by Joe Garner
It was a tough race on a wide track that allowed fast cars to pass easily—there were twelve different leaders overall. Tony Stewart led eight times for 56 laps, and Vickers led 95 laps; Busch grabbed the lead once early by passing his brother Kurt on Lap 82, but he really won it with a strong finish and some great improvising by his crew. During one of the eleven caution periods, Busch zoomed in for a pit stop, planning to change four tires, but he was too close to the wall, forcing crew chief Alan Gustafson to make the call to just change the right-side tires. But the miscalculation allowed Busch to get back out in third for the final-stretch drive with seven laps to go. With two laps left a three-car accident prompted a yellow flag and then Greg Biffle mounted one last charge, but Busch held him off.
After climbing out of his car, Busch announced he'd donate his winner's share to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, showing that he was not just a record-setting racer but a classy one at that.
Waltrip's Modern-Era Mark
The record holder for NASCAR Cup wins? Well, it depends on how you count. And that makes finding the record-breaking race a tricky business. But don't let the convoluted explanations about to come fool you—Darrell Waltrip's modern record is as legit as it gets and his place in NASCAR history is secure.
Waltrip the king of wins? What about the King? Richard Petty is the undisputed all-time champ with 200 first-place finishes, but the first 140 of those came before what NASCAR now calls the “modern[$$$ MS page no 117]” era. It's like Cy Young racking up most of his 511 wins in the nineteenth century. Back before 1972, the seasons were packed with races—Petty and his competitors would often race forty, or fifty, or even sixty times a year. More races, more chances to win…especially when you're the best in the business. Or, in the case of David Pearson, who won 60 of his 105 races before 1972, a close second best. (Here's the telling stat: in Petty's thirty-two full seasons he ran 1,140 races; in Waltrip's twenty-six full seasons, he ran 769.)
So Petty had only sixty modern wins and Pearson forty-five. Bobby Allison, who is cited as tied with Waltrip for third most, won just fifty-four of his eighty-four after 1972. That meant that Cale Yarborough was really the man Waltrip was chasing, though no one ever really took note of Waltrip passing him. Yarborough won his sixty-ninth race in 1985. Two years later, Waltrip snapped a twenty-seven-race winless streak and took home his seventieth crown at Martinsville in 1987.
But as record breakers go, that one's a bit unsatisfying—not because it was unheralded but because both Dale Earnhardt (who finished second at Martinsville that day) and Jeff Gordon have since passed that total.
So celebrating Waltrip should mean celebrating his final win, number eighty-four, on September 6, 1992, in the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington. This was seventeen years after Waltrip's first win and a decade since his peak when he won twelve times in both 1981 and 1982 in capturing two of his three Cup championships. (He also won in 1985.) It was just one week since his eighty-third win, in Bristol.
Waltrip, who'd been racing stock cars since he was sixteen—when he smashed up his 1936 Chevy coupe in his first try—didn't finish the 1992 Southern 500 either. But he didn't have to, since nobody did. Waltrip started fifth and ran about eighth or ninth for much of the day. Harry Gant led for 91 laps, Davey Allison for 72, Sterling Martin for 57, Mark Martin for 26, and Dale Jarrett for 21. Everyone knew rain was heading their way and Waltrip's crew did the best job of judging the weather. Waltrip timed it perfectly, staying out on the course when everyone else pitted, grabbing the lead just before the rain came. Waltrip's Chevrolet Lumina led for only six laps, but they were the right ones to be in front for—after 298 go-rounds (the last few' were caution laps), NASCAR officials had to call the race, 69 laps shy of the end.
The Southern 500 was the one major race Waltrip had never won—in 1979 he'd lapped the field near the end but hit the wall—so he wasn't going to complain about the weather shortening his day. He was the winner, for the eighty-fourth time in his career—one more than Yarborough, and equal to Allison.
Darrell Waltrip (center) and crew celebrate after winning the 1992 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Chapter Six
THE BEST ROOKIES OF THE YEAR
Once upon a time there were certain rules about rookies. Rookies did not win races. Rookies did not finish among the leaders in the NASCAR Cup race. Rookies did not pull attention-getting stunts…Tony Stewart rewrote the book on rookies.
Tony Stewart, 1999
Once upon a time there were certain rules about rookies. Rookies did not finish among the leaders in the NASCAR championship. Rookies did not pull attention-getting stunts. Rookies did not throw public tantrums in the middle of a race.
Tony Stewart rewrote the book on rookies.
When Stewart came along in 1999, no freshman had won a race since Davey Allison in 1987 and only four had done so in four decades. The last rookie to finish in the top ten in points had been Jody Ridley in 1980. But the last in the top five? For that you had to go all the way back to James Hylton in 1966 (second) and Shorty Rollins in 1958 (fourth).
Then Tony Stewart entered the picture and won, not once (like Earl Ross, Dale Earnhardt, and Ron Bouchard), not twice (like Allison), but three times, and made history when he finished the season ranked fourth overall, thanks to twelve top five finishes, twenty-one top ten finishes, and an absolutely remarkable run of fifteen top ten finishes in a nineteen-week span. And by driving 1,090 total miles in the Indy 500 (finished ninth) and NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 (finished fourth) on the same day and later angrily trying to reach into the car of another driver on the track, he made it clear he was not like any other driver.
Stewart, who began racing go-karts at age seven, came to NASCAR as a proven winner with three karting titles in his youth (his first at age eight, his first national title at age twelve), then followed by four USAC crowns (in 1995 he was the first USAC Triple Crown winner, capturing the National Midget, Sprint, and Silver Crown titles in one year) and, most notably, the 1996 IRL Rookie of the Year award and 1997 IRL championship. But in his one season driving for Joe Gibbs in the Busch Series in 1998, he raised the eyebrows of skeptics with his inconsistent performance—he ran twenty-two of thirty-one races with no wins and five top fives to finish twenty-first in the rankings. Not bad, of course, but certainly not an indicator that he was about to take the racing world by storm. Gibbs, however, had been impressed simply by the fact that Stewart was more interested in gaining experience than earning quick bucks in the Cup Series right away.
Like Davey Allison, Stewart turned some heads by earning a front-row spot at the Daytona 500, but he finished only twenty-eighth. Allison had finished similarly but followed up with a pole position the next week, and after eight races he had already won twice. Stewart had no such magic at the start, with two sixth-place finishes in those first eight races.
(Overleaf) Tony Stewart signs memorabilia for his legions of fans. Tony Stewart #3 races at the Indianapolis 500 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Tony Stewart streaks down the front stretch at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina en route to a 5th place finish in the Coca Cola 600 May 30, 1999. Earlier in the day Stewart had finished 9th in the Indianapolis 500 before jetting to North Carolina to compete in the later race.
But at Talladega, everything changed. Stewart finished in the top ten—fifth, in fact—and soon it seemed like he would never leave. With only a few exceptions, week after week he was there, finishing in the top five as often as he was out of the top ten. The only question remaining was whether he could finish in front. He led for 127 laps at Dover and 118 at Loudon but his best opportunity seemed to come at the Goody's Headache Powder 500 in Bristol. He had the pole position and led for 225 laps, more than anyone else, before being passed by the likes of winner Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon and settling for a fifth-place finish. The next week, Stewart slumped to twelfth and it seemed that he might be just another talented rookie—ROTY to be sure, but not a record-
setter.
Then came the short three-quarter-mile track at Richmond and the Exide 400. Stewart started in the second slot, and while he didn't lead start to finish—Jeff Gordon led for 56 laps before being downed by transmission troubles—he dominated the race, heading the pack for 333 of the 400 laps, including the final 144. An exhilarated Stewart left black marks on the pavement with the donuts he spun at the finish line, then drove a reverse victory lap while exuberantly pumping his arm out the window.
On October 3, NASCAR saw the other side of Stewart, the side that had earned the “Tony the Temper” nickname in the IRL. At Martinsville, Stewart, whose idol had been the tempestuous A. J. Foyt, bumped Kenny Irwin by mistake and reportedly sent an apology via radio. But they tangled a second time and then Irwin slammed Stewart into a wall. Stewart climbed out of his car and waited for Irwin to circle the track; after sarcastically applauding Irwin he hurled the heat shields from his racing boots at Irwin's car, then leaned his head in the window and shared some unpleasantries before Irwin pulled away. The display upset NASCAR officials—they fined Stewart $5,000—but many old-timers who preferred the hotheads of the past to the corporate stars of the present loved it. Indeed, despite all the attention during his great rookie campaign, Stewart remained true to himself, refusing to meet the press when he was frustrated after running out of gas cost him a win in New Hampshire but also spending spare time at dirt tracks or watching greyhound races or hanging out with his old friends.
Indeed, despite all the attention during his great rookie campaign, Stewart remained true to himself, refusing to meet the press when he was frustrated after running out of gas…
On November 7 at Phoenix, the headlines were all positive again as the twenty-eight-year-old tied Davey Allison's rookie record by winning the Checker Auto Parts/Dura Lube 500. Stewart, who knew the one-mile flat track well from his USAC wins and IRL second-place finishes there, had the nerves and skill to drive loose and not slow down. After running out of fuel on Lap 89 he remembered what teammate Bobby Labonte had taught him about patience and slowly worked his way back before taking control and leading for 147 of the final 154 laps, cruising at the end with enough of a lead that he spent the last ten laps chatting on the radio with his crew en route to a race record average speed of 118.132 mph.
Tony Stewart, driver of the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet, celebrates winning the championship with his crew after the NASCAR Nextel Cup Ford 400 on November 20, 2005 at the Homestead-Miami Super speedway in Homestead, Florida.
The following week on a 1.5-mile track in Homestead at the Pennzoil 400, Stewart left Allison in his tracks, winning his third race as a rookie. And he did it in typical Stewart fashion—with a touch of controversy. Labonte, who had finished second and third in Stewart's two previous wins and who was fighting a losing battle with Dale Jarrett for the Cup championship, led for 174 of the 267 laps, but Stewart surged ahead at 228. After pit stops with less than twenty laps to go, the two found themselves door-to-door heading into Turn 3. Labonte tried pinching him down to grab control of the inside but Stewart wouldn't back down and rode hard until Labonte's car skittered sideways; both men had to fight for control of their cars but Stewart emerged on top. And that's where he finished (with Labonte second again).
Afterwards, Stewart apologized to his teammate but still stood his ground and spoke his mind. “I think [Labonte] respects the fact that I didn't just give it to him,” he said. Indeed, at the end of that rookie season, Stewart had won the respect—and admiration—of just about everyone in NASCAR. But then, he was used to winning.
Matt Kenseth, 2000
To the casual NASCAR fan, it was pretty obvious who the front-runner for the 2000 Cup Rookie of the Year would be—after all, few racers started their engines with a more impressive pedigree than Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose father had earned the ROTY title in 1979.
But the experts knew another driver would approach the starting line with at least as good a chance to take home the crown. Matt Kenseth's dad did not bequeath him a sterling NASCAR legacy but he did play a pivotal role in his driving career. When Kenseth was thirteen his dad bought him a race car—but Kenseth was allowed only to work on it until he was sixteen. (Only his father could drive it.) By the time Matt was permitted behind the wheel, he had a taste for the hard work involved in racing and a deep understanding of everything that went on in his car.
In his home state of Wisconsin Kenseth won in just his third race, and by nineteen he was the youngest winner in ARTGO Challenge Series history; later he was the youngest victor in the Miller Genuine Draft National championships as well. By 1997, he was driving in NASCAR's Busch Series, where in just twenty-one starts he drove well enough to place second in Rookie of the Year points. The next year he won three races and landed second in overall points but also got a taste of the big time, subbing for Bill Elliott at Dover Downs and finishing sixth. With five additional Cup starts in 1999, Kenseth was heading into his rookie year with valuable experience, not to mention the backing of Jack Roush and a veteran crew, which helped prompt predictions that Kenseth would top Junior, despite not only Earnhardt's instant star status but also his back-to-back Busch Series championships.
Earnhardt won in just his seventh race, but Kenseth proved his consistency, with three top ten finishes in his first ten races compared to Earnhardt's two. Earnhardt wowed everyone with his second win of the season at Richmond, in just the eleventh race, but again Kenseth kept pace, winning his own first the next time out at the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway and finishing second the very next week. Earnhardt failed to crack the top ten after his thirteenth race but Kenseth just kept going and going, racking up three top ten finishes in four races beginning at the Pocono Raceway, then adding back-to-back top tens at Lowe's and Talladega in his twenty-ninth and thirtieth races. For good measure, Kenseth finished the season's last race, in Atlanta, in a place he'd become quite comfortable—the top ten. His ninth-place showing was his fourteenth such finish of the year.
Both drivers would go on to achieve great glory—Kenseth would capture the Cup championship in 2003—but in their rookie year there was no doubt who was number one.
Ron Bouchard, 1981
Heading into the final lap of the Talladega 500 in August 1981, three drivers were pushing hard, the race undecided: Darrell Waltrip, on his way to that year's Cup title and to becoming the all-time modern wins leader; Terry Labonte, who had won the Southern 500 the previous year and his first pole position in 1981; and Ron Bouchard, a thirty-two-year-old nobody of a rookie in just his eleventh Cup race.
The times were different—these days it seems that every year at least one rookie, backed by top teams and deep-pocketed sponsors, pulls out a win (Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray). But back then, it almost never happened. From the start of the modern era in 1972 through 1998, only five racers accomplished the feat: Earl Ross (1974), future legends Dale Earnhardt (1979) and Davey Allison (1987), and two newcomers in 1981. One was Morgan Shepherd, who'd win in his fifteenth race and finish as Rookie of the Year runner-up.
The other was Ron Bouchard, who thrilled the crowd by accelerating past both Waltrip and Labonte with just a few yards remaining to pull out a stunning win at Talladega—it was the quickest Cup win for any rookie in history (although McMurray later shattered that mark, winning in just his second Cup race).
Despite it happening so early in his Cup career, this triumph was a long time coming. Bouchard's enthusiasm for racing had spurred his father, who owned a trucking company, to sponsor a local driver, Pete Salvatore. When Salvatore fell ill, the fourteen-year-old Bouchard made his debut behind the wheel at Brookline Speedway in Massachusetts. Later in high school he began racing frequently, and afterwards he found success and repeatedly won in NASCAR Modified races at tracks like Connecticut's Stafford Speedway.
Still, it wasn't until 1981 that Bouchard made the jump to the Cup series.
It would take until 2000
before two rookies (Matt Kenseth and Dale Jr.) again each won in a single year. Bouchard, whose brother Ken won Rookie of the Year in 1988, never won another Cup race after his fantastic finish. But the thirty-two-year-old was consistent enough in his twenty-two races in 1981—landing in the top ten more than half the time with twelve all told, with five top five finishes and one pole position—that he finished twenty-first in points and, more significantly, edged out Shepherd in the Rookie of the Year race, with 392 rookie points to Shepherd's 378.
Not bad for an old man.
Jamie McMurray, 2003
In the race for the 2003 Cup Series Rookie of the Year, Jamie McMurray proved himself a fast starter and a slow starter. But what mattered most was his strong finish.
First, the fast: McMurray got a head start in terms of proving himself when Sterling Martin was injured in 2002. McMurray was designated as the pinch hitter for Chip Ganassi Racing's number 40 Dodge over the final six events of the Cup season. McMurray, who had broken out in the Busch Series that year with two wins, fourteen top ten finishes, and the sixth-best points total. He then startled everyone by winning just his second Cup race, something no driver had ever done before. But he also proved his moment of triumph at the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte that October was no fluke by adding two more top fifteen finishes.
The Joplin, Missouri, native was hoping for an accelerated start in 2003 but he struggled throughout the first half of the season with his consistency. Durability, by contrast, was never a problem—McMurray would be one of only two rookies, along with teammate Casey Mears, to compete in all thirty-six Cup races in 2003. But McMurray also drove in nineteen Busch Series races, posting two wins and nine top ten finishes.