchanging the lead several times. Coincidentally, three of the four cars involved in dictating the final lap of the ’79 Daytona 500 are charging for the win, but this time the outcome is reversed. Of note, nobody makes contact with each other or executes a “bump ‘n’ run” to win. There was a different code back then. And some big-assed boats, ‘70s style.

by Vito Pugliese
 

The best recipe for cookie cutter tracks and nap-inducing races? Head to the oldest of the old-school racetracks: Darlington. After all, what other track on the circuit can lay claim to the myth that a minnow pond dictated its layout? Larry Mac goes bat guano during the final laps calling this one, with plenty of “hah-side” and “drag race” quips, as Darrell Waltrip cheers on Ricky Craven to victory – which I guess is unbiased and all. Interesting observation, however, by DW, that the pointy Pontiac nose helped get the win for Craven. Ten years later, this is still the closest finish in NASCAR history at .002 seconds. And contrary to what you may think, Kurt Busch wasn’t upset afterwards.

by Vito Pugliese
 

The inaugural Daytona 500 was one of the strangest. Lee Petty ended up winning in a literal photo finish — but the decision wasn’t made until three days later. Johnny Beauchamp was originally flagged the winner, but Petty protested the outcome and after a review of fan photographs, press pics and grainy black and white video that made the Zapruder film look like Avatar, Bill France Sr. gave the win to the patriarch of NASCAR’s most famous racing family. Petty and Beauchamp didn’t fare so well a couple of years later at Daytona. In the qualifying races for the 1961 event, both were involved in an accident that launched their cars out of the track in Turn 4 and seriously injuring Petty. While he entered only six more races, his win in the first 500 held at Daytona International Speedway was fitting.

by Vito Pugliese

In the 1980s, there were a number of second- and third-generation drivers coming along, destined to follow in their fathers’ footsteps. Larry Pearson, Kyle Petty and Dale Jarrett were all making an effort to live up to the family name. One stood above the rest, though, evident that he would be something special – Davey Allison, son of Hall of Famer Bobby. Davey won two races in his rookie season of 1987 — something that just wasn’t done by rookies in those days. In ’88, his Robert Yates-powered Havoline Thunderbird hung tight with his father’s Miller High Life Buick in the 500, but didn’t quite have enough to challenge him at the end. It was Bobby’s third 500 win, but his final victory in what would be an abbreviated season, as he nearly lost his life in a crash at Pocono just four months later. Sadly, due to the accident, Bobby has no memory of one of the most endearing finishes in NASCAR history.

by Vito Pugliese

Is it still paranoia if they really are out to get you? Dale Earnhardt had to be thinking that as he ran over a piece of Ricky Rudd’s shattered bell housing entering Turn 3 while leading the final lap of the Daytona 500. Having just missed the 1989 Winston Cup by 12 points to Rusty Wallace, Earnhardt had the Harley J. Earle Trophy locked up, despite having nailed a seagull at 195 mph on the backstretch early in the race, which was captured and replayed throughout the afternoon. PETA is still probably pissed about that one. Earnhardt, though, would have to wait eight years until the bad luck would cease to claim the one prize that had eluded him. Derrike Cope, in Bob Whitcomb’s No. 10 Purolator Chevy, kept himself in a position to win and did just that after Earnhardt blew a right rear tire on the final lap. This finish even catches the smooth-as-silk Ned Jarrett a little off guard, as he gets a little tongue-tied calling the pass for win.

by Vito Pugliese

There are three names that Mopar freaks hold in high regard: Richard Petty, Dick Landy and Tom Hoover. Hoover is known as the Grandfather of the 426 Hemi, which made its NASCAR debut in 1964 at the Daytona 500. To say they had the field covered was a bit of an understatement. Paul Goldsmith won the pole at a speed of 174.91mph — on tires carved from granite. Richard Petty started alongside on the front row and dominated the action in his Plymouth Belvedere. There were only six lead changes between Petty, Goldsmith, A.J. Foyt and Bobby Isaac, with Petty leading from lap 52 to the finish. Petty by a lap over runner-up Jimmy Pardue and two laps over Goldsmith, but all three drove ’64 Plymouths powered by the new elephant motor. NASCAR would ban the engine for ’65, leading Petty to sit out for a season. Imagine the win and title total had he not.

by Vito Pugliese

You could draw some similarities between the 1981 and 2013 NASCAR seasons. The former year witnessed a new, downsized body … and no one really knew what to expect from it. The Daytona 500 was actually the second race of the year at this time (the now-defunct Riverside road course hosted the first event of the year). Bobby Allison dominated the 500, leading 117 of the 200 laps, while briefly exchanging the lead with Ricky Rudd and Neil Bonnett. Richard Petty wasn’t even a factor – until it counted. Coming onto pit road with 27 laps remaining, Petty’s cousin, Hall of Fame crew chief Dale Inman, made the audible call for two tires. It got Petty out far enough in front that he and his STP Buick led the final 26 circuits — the only laps he’d lead all day — and cruised to Victory Lane for his seventh and final Daytona 500 victory.

by Vito Pugliese

Back around the mid-late 2000’s, NASCAR attendance and ratings started to decline. It seemed the rules were constantly changing to fit the current circumstance, phantom yellows run amok, and a new points system was being rolled out every season. During the 2003 season, it was determined that there would no longer be racing back to the yellow flag when a caution came out. The field would be frozen and timing and scoring determined the winner. In his 23rd start, and first outside of the No. 6 Roush Ford since 1988, Mark Martin had things sewn up. He just had to make it through a Green White Checker restart, and he’d have quite the consolation prize for not having won a title in 20 years of trying. As the wreck starts, Martin has the lead over Harvick. He pulls down to avoid the side draft of Harvick, anticipating the yellow flag that never flew – despite cars being upside down, on fire, and flipping through the grass.

“After 20 years of trying, 20 years of frustration, Dale Earnhardt will come to the caution flag to win the Daytona 500!” A simply great call by Mike Joy in what he deemed, “the most anticipated moment in racing.” That sentiment was verified as every crewman from every team lined pit road to congratulate Earnhardt upon taking checkers. In watching the replay, Bobby Labonte started to make it a little more close than I remember, and if he had another lap, could have made things really interesting. All through Speedweeks, the parallels were drawn between John Elway, who finally won his first Super Bowl nearly a month earlier after so many devastating – and lopsided – loses, and Earnhardt, who was still looking for that elusive 500 win. A year removed from ending up on his lid on the last lap, but getting back in to finish the race, Earnhardt showed up at Daytona with a renewed determination and a new crew chief, having lured Larry McReynolds away from Robert Yates Racing and Ford. The ’98 version of the Daytona 500 was one of those races where everything just came together, nothing bad happened, and the guy you expected to win actually did. 

by Vito Pugliese

It the mid- to late- '70s, the superspeedway races at Daytona and Talladega were barnburners. You could count on one hand who was going to be factory: Richard Petty, David Pearson, Buddy Baker, Donnie Allison, Cale Yarborough. The 1976 edition of the 500 was about as good as it gets, with Pearson and Petty sandbagging and sling-shotting during the final laps. The Silver Fox pulled a monster slide job going into Turn 3, but The King side-drafted through 4 and powered by on exit. Almost. As the two titans of the sport made contact and spun out of control, Pearson managed to kick in the clutch to keep the powerplant alive, while Petty’s went kaput. Pearson’s take? “The bitch wrecked me!” Note the wee Scott, three-time Formula One world champion Jackie Stewart commentating. Perhaps Michael Schumacher would care to drop by the booth this weekend and offer his thoughts on the drivers “giving a maximum effort.”

by Vito Pugliese

The 2001 Daytona 500 should have been the greatest ever. It marked the first race of NASCAR’s new multi-billion dollar TV package, while the roof-wicker aero-package was about the best NASCAR had put together — and a seven-time champ was back in form after a few lean years, having pulled off the greatest come-from-behind win in series history at the fall Talladega race in 2000. Headed into the final lap, Dale Earnhardt was watching the two cars he owned – those of Michael Waltrip, his longtime friend who was determined he reach his potential, and his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. We all know how it ends — the significance of Waltrip’s first Cup win in 462 starts, the tears and concern of a brother, friend and former rival in the broadcast booth — so we’ll not belabor the point. But if there is one saving grace from this event, it has been the constant focus and improvement on safety within the sport.

by Vito Pugliese

“There’s a fight between Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison! The tempers over-flowing, they’re angry, they know they have lost…” No surprise here, as the 1979 installment tops any and all Daytona 500 lists. Those immortal words from Ken Squier cemented the key event in the history of NASCAR, thrusting it from underground regional spectacle into full-blown national consciousness. Amazing how one man and three cameras can cover a race better than the army of aerial drones and three different studios can today. Aided by a blizzard in the Northeast, a post-race fight and Richard Petty breaking through (ending a winless drought from injuries and the disaster that was the Dodge Magnum), the ’79 race put the Daytona 500 on the map as a major sporting event and, as Petty has said many times, “took us from the Sports page to the front page.” Looks like a certain brunette from Roscoe, Ill., did the same, once again, this past weekend.

by Vito Pugliese

Phoenix isn’t the first time Jeff Gordon’s found trouble. There was the infamous pit-road shove of Matt Kenseth in 2006; then, a few years later he and Jimmie Johnson butted heads at Texas. But this incident, in the fall of 2010 at that same Texas racetrack is the one most people remember. Gordon and Jeff Burton made contact as the caution came out and, regardless of who’s story you chose to believe, all hell broke loose. The end result was two totaled racecars and a Rainbow Warrior more than ready to throw down. Both had been through frustrating seasons, going winless, and each had already been “Chased” out of championship contention; but who would have expected the forty-somethings to start throwing punches? “I knew he was going to be mad,” said Burton… but that mad? Both drivers raced the next week, but NASCAR punished them in its own way: they had to ride to the infield care center in the same ambulance.

by Tom Bowles
 

Before the Jerry Punch incident, getting “inside Jimmie Johnson’s head,” the monkey-have-a-relationship-with-a-football comment, or even Maricopa County law enforcement finding out “who he was,” Kurt Busch had one main enemy: Jimmy Spencer. The two had gone back and forth for well over a year by the middle of 2003, ever since Busch roughed up Spencer to earn his first Cup Series victory at Bristol. But after they had wrecked each other multiple times at multiple tracks, what happened at Michigan was too much for the “Mr. Excitement.” Spencer, after hearing Busch had spent several portions of the day trying to cut down his tire, went right up to the No. 97 car after the race. On the in-car audio, you could hear Busch provoke and what followed was the punch heard ‘round NASCAR Nation. What was tough for Spencer was “Boys, Have At It” era this was not; he was parked a race for inappropriate behavior.

by Tom Bowles
 

Michael Waltrip may be a mild-mannered, sponsor-shrilling owner now but back in his driving days, he had his moments. Take this incident at Michigan, where he and Lake Speed battled for position in a last-lap scrape where Waltrip got the short end of the stick. It was Speed 11th, Waltrip 12th at the checkered flag, but Waltrip was determined to get the last word. Parking in front of the No. 9 car on pit road, he walked over, pulled down Speed’s window net and threw two punches to show how much he cared for their on-track contact. Both drivers would race the following week, although the incident did muddy Waltrip’s “peace and love” reputation among the fanbase.

by Tom Bowles
 

It may have been the Nationwide (then Busch) Series, but that didn’t make the race win matter any less to Kevin Harvick. He and Greg Biffle were fighting for position when Harvick was spun. None too happy about it, Harvick patiently waited atop the pit wall for the race to be over, and as soon as Biffle exited the car the sophomore Cup driver was waiting to deliver the message that type of contact wouldn’t be tolerated. Biffle held his ground, as shaky as it was, but despite no major punishments for either side, he ended up the big winner over the long-term. A few weeks later, Harvick endured the heavy hand of NASCAR, being suspended for a race after some hard, inappropriate contact with other drivers in the Truck Series.

by Tom Bowles
 

This clip goes to show that sometimes, the drivers aren’t the only ones who get to throw punches. After Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart tangled on this restart in Chicagoland, the anger from the incident landed smack dab in the middle of pit road. Kahne’s crew, unable to control themselves after being spun out of first place, went right down into the Home Depot pit stall to show their displeasure. Chaos ensued, in a brawl that needed multiple NASCAR officials to untangle even though the drivers themselves didn’t seem as angry. Yes, everyone raced the next week but poor Kahne would have to wait nearly a year, until Richmond in 2005, to score his first Cup victory.

by Tom Bowles
 

How can you make a list like this one without including NASCAR’s Colombian temper tantrum? Montoya has had plenty of feuds over the years, including absorbing a punch from Ryan Newman behind closed doors, but this wreck seems to be his most infamous NASCAR incident. Ironically, it was Martin Truex Jr., not Montoya, who caused this multi-car crash entering Turn 1 at the Glen. Kevin Harvick (common thread?) being none too happy and under the impression that JPM was at fault, went up to the No. 42 and blamed him for causing it all. The helmet-grabbing and patty-cakes that ensued entertained the crowd — in part because it proved neither actually wanted to throw down — but over the long-term meant far more for Montoya than the oft-aggressive Harvick. From that point on in stock car racing it cemented the then-rookie’s reputation that he wouldn’t back down on the racetrack, under any circumstances. That’s a driving style that’s earned him few friends in the garage area.

by Tom Bowles
 

Happy Harvick was a little bit of a misnomer in the closing laps of this short-track shootout. Fighting for second with Ricky Rudd, his No. 29 car got spun out in one of those “racin’ deals” down the stretch. While Rudd went on to a top-5 finish, Harvick’s goals were realigned quickly: park next to that No. 21 car on pit road and let him have it. Jumping on, then over, Rudd’s Ford, Harvick didn’t stop until both crews were involved in a little melee. Who came out the big winner? Well, Harvick in the long run: he kept on contending for a championship while Rudd, despite coming close never won a race in three years driving for the Wood Brothers.

by Tom Bowles
 

For years, Darrell Waltrip was the bad guy, unable to do anything right in the eyes of the fans. That ended in an instant at age 38 near the end of the 1989 All-Star Race. Rusty Wallace, while battling for the lead off Turn 4, spun Waltrip’s No. 17 in what many considered to be a dirty move. While Rusty went on to take the checkers, the crews went at it on pit road while Waltrip was “robbed” of what could have been a $200,000-plus payday. More importantly, from that moment on there appeared to be a paradigm shift; suddenly, Waltrip was the popular elder statesman while Wallace became the fast-talking, aggressive heel.

by Tom Bowles
 

If you think Jeff Gordon ruined Clint Bowyer’s title chances (as remote as they may have been) you’ll be beside yourself after seeing this video. Dale Earnhardt, fighting for the win with Ricky Rudd had Rusty Wallace far behind him at the back half of the top 10 and poised to open up a big lead in the championship over his rival. But Rudd was looking for a victory and dove underneath the No. 3 car hard entering the final lap. As the cars hung tight into Turn 1, the brakes started squealing, Bob Jenkins’ voice started cracking and suddenly, both cars were heading towards the wall. While Geoff Bodine went on to win, some say the points lost that day cost Earnhardt the title. No wonder why the crews went at it after the race. In the end, more verbal assaults were thrown than physicalities, but the damage would define the 1989 championship race. Earnhardt, who had some colorful language on-air, wanted Rudd suspended for the year but NASCAR, especially back in the ‘80s, would have none of it. Both raced (cleanly) the next time out.

by Tom Bowles
 

NASCAR fans debate a lot of things, from fuel mileage finishes to mystery debris cautions, but this brawl is pretty much a unanimous No. 1 on any list. Let’s set the scene for you: Last lap. Daytona 500. Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison banging sheet metal down the backstretch for the win. Wreck. As Richard Petty streaks by to take the checkers, both drivers have to sit and deal with what could have been. As brother Bobby Allison comes to check on Donnie, emotions have a chance to boil over ... and punches follow. As Ken Squier so eloquently put it: “They’re angry. They know they have lost.” But you know who won? The sport of NASCAR. With record ratings due to a blizzard along the East Coast, its first flag-to-flag telecast was a roaring success that produced a generation of racing fans that would remain loyal for decades.

by Tom Bowles
 

One week earlier, Richard Petty was simply lucky to survive. NASCAR’s King and his No. 43 STP Pontiac flipped wildly, tearing to pieces and smacked by several cars on the way in one of the most horrific Daytona 500 wrecks in history. But there he was, in the final race at the old Richmond Fairgrounds (before its expansion into the .75-mile facility it is today) gritting it out and running up front the following Sunday. Victory Lane that day was filled by a similar “tough” competitor – Neil Bonnett was still recovering from serious injuries suffered at Charlotte in 1987 – but Petty’s push to challenge for the top spot took center stage. In the end, a third-place result, at 50 years old, showed the type of resilience this Hall of Famer was always made of – how fitting for it to be the final top-5 performance of his great career.

by Tom Bowles
 

At age 51, most fans would consider it a miracle for a driver to simply qualify for a Cup Series race. Not Harry Gant. In September 1991, he went on one of the most magical rides in NASCAR’s Modern Era, winning four straight races at that “AARP” stage in his life to move inside the top 5 in season-ending points. But it was a streak that nearly never happened at all; at Richmond, Davey Allison was the dominant car, leading 150 laps, and it took all Gant had to track down and pass the No. 28. Their battle for the top spot, competitive but clean, is a reminder of the lap-after-lap, side-by-side racing fans yearn for when they speak of the “good ol’ days.”

by Tom Bowles
 

When you look at the video, the on-track action between Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman last spring isn’t exactly Demolition Derby material … just ask Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski how much worse it can be. But sometimes, what doesn’t look bad on TV can turn into a frustrating final straw inside the cockpit. The real fireworks on this one occurred the week after the race, during a meeting about the incident in the NASCAR hauler where Newman reportedly threw a punch. After four-plus years of bad blood – the two actually made contact in Montoya’s first Cup race in November 2006 at Homestead – Newman literally took matters into his own hands to settle the feud. Too bad Montoya got the last laugh, in the form of a NASCAR secret fine after he reportedly phoned his lawyer and threatened to sue over the incident.

by Tom Bowles
 

Long before drug tests, lawsuits, arrests and tabloid fodder, Jeremy Mayfield was remembered for being a pretty darn good wheelman. Perhaps his greatest win came in the 2004 regular season finale, a nail-biter in which no one knew what to expect from the sport’s new playoff format. A total of eight drivers entered Richmond battling for three final Chase spots, with the only way in at the time to finish inside the top 10 in Cup Series points. Mayfield sat 14th, 55 points out of 10th and was an afterthought in most of the postseason discussion. If anyone, hotshot rookie Kasey Kahne was expected to sneak inside the field, sitting ninth and in control of his own destiny. But when the smoke cleared during a wild evening, it was Mayfield who used an early gas-only pit stop to take control of the race. Leading for the first time on Lap 99, he wound up pacing the field for a race-high 151 circuits and remained in contention throughout. When Kurt Busch ran out of fuel, the No. 19 car was there to pounce, pushing ahead for Mayfield’s first win in four seasons in a shocking upset that left him sitting inside the postseason field. As for Mayfield’s teammate, Kahne? The rookie wrecked out. Chalk one up for the veterans …

by Tom Bowles
 

Mark Martin’s not known as a short track guy. So when he won Richmond, the second race of the 1990 season, you knew the No. 6 Ford would be a strong contender at every track. Jumpstarting one of the driver’s finest seasons, his second career victory could have been a benchmark in what became a neck-and-neck championship battle with Dale Earnhardt. But trouble brewed the minute NASCAR took the car apart for post-race inspection. Earnhardt’s owner, Richard Childress, pointed feverishly at Martin’s carburetor spacer and claimed the driver’s car broke the rules. NASCAR agreed, assessing a penalty that’s debated to this day, as the half-inch “violation” is claimed by many to have given the car no advantage over the course of the race. The 46-point deduction proved the difference in a title decided in favor of Earnhardt by just 26; it was the first of what would be a record five runner-up finishes for Martin without a Cup Series title to show for it. Added bonus in this clip: Check out how young Jack Roush, Steve Hmiel and Robin Pemberton are!

by Tom Bowles
 

When NASCAR fans hear the word “independent” today, they typically think of an unsponsored program that starts and parks. But there was a time when the small little teams, sitting inside the back of the garage, could come out and win races with the right circumstances and a little boost from Lady Luck. Dave Marcis was the poster child for that, his little-team-that-could No. 71 a recipient of one of the big surprise victories we’ve ever seen in the sport. With threatening skies overhead at Richmond, Joe Ruttman appeared to have the race won with a dominating performance. But all of a sudden, the rear end broke, causing a wreck just as a raging downpour drenched the track. Inexplicably, a number of lead-lap cars pitted, including would-be winner Richard Petty thinking all other competitors behind them were a lap down. But Ruttman’s crash allowed one other car, Marcis’, to get back on the lead lap and the No. 71 team smartly kept the car on the track. Inheriting the top spot, the Wisconsinite then got an assist from Mother Nature when the rain forced the race to get called 150 laps early. “It’s been a long, tough road,” he said of ending a 137-race winless streak, but the road would never exactly get brighter after that – it was the last trophy in a Cup career that would run all the way through the 2002 Daytona 500.

by Tom Bowles
 

Rookie Kevin Harvick was known for ruffling feathers, but he ruffled a little too much on this night. Battling for the lead with Ricky Rudd, and with the laps winding down, the No. 29 Chevrolet slammed into Rudd’s No. 28 – on the middle of the back straightaway. How Rudd didn’t wreck, we will never know, but the fantastic save left Harvick with a clean track and a path to Victory Lane. Seemingly out of it, Rudd taught us then how anger can be the best motivator; in the matter of a dozen laps, he closed the gap back up on Harvick, pile-drove him out of the way in the corner and drove on to an easy victory. The bad blood between the two would remain, though, sparking up in this race two years later when Rudd wrecked Harvick, sparking a feisty WWF-life post-race confrontation on pit road.

by Tom Bowles
 

Dale Jarrett thought he had it made, out front with the laps winding down at Richmond. But when a late, multi-car wreck with 10 laps remaining seemingly ended the race NASCAR shocked the field by changing course – throwing a red flag to ensure the event ended under green. In what would become the precursor to a green-white-checker finish, the move threw the No. 88 off guard and gave Terry Labonte, an ace on short runs, an opportunity to try and move up front. Charging from third to first, he knocked back Jarrett in Turn 3, pulling a rare bump-and-run on a night the sport changed course on its finishes forever.

by Tom Bowles
 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had been knocking on the door of Victory Lane, running strong in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports. Former Hendrick driver Kyle Busch stalked behind him in second at Richmond, though, ready to show up his former employer who pushed the “Rowdy” aside for “Mr. Popular” at the conclusion of the 2007 season. Two drivers, giving 110 percent … only one winner. So as the No. 18 dove inside the No. 88, you could tell entering the turn there just wasn’t going to be enough room. “He turned him!” DW cried, as 100,000 fans groaned, Earnhardt slamming into the wall while Clint Bowyer darted past a slowing Busch. In the end, that’s who entered a shocked Victory Lane, while for Busch it was a victory to simply make it out alive. How bad did it get for wrecking NASCAR’s “golden boy?” Armed guards were by his side for close to a month offering protection.

by Tom Bowles
 

It’s the crash that defined The Intimidator’s hard-nosed reputation. Battling with Darrell Waltrip for the lead in the closing laps, neither driver would give an inch. Waltrip had knocked Dale Earnhardt sideways several times and his rival had no problem returning the favor. But a fascinating battle turned destructive with two laps left when Earnhardt, inexplicably hooked the No. 11 of Waltrip entering Turn 3. The resulting wreck eliminated not just those two but the third- and fourth-place cars, leaving a surprised Kyle Petty the first one to survive the carnage. All of a sudden, it was The King’s son in Victory Lane while Waltrip was left to wonder what the heck happened. And as for Earnhardt? He simply stated that, “Just hung up with ol’ Darrell … we got in the wall.”

by Tom Bowles
 

There’s nothing more tense in NASCAR these days then a green-white-checker restart. But how about for a driver seeking his first ever win in the series? For Marcos Ambrose, it has been “oh-so-close” too many times on road courses since entering the Sprint Cup full-time in 2009. This time around, he was sitting second as the field sorted itself out in Turn 1 – looking like a bridesmaid again. But a well-timed bump sent the leader’s car squirrelly, pushing Ambrose through just before one of the wildest wrecks in Watkins Glen history. Back in the pack, David Ragan was tapped by Boris Said, slammed the wall, then ricocheted into David Reutimann’s No. 00 in a crash that sent that Toyota flipping wildly in the middle of the track. Said later got into a war of words with Greg Biffle, unsettled anger over this mangled mess that might continue to play out at the Glen this Sunday.

by Tom Bowles

It got to a point in the 1990s that road course promoters should have just handed over the trophy to Jeff Gordon on Sunday morning. Three of Gordon’s nine right-turn wins came at the Glen from 1997-99, including this domination to finish off the three-peat. Ron Fellows — what NASCAR likes to call a “road course ringer” — came the closest he’s ever been (or any of these substitute drivers, for that matter), in NASCAR’s modern era to stealing a Cup victory on a road course, only to finish second. In the meantime, Dale Earnhardt Sr. crashed hard, a rarity as the changing of the guard continued during NASCAR’s close to the 20th Century.

by Tom Bowles

It’s not often you put the “Big One” and NASCAR in the same sentence outside of Daytona and Talladega. But in a bizarre incident, with eight laps left at the Glen in 2008, nearly a dozen cars were destroyed. Michael McDowell sparked the wreck, making contact with David Gilliland coming off of Turn 11 and in mere seconds a hard hit to the styrofoam barrier left debris flying everywhere and the track blocked. The upcoming cars turned into Demolition Derby Central, plowing into sheet metal, guardrail and styrofoam with nowhere to go. A red flag ensued to clean up the incident, leading to plenty of frayed tempers in a clean race up to that point, as no one had even gone behind the wall during the event’s first 80 laps. 

by Tom Bowles

OK, so maybe it wasn’t an actual race. But how cool was it to see Formula 1’s brightest young star, Lewis Hamilton, take on a stock car while Tony Stewart made one last foray into open-wheel? Their swap, turning laps around the winding road course in Western New York, sparked rumors Hamilton was headed over to the United States – although quickly denied.  So were possible future F-1 races at the Glen, with the U.S. date awarded to a new track in Austin, Texas. But there’s still plenty of years ahead for both the drivers and the tracks … who knows what will happen?

by Tom Bowles

Sick and tired of Johnson being politically correct? Think he’s had it easy? Then look at this 2000 crash from “Before He Was Five-Time.” Running in the Busch Series, the driver lost his brakes in the No. 92 car and went plowing into the Turn 1 wall at one of the fastest parts of Watkins Glen’s winding road course. Immediately, spectators feared Johnson was injured — or worse. Instead, the virtual unknown exited the car, jumped on the roof and waved to the crowd, assuming the Rocky pose before getting led into the infield care center for observation (he was fine). It just goes to show that no racecar driver makes it to the top without his fair share of rough rides.

by Tom Bowles

Yeah, the finish was not super exciting, but it’s the accomplishment that puts Mark Martin on this list. How good was the Arkansas native in the early years of NASCAR at the Glen? He received the Driver of the Decade Award from the track in 1997. Martin’s late-race pass of former teammate Wally Dallenbach Jr. after a late caution bunched up the field made him the first driver ever to three-peat since the Cup Series returned to the track in 1986. Only one other wheelman (Gordon) has accomplished the feat since.

by Tom Bowles

There’s nothing more exciting than winning your first race at stock car’s highest level. But for Steve Park, the final few laps of Watkins Glen were more pressure-packed than you could ever expect. Mark Martin, with three Glen victories to his credit sat perched on the rear bumper of Park’s No. 1 car, threatening to pass at every turn. It took all the third-year driver could muster to hold him off, the New York State native holding on to complete a comeback from serious injuries that cut his rookie season of 1998 in half. It was a post-race celebration to behold, bittersweet considering serious injuries in a Busch Series race one year later would ultimately cut short Park’s career at the top.

by Tom Bowles

Two hungry drivers. Only one first-place trophy. Both road course veterans. What else do you need for a phenomenal side-by-side battle? Marcos Ambrose and Juan Pablo Montoya spent most of their 2010 trip to New York going at it, fighting tooth and nail in an epic war for first place that wound up tilting Montoya’s way. When all was said and done, Montoya led 74 laps to Ambrose’s eight, but that doesn’t tell the story of how razor-thin the margin was. “Two great road racers going at it,” was all ESPN’s Andy Petree could say in the midpoint of a call that left a packed house glued to their seats at The Glen.

by Tom Bowles

In this corner … a hard-nosed Colombian, Cup Series rookie whose reputation is to give no quarter to anyone. And in this corner … a Budweiser-drinking, successor to Dale Earnhardt whose temper tantrums both inside and outside the car are well documented. Throw these two volatile personalities together, have them wreck out of the race and what do you get? A NASCAR shoving match: Juan Pablo Montoya vs. Kevin Harvick that kick-started a career’s worth of bad blood between them. The funny part about this wreck five years ago is neither one was to blame: Martin Truex Jr. actually made contact with Montoya, spinning him out entering Turn 1. But try telling that to Harvick, who claimed: “Juan runs over someone every week” after getting up in Montoya’s face. The rookie’s response? “I don’t appreciate that. I have no respect for the guy.” Ah, the good ol’ days of NASCAR…

by Tom Bowles

Like the tortoise and the hare, sometimes the fastest car doesn’t always win in NASCAR. In 166 Cup Series starts, journeyman Paul Menard had collected just five top-5 finishes, leaving critics claiming his career was more a product of his moneymaking father than raw talent. Even after landing a ride driving for a powerhouse team, Richard Childress Racing, Menard was seldom considered a threat to win. But in last year’s Brickyard, saving a little extra gas put his No. 27 Chevy in the lead down the stretch, keeping the driver off pit road while other lead-lap cars were forced to stop. At one point, a hard-charging Jeff Gordon was gaining more than two seconds per lap on Menard but ultimately came up short, with the 30-year-old earning his first and only NASCAR Cup victory in a major upset. It was an emotional moment for Paul’s father, John, who had pursued the Indy 500 dream for decades as a car owner but was never able to win open-wheel’s biggest prize. “My heart was going 1,000 miles a minute,” he said. “I don’t know if I can take it. It’s unbelievable, a wonderful place. Our family has spent so much time here and now, to have Paul’s first victory here… it’s incredible.”

Rusty Wallace, the 1989 Cup champion was NASCAR’s short track ace but a bridesmaid in the races that seemed to count the most. Never a Daytona 500 winner, he finished second at Indy three times, leading 148 laps but could never pull off the big trophy. His third and last chance came in 2002, leading for 12 circuits and holding crucial track position and clean air entering the final 50 miles – you want to be out front at one of the sport’s most difficult tracks to pass. But NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver, Bill Elliott would not be denied as his No. 9 Dodge scuffled with, then slipped by Rusty en route to claiming victory. Why is this one so memorable? It was a “last hurrah” of sort for both men, front and center in this race but who would win a total of just twice more (one for each) before retiring full-time from the Cup Series.

Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer had a long and sordid history by the time the 2002 Brickyard 400 came around. And after getting shoved out of the way at Bristol that Spring, a move that made the difference on Victory Lane Jimmy Spencer reminded an audience of millions he never forgets. Hitting Busch’s rear bumper hard entering the corner, the move left Busch losing control and slamming the outside wall hard, totaling his No. 97 Ford. The younger Busch, then only in his second Cup season went on a rant against Spencer during and after the race, a feud that would simmer and boil over by August of 2003 in another incident that ultimately lead to Spencer’s infamous one-week suspension from the Cup Series.

Goodyear? More like Good God when it comes to the 2008 version of this event. With a tire compound incapable of lasting at high speed, steady blowouts kept the longest green-flag segment of the race at 13 laps. Big names like Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, and Juan Pablo Montoya were among the innocent victims, ugly wrecks that turned the race into a game of low-speed, single-file survival. Jimmie Johnson took the checkers during a final “sprint” where simply keeping yourself from spinning out was considered successful. How bad was it? Some of the race’s top finishers admitted that even on the white-flag lap, they were driving at no more than “80 percent” of top speed to ensure their car made it to the checkers in one piece.

Tony Stewart lives and breathes Indy. The Indiana native, an open-wheel convert had always put the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400 at the top of his career list of races to win. But while the 500-miler has always been elusive, bad breaks and a full-time transition to NASCAR keeping him out of Victory Lane it took just seven years to claim success in a stock car. Passing Kasey Kahne in the race’s final 15 laps, Stewart pulled away to a convincing margin of victory and then celebrated by climbing the fence to the delight of 200,000+ hometown fans chanting, “Tony, Tony.” Sometimes cantankerous in public, it was a “let his hair down and relax moment” that helped spark a summer surge, one which ultimately propelled him to a second Cup Series championship by November.

The second Brickyard 400 took almost two days to complete, rain pushing the start of the race back several hours. When it did go green, it stayed there with just two caution flags, letting the cream rise to the top as it gave limited chances for drivers and teams to adjust their race cars. There is no better person to handle that strange scenario than NASCAR’s Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt; rising from his 13th starting spot, he took the lead for the first time with 28 laps remaining and held off a hard-charging rival in Rusty Wallace to take the checkered. After going 0-for-16 years at the sport’s other big race at the time, February’s Daytona 500 it was a relief for Earnhardt to get the monkey off his back for this prestigious race in start number two.

Racing brothers having bad blood between them? That’s nothing new; just ask Kurt and Kyle Busch. But having their argument play out on one of NASCAR’s biggest stages? Now that’s something different altogether, especially when it happens while battling for the lead. With 60 laps to go, Geoff’s No. 7 and Brett’s No. 26 made contact off Turn 4, spinning Geoff in front of the field of 40 cars coming right at him. Dale Jarrett couldn’t avoid it, causing a mess on the frontstretch and ending the hopes of perhaps the only car that could have run with Jeff Gordon that day. Brett? He finished second, but didn’t talk to his brother for a long time afterwards. "We've had some family problems,” said Geoff afterwards, “Some personal problems between the two of us, and (Brett) unforunately took it out on the race track and never expected he'd do it. He's my brother I love him, but he spun me out."

Heading into NASCAR’s first race at Indy, Jeff Gordon had the number “one” on the most important line on his resume: Victory Lane. Just 23, the man with Indiana roots and a superstar label so desperately wanted to put his name on the map; and for most of the day, it looked like it would be a walk in the park. But as the laps wound down, Ernie Irvan’s No. 28 creeped up, taking the lead with 11 laps remaining and setting up a frantic finish between the two. But it was then, just as the duo started slicing and dicing it all went kaput for the Texaco/Havoline Ford; a flat tire sent him scurrying to pit road while Gordon was left to cakewalk to Victory Lane.