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
 

Over the last 13 years, NAPA ads have become the most common and sometimes completely mind bending ads during a Sunday race (like you’ve never involuntarily blurted out “N-N-N-NAPA Know How!”). This spot from 2003 kind of comes off a little rough on Mikey, but what’s more shocking is to actually see Teresa Earnhardt.

by Vito Pugliese
 

UPS had one of the more memorable ad campaigns when it signed on with Dale Jarrett in 2001. It was a relationship that lasted through the 2008 season, but it wasn’t until UPS joined Roush Fenway Racing that they actually painted the car brown on a regular basis. This spot from 2007 features Ned Jarrett — who I wish ESPN would have the good sense to let call a few laps with Bob Jenkins at The Brickyard this year; maybe invite Ken Squier in the mix as well.

by Vito Pugliese
 

During NASCAR’s ascension to national prominence in the 1990s, one of the keys to its success was getting a mention during ESPN’s SportsCenter, where Dan Patrick always made a point to let you know where Dick Trickle finished. Another key was self-deprecating humor, as Dick proves in this NAPA spot.

by Vito Pugliese
 

What’s this? Another NASCAR commercial with a Wisconsin racing hero? Matt Kenseth won the last Winston Cup in 2003, and was featured in this spot for Nextel. This ad is not only funny — as the knock on Kenseth at the time was that he was void of personality (not true) — but accurate, considering how Kenseth can still get out of 130-degree car after four hours and talk at Mach 2 without taking a breath. If only they had the foresight to bank this one for Jimmie Johnson … they really could have had some fun with it.

by Vito Pugliese
 

ESPN had a slew of great NASCAR spots during the 1998 season with its “NASCAR Ride Along Program.” This one with Richard and Kyle Petty was one of the best, with The King offering some backseat driving for Kyle. For some reason, I have a feeling these conversations actually did take place on the way back to Level Cross.

by Vito Pugliese
 

When Toyota came to the Cup Series in 2007, it faced a bit of an uphill battle. It was the first time since the 1950s that a foreign automaker had competed in NASCAR’s premier division. Toyota had to hit it right and knew it should tread lightly to gain fan acceptance and prevent an outright revolt – which appears to have happened with these R/C cars. Note Tony Stewart’s ode to Vince Neil with that hair.

by Vito Pugliese
 

Another one of the “NASCAR Ride Along Program” spots, this one featuring Keyshawn Johnson and Mark Martin. These two are either great actors or actually got along very well.

by Vito Pugliese
 

When the 2000 Chevy Monte Carlo debuted, it had a swoopy new body that emphasized lower drag and vastly improved downforce. After getting it’s headed handed to it by the Ford Taurus for two years (well, other than that No. 24 car…) Chevrolet’s new car was inexplicably heralded by … the Tasmanian Devil? Not sure why they’d select a babbling, sputtering maniac with an acute case of Tourette’s, but at least they managed to have the Earnhardt’s in this commercial together. As with the ad with the Richard and Kyle Petty spot, this one hit the mark probably because it was more fact than fiction. If you haven’t seen this one in a while, it’ll make you miss him that much more.

by Vito Pugliese
 

This Gatorade ad from 2003 featured 2002’s Rookie of the Year runner-up and the Winston Cup runner-up from the same season. Mark Martin looks more “D-FENS” from the movie “Falling Down” than a driver’s training instructor (and drives like him too). This would be the second time in a few months that Martin would drive into the side of Jimmie Johnson, as his power steering locked up on the pace lap of the fall Talladega race the season before, eventually costing Martin the title. Looks like Jimmie rebounded OK, though. As fair and gentlemanly as Martin has been throughout his career, I’ve always feared he’d snap one day and do this for real.

by Vito Pugliese
 

This commercial with Jeremy Mayfield lives on in Mopar lore as one of the greatest ads ever. Kind of ironic that she’s pouring a bunch of chemicals in a tub … something that Jeremy would apparently develop an affinity for in later years. Jeremy’s date in this one is Candice Michelle, who would later go on to GoDaddy.com and WWE fame. She actually slides through the window like a champ. Oh yeah.

by Vito Pugliese