by Joe Garner
Jamie McMurray, driver of the #42 Chip Ganassi Racing Havoline celebrates pole position after qualifying for the NASCAR Winston Cup Ford 400 on November 14, 2003 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida.
In the Nextel Cup season opener at Daytona, McMurray started in the nineteenth position but finished just thirty-first. But in his next race at Rockingham he again showed his potential when he earned the seventh starting slot and reached the finish line in fifth place—he and Greg Biffle would be the only two rookies to finish in the top five even once. But while Biffle was impressive early on, McMurray seemed attached to a yo-yo, not a car. He started twelfth in Las Vegas but finished thirty-second, then added two more top tens in his first ten races but scuffled through the next go-round at Daytona, starting eighth and finishing just thirty-seventh while Biffle won it all, before bouncing back with an eighth-place finish in Chicago.
Then halfway through the season, McMurray seemed to hit the top of his learning curve. In his last sixteen races, he placed in the top ten in half of them, including two third-place finishes (Indy and Bristol), a fourth (Darlington), and a ninth in the season's final race in Homestead, where he'd also earned his first pole position. McMurray, who finished thirteenth in overall Cup points, was the top rookie in fourteen of his last sixteen races, leaving no doubt at season's end about who deserved Rookie of the Year.
Kevin Harvick, 2001
Kevin Harvick was not the first kid in the world whose parents bought him a set of wheels as a graduation present…except that his mom and dad were celebrating his graduation from kindergarten.
Admittedly, it was not a car but a go-kart, but still that might seem a bit extravagant to some folks. In this case, however, it was a particularly prophetic purchase. Harvick plunged headfirst into the world of racing, showing from the beginning the perseverance and skills that would make him NASCAR's 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year.
Harvick won seven National championships and two Grand National championships in ten years on the go-kart circuit before graduating to a limited schedule on a regional NASCAR division during high school. Finally, in 1995 he drove a full season in the Featherlite Southwest Series and raced off with the Rookie of the Year award.
That helped encourage Harvick to skip one last graduation—from college—and leave behind Bakersfield Junior College in 1997 for a life in racing. He quickly demonstrated he'd made the right choice, winning the 1998 Winston West Series championship and then winning three Busch Series races in 2000 en route to another Rookie of the Year award.
But the big one, the one all drivers dream of—the coveted Cup Series Rookie of the Year award—was still to come.
In 2001, Harvick put together one of the most remarkable, and certainly one of the busiest, years of his career.
On February 28, Harvick married DeLana Linville. But he had no time for a honeymoon. He was, after all, driving a full Busch Series schedule and he was favored to win it all. He won five races along the way, but while he kept his day job in the Busch, he also found himself with the opportunity of a lifetime. After Dale Earnhardt died in the Daytona 500, car owner Richard Childress asked him to take the Intimidator's place in the Cup series.
Kevin Harvick, driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo #29 for Richard Childress Racing, speeds down the track during the Food City 500, part of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee.
Sure, Harvick said. And so in his spare time he won two Cup races, posted sixteen top ten finishes, and ended up ninth in the points race. Harvick was the first driver ever to go full-time on both the Busch and Cup circuits—seventy races in one season. He was also the first person to win Busch Series championship and the Cup Rookie of the Year in the same season.
No wonder this guy earned the nickname “Happy.”
Ryan Newman, 2002
There are impressive Rookie of the Year campaigns…and then there's Ryan Newman.
Numbers can never tell the whole story, of course, but it's impossible to look at Newman's stats from 2002 and not be a bit awed. After all, for sheer consistency in terms of accomplishment in his very first go-round, Newman's record outshines the freshman efforts of drivers ranging from Dale Earnhardt to Davey Allison to Jeff Gordon to Kasey Kahne.
Newman won one race, at the New Hampshire International Speedway in September, but more significantly, he earned a record six pole positions (breaking Allison's 1987 mark), finished in the top five a whopping fourteen times (second only to superstar Tony Stewart for the season), and in the Top 10 twenty-two times—all of those totals are more than any other rookie driver.
Newman, a decidedly new breed of driver, graduated from Purdue University with a degree in vehicle structure engineering and a love of new technology.
Yet what's most astonishing is that for much of the 2002 season Newman wasn't even the frontrunner for the award—Jimmie Johnson, who won three races, seemed to have the Rookie of the Year prize wrapped up. Johnson burst off to a faster start, and by June he was proclaimed the consensus favorite for Rookie of the Year, even stirring up the possibility that he might actually win the NASCAR Cup Series. By then he'd already amassed three poles and two superspeedway wins and was second in points; early in the fall he actually was the overall point leader. Newman had four “did not finish” races early on and languished down around sixteenth in points. But this was a tortoise-and-the-hare kind of race, and Newman found his groove and hit the gas, peaking with that win in New Hampshire over red-hot Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart.
Ryan Newman, driver of the #12 Alltel Ford, celebrates winning The Winston NASCAR event at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina on May 18, 2002.
At season's end, Johnson, because of his three wins, finished with 4,600 points in fifth place, making him just the second rookie, after Stewart in 1999, to finish in the Top 5 in points. But Newman was right on his tail at 4,593, and since the rookie crown is based on a driver's seventeen best finishes, the prize went not to the hare Johnson but to the tortoise, the more consistent Newman.
Davey Allison, 1987
Davey Allison was born to racing—literally. He arrived in 1961 on the eve of the Daytona 500 in which his father Bobby Allison would make his debut. Davey began helping out in the family business at the age of twelve and completed high school four months early so he could start working full-time at Bobby Allison Racing. (A high school diploma was his father's requirement.)
The younger Allison began racing in 1979 in a Chevy Nova that he and his friends had built themselves. He earned a win in just his sixth start, with Dad watching proudly. By the time he worked his way up from Limited Sportsman events through Grand American, ARCA, Busch Grand National, and other circuits to the big time of the NASCAR Cup circuit, he had more than proved that he was not just coasting on his father's name—in 1983 he'd won a superspeedway pole and the race at Talladega, in 1984 he was the ARCA Rookie of the Year, and in his first few Cup efforts in 1985 and '86 he pulled off two Top 10 finishes.
In 1987, Allison started just twenty-two of twenty-nine Cup races in his first full season, but was so overwhelmingly successful that he still raced off with Rookie of the Year honors. After all, he nabbed his first pole position in the season's second race, and thanks to his dazzling 209 miles per hour qualifying run, he became the first rookie ever to sit in the front row for the Daytona 500. Allison finished the year with a rookie record of eight front-row starts, including five pole positions. But he didn't just start strong—there was more substance than sizzle as Allison became the first rookie to win two superspeedway races (at Talladega and Dover) while also finishing second three times by two seconds or less. Overall he finished in the Top 10 ten times and despite his low number of races he was twenty-first in points.
In 1987, Allison started just 22 of 29 Winston Cup races in his first full season but was so overwhelmingly successful that he still raced off with Rookie of the Year honors.
Unfortunately, after a grand start to his soph
omore season—Bobby and Davey Allison finished one-two at Daytona in 1988—tragedy struck the Allison family again and again. First, Bobby got a flat tire in the first lap at the Pocono Raceway, slammed into a wall, then was hit by another driver—a devastating crash that ended his career. Davey was on the track that day. After several more successful years, Davey Allison's life turned dark in 1992 when his grandfather died, he endured several crashes, and was hospitalized twice; worst of all his brother Clifford died in a one-car crash at Michigan International Speedway. Then in 1993, Davey died from injuries suffered when his helicopter crashed at Talladega Superspeedway. But even though his life and his career were cut short, Allison will always be remembered for that magical rookie season.
Davey Allison celebrates his 1987 victory at Talladega.
Jeff Gordon, 1993
Jeff Gordon? Well of course he was Rookie of the Year. Anything less would have been unacceptable, both for the relentless, determined twenty-two-year-old future champion and for the NASCAR world that had heaped such great expectations upon him.
Inspired and prodded by his stepfather John Bickford (a former motorcycle racer), Gordon was into quarter-midget racers before he was five, winning thirty-five races by the age of seven in suburban California. He added go-karts to his repertoire and hundreds of wins to his résumé by age thirteen when he turned to sprint cars. So it was no surprise that by 1990 he was the USAC Midget champion, and in his first year after shifting from open wheel to NASCAR he was the 1991 Grand National Rookie of the Year at age twenty. The following year he won three races and a record eleven poles, leading all comers in earnings. He was ready for the big time and the NASCAR Cup stage was ready for him.
Nineteen ninety-three was the best of times and the worst of times for NASCAR. On the one hand, NASCAR was really coming into its own as a mainstream sport, drawing more televised events, higher ratings, and more corporate interest, gaining momentum for the explosion in the sport's appeal that would follow at decade's end. On the other hand, Richard Petty had just retired (his final race the previous fall was Gordon's Cup debut) and in '93 both Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki died, in helicopter and plane crashes, respectively.
Gordon helped fill the superstar void, finishing fourteenth in points and displaying the clean-cut boyish charm, naked ambition and confidence, and business savvy that gave him such commercial appeal and NASCAR a much brighter future. One NASCAR official enthusiastically dubbed him the “Shaquille O'Neal of NASCAR.”
The hype surrounding Gordon was so great that some grumbled that he was a disappointment because he didn't win any races (one of only three ROTYs in this list not to score a victory). Even Gordon confessed to feeling let down.
Still, he ran far ahead of the competition for Rookie of the Year, after he finished fifth in his first Daytona 500 and second both in Charlotte and in Michigan; in thirty races he finished in the Top 5 seven times and the Top 10 eleven times. Along the way he attracted attention from the mainstream press and a slew of new fans; he joined veterans Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace on the McDonald's all-star team and prompted a set of collector cards with Earnhardt titled The Champion and the Challenger, and soon landed on Frosted Mini-Wheats boxes.
A year later Gordon began winning, most notably in the first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Soon no one could doubt that he was for real.
Jeff Gordon races in his Dupont #24 car against the Dale Earnhardt #3 Goodwrench car during the Daytona 500 at Daytona Speedway on February 14, 1993 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Kasey Kahne, 2004
Kasey Kahne's Nextel Cup debut did not make headlines.
Engine failure in the Daytona 500 isn't considered big news. But just one week later at Rockingham, he thrilled the crowd by staying neck and neck with 2003 Cup champ Matt Kenseth to the very end, losing by 0.01 seconds.
Still, it was just his second Cup race ever, and given his good but not great showing in the Busch Series, many thought Rockingham a fluke. But Kahne, who'd dumped Ford before the season for the Evernham Motorsports Dodge team where he replaced the legendary Bill Elliott, silenced his skeptics with great speed. One week later, the nervy Kahne earned his first pole position in Las Vegas and again breathed down Kenseth's neck all the way to the finish line, keeping ahead of Tony Stewart and finishing a close second, just 3.4 seconds behind.
In the middle of the season he nailed five top five finishes over an eight-race span; then from weeks 33 to 35, Kahne added three straight top fives to his résumé, giving him thirteen on the year, the second most ever behind Stewart.
Suddenly, everyone knew that Kahne, who'd shown great poise in two tight situations, was the real deal. The buzz only grew louder when he finished third the next week in Atlanta, then sped to a pole position in the following race at Darlington. Two weeks later in Texas, he was second again, this time to Elliott Sadler by a mere 0.028 seconds.
Just seven weeks into the season, Kahne was suddenly a candidate not just for ROTY but for the NASCAR Cup crown. Although he wouldn't be able to maintain that blistering pace for the whole season—he'd finish thirteenth in points—he did generate plenty of buzz when People magazine named him one of America's 50 Hottest Bachelors.
Kahne was the first ROTY since 1998 not to win a race. He was leading at Dover before spinning out in an oil slick, which led to a wreck when officials did not throw a caution flag quickly enough. In Chicago Kahne was also in first until Stewart clipped the back of his car and caused a wreck in the final mile. But what was so impressive was how consistent he remained after his smoking start. In the middle of the season he nailed five Top 5 finishes over an eight-race span; then from weeks 33 to 35, Kahne added three straight top fives to his résumé, giving him thirteen on the year, the second most ever behind Stewart.
On the track, Kahne, who also earned eight front-row starts, may have suffered from close-but-no-cigar syndrome in the Cup races, but he did win back-to-back races at Darlington and Miami in the only two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events he drove in. More important was his one big Cup triumph in 2004: he won the Rookie of the Year Award in a cakewalk by 120 points over Brendan Gaughan, making the twenty-four-year-old the youngest winner since Jeff Gordon in 1993.
Kasey Kahne leads the pack in his #9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Intrepid at the start of the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 on March 21, 2004 at the Darlington Motor Speedway in Darlington, South Carolina.
Dale Earnhardt, 1980
Early in the 1979 season, a twenty-seven-year-old rookie by the name of Dale Earnhardt found himself heading into the final laps at the Southeastern 500 at Bristol International Raceway in Tennessee locked in a tight battle with more proven drivers Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip. Although only three other rookies had ever won a race and this was just the seventh race of the year and just his sixteenth NASCAR Cup race overall, Earnhardt pulled away for the victory.
Just a few weeks later, Earnhardt, already gaining a reputation for pushing the limits of speed, blew a tire while leading at Pocono. The crash required that he be airlifted out by helicopter and left him with two broken collarbones, a concussion, and severe neck and chest bruises. He was sidelined for four races. David Pearson filled in driving Osterlund's Chevy and nearly made everyone forget that rookie, finishing second at Talladega, fourth at Michigan, and then first in the Southern 500. But Earnhardt returned the following week as if he'd never been away, winning the pole at Richmond and then finishing fourth in the race.
Experienced rivals like Waltrip and Allison, a painful accident, an impressive run by his substitute—nothing could slow this rookie down. It was safe to say that Dale Earnhardt would not be intimidated.
Such icy poise was not totally surprising given that his father, Ralph, the 1958 Late Model Sportsman champ, was nicknamed “Ironheart” (he liked to toy with opponents), and that when Ralph died of a heart attack in 1973, Dale (who some dubbed “Ironhead” for his stubbornness early on before he became “the Intimidator”) worked through hi
s grief by working on his cars.
By 1975, the high school dropout had made his Cup debut, but he continued to struggle, going deep in debt as his marriage was falling apart. Then Rod Osterlund gave him a shot in 1978 and Earnhardt finished fourth at the Dixie 500 in Atlanta; when Osterland's regular driver, Dave Marcis, left, Osterland tapped Earnhardt for 1979.
It was a talented class of rookies, and Earnhardt went down to the wire against Joe Millikan, Harry Gant, and Terry Labonte, but his eleven top five finishes got him close, and his ninth-place finish in the season finale at Ontario put him over.
He also finished seventh overall in points, which was especially impressive considering the four-week layoff. But it wasn't good enough for Earnhardt, who proved in 1980 that there's no such thing as a sophomore jinx when he became the first Rookie of the Year to follow that up with a Cup championship in his second season.
Nothing could slow this young driver, prompting fellow driver Buddy Baker to declare that Earnhardt “has more damn nerve than a sore tooth.”
Chapter Seven
THE DAYTONA 500
The Great American Race
Seconds before the checkered flag all the elements were in place for a back-slapping, one-for-the-ages Daytona 500 that everyone would cheer about for years to come…
Petty and Pearson: Legends Collide at the 1976 Daytona 500
Richard Petty wasn't feeling much like a defending NASCAR Cup champion with five Daytona 500 notches on his belt. Didn't feel like a King, either, when he rolled into that Florida racing complex in February of 1976. Twelve days of intravenous feeding and assorted ulcer treatments at the hospital tend to shake the glitter off even the most exciting times. It was the price he paid for being at the very top of the NASCAR pyramid.