Top stories of 2006

Tweet

It's never easy recapping the top 10 stories of a typical NASCAR season. Try as you may, something notable invariably misses the cut. This year it was particularly difficult to come up with a top-10 list because newly crowned Jimmie Johnson played such a major part in several of the top stories. In fact, it would be easy to make this an all-Johnson list. Of course, that wouldn't be fair to those drivers and teams who fought so hard this year. So the solution is simple: combine all of Johnson's top storylines into just one item, even though that will dwarf the other items considerably. So here are my picks for the top 10 stories of 2006, with a few additional honorable mentions that can't be overlooked: 1. Jimmie Johnson. Without question, Johnson was the biggest story of the season, which culminated in him winning his first Nextel Cup championship this past Sunday. Along the way, Johnson figured in numerous other major stories. There was the controversy-filled win in the season-opening Daytona 500 without suspended crew chief Chad Knaus, and more major victories in the Nextel All-Star Challenge and the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard – plus additional wins at Las Vegas, Talladega and Martinsville. But that's not all. Johnson also mounted one of the greatest comeback rallies in NASCAR history. After falling to eighth in the standings after the fourth Chase race (Talladega), he all but conceded the championship, only to go on a tear in the next five races with one win and four runner-up finishes heading into the season finale at Homestead, Fla. But the No. 1 story wasn't just about what Johnson did on a race track, as the Southern California native also showed a new, more mature personality in taking greater responsibility for his actions. Johnson grew into a more complete driver and person in 2006. ADVERTISEMENT 2. Tony Stewart. '05 champ Stewart did what no one could have predicted at the beginning of 2006: he missed the Chase for the Nextel Cup. While obviously disappointed, Stewart didn't mope too long, going on to steal the thunder away from many of the Chase competitors during the 10-race playoff by winning three times and solidifying 11th place in the final standings. Stewart also did an admirable job of keeping his temper in check through most of the season, something that would have been easy for him to lose in light of failing to make the Chase. 3. Junior and Jeff. One of the biggest stories of the 2005 Chase was the glaring absence of two of the sport's biggest stars: overwhelming fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. and four-time champ Jeff Gordon. Both drivers righted last year's wayward ships and not only qualified for the Chase, but also were legitimate contenders for most of the 10 races. Gordon slipped at the end and finished sixth overall, while Earnhardt came into the season finale with an outside chance to pull an upset but was unable to do so. 4. Rookie power. Rookie Denny Hamlin was the biggest surprise of this year's freshman class. Driving like a veteran, Hamlin was a serious contender for the title from the start of the season at Daytona to the final stop at Homestead, ultimately finishing a spectacular third in the final standings and running away with Rookie of the Year honors. 5. Is Kahne able? To do so much and still to come up so empty-handed. That was Kasey Kahne's curse in 2006. While he led all Cup drivers with six wins and tied Kurt Busch for the most poles (six), Kahne struggled for most of the Chase, ultimately finishing eighth. By comparison, Greg Biffle won six races in 2005 and finished just 35 points behind Stewart for the championship. That Kahne wound up so far back in the pack is a perfect example why NASCAR chairman Brian France intends to tweak the Chase format and more than likely award more points for victories through the course of the season. Part of the reason for Kahne's success this past season was a heightened ability to reign in his overaggressive tendencies and shake the nickname of "Krash" Kahne. 6. RCR's charge. The resurgence at Richard Childress Racing was a long time coming. The team's No. 1 driver Kevin Harvick threatened to leave unless team owner Richard Childress became more actively involved. The end result was a spectacular year for Harvick, who won five Cup races and finished fourth in the final standings, just 10 points behind Hamlin. Harvick also won the Busch Series championship in dominating fashion with nine wins. But Harvick was only part of the story. Teammate Jeff Burton finished seventh in the final standings – marking the first time he's been in the top 10 since 2000 – and broke a nearly five-year winless streak by finding victory lane in the second race of the Chase at Dover. Rounding out the RCR triumvirate was a strong performance, particularly in the second half of the season, by rookie Clint Bowyer. 7. Evernham's mess. While Kahne was having a stellar season, Evernham Motorsports was far from a content organization. Jeremy Mayfield, who once had been the team's No. 1 driver, did not agree with team owner Ray Evernham's decision to ship all of Mayfield's team to Scott Riggs' operation this season. Discord continued to grow between Mayfield and Evernham, eventually boiling over midsummer at Chicago when Mayfield accused his boss of not being involved enough with his team. Mayfield, ultimately released by the team in mid-August, sued Evernham for breaking his contract and also alleged that Evernham was involved in a personal relationship with his Craftsman Truck Series driver Erin Crocker. Mayfield and Evernham settled, and Elliott Sadler – who was unhappy at Robert Yates Racing – earned an early release from his contract to replace Mayfield in the No. 19 Dodge. Mayfield, meanwhile, bounced around for a few starts in the remainder of the season but will be back on the circuit full-time in 2007 with Bill Davis Racing. 8. Martin's move. It wasn't much of a surprise that Mark Martin decided to continue his Cup career as a driver on a part-time basis in 2007. But what was surprising was Martin's decision to drive roughly 20 races next season for Ginn Motorsports (formerly MB2 Motorsports) rather than Roush Racing. Martin will also drive an entry in the Craftsman Truck Series, but that will be owned by the Wood Brothers, not Jack Roush, ending a 20-year association with the Cat in the Hat. 9. Musical chairs. Personnel moves were big in 2006. Two-time champion Terry Labonte retired after more than 30 years of competitive racing, and former champ Bill Elliott still is undecided whether he'll continue running his part-time schedule in 2007. Several other drivers played out their contracts with their old teams before moving to their new organizations after Sunday's season finale at Homestead. Among those switching allegiances are Dale Jarrett, Casey Mears and Brian Vickers. Jarrett leaves Robert Yates for Michael Waltrip's team (bringing sponsor UPS with him), and Mears leaves Chip Ganassi for Hendrick Motorsports to replace Vickers, who heads to Red Bull Racing. 10. Silver screen. "Talladega Nights, the Ballad of Ricky Bobby" was no "Days of Thunder," but comedian Will Ferrell enjoyed the biggest hit of his career portraying a Nextel Cup driver. The movie received an incredible amount of promotion and advertising, practically assuring it of being a hit. And you know what? It actually was a pretty good movie, if not a bit over the top at times. Still, "Talladega Nights" became one of the summer's biggest hits. Two months earlier, the NASCAR-themed animated film "Cars" also made its debut and raked in a great deal of cash. Other stories that made headlines: Several drivers had horrible seasons, including 2004 Cup champ Kurt Busch, his Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman, Sadler and 2005 runners-up (and Roush Racing teammates) Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards. … Toyota's announcement that it will enter Nextel Cup in 2007 with its Camry model has been the fodder of conversation all season long. Many long-time fans are upset with the fact that Toyota, which will field a seven-car/three-team full-time operation in 2007, is owned by a Japanese firm. Others, perhaps unfoundedly, feel Toyota will give a blank check to all its teams and drivers to help buy championships in both the Busch and Cup Series. … Many fans would just as soon make the Car of Tomorrow the Car of the Past, given the radical changes to the makeup of Cup cars in 2007. While the COT has been put through numerous testing laps at several tracks around the country, it still hasn't caught on with much flavor or fanfare. But NASCAR continues to go ahead with plans to run the COT in 16 of the 36 races in 2006, starting with the spring race at Bristol in late March 2007. … NBC's TV contract comes to an end, as ESPN/ABC joins Fox in 2007. Many fans criticized the Peacock Network for missing so much action on the track due to commercials, though NBC did have to recover some of the massive investment it made to secure NASCAR TV rights for the previous six seasons. It should be interesting to see how, if at all, ESPN changes anything. … Both broadcaster Benny Parsons and Craftsman Truck Series owner/driver Bobby Hamilton were diagnosed with cancer this year. After aggressive treatment of the disease, both reportedly are on their way to a full recovery – and that could be the best storyline of all. Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR columnist. Send Jerry a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.