RETURN, RETIREMENT TOP STORIES
Two suspensions also high on list of ’15 happenings
The 2015 NASCAR season was quite eventful — but most of the news happened off the track. So while the on-track product didn’t provide much to talk about (the low-downforce package can’t get here soon enough), there were still plenty of headlines.
Now that the season has been over for a couple weeks and the hangovers from awards weekend in Las Vegas have subsided, here are the top 10 stories of the year in order of magnitude:
10 Charter system
If this comes to fruition, it’ll be one of the top stories on the 2016 list. But the proposed charter system for race teams is still in the discussion stage.
Should it happen, the franchise-type format will be a gamechanger for team owners. They will have more financial stability and more say in what happens with the sport. But it could make it harder for new teams to enter the Sprint Cup Series.
9 Daytona 500 qualifying fiasco
Knockout qualifying has been a great improvement to NASCAR’s race weekends in the last two years, with a notable exception: It didn’t work at restrictor-plate tracks.
Officials kept trying different ways to make it happen, but it was like putting a square tire on a round wheel. That was no more apparent than during Daytona 500 qualifying, which left some drivers wrecked and fuming.
Fortunately, NASCAR implemented a hybrid old/new qualifying style for restrictor-plate tracks in time for the May race at Talladega Superspeedway.
8 Confederate flag controversy
NASCAR waded into the debate over the Confederate battle flag after South Carolina removed it from the grounds of the state Capitol following the Charleston shooting in June. Brian France denounced the flag as offensive and divisive, and tracks encouraged fans not to display it at racetracks.
However, the move seemed to backfire among fans. The number of visible flags in the infield campgrounds ballooned in an act of defiance after NASCAR’s statement.
Instead of just criticizing it, NASCAR could have completely banned the flag from track property if the sanctioning body wanted to make a real impact. But that might have hurt the tracks in the wallet, so there was no real change.
7 Rules packages
This was a new one: In an attempt to find a better aerodynamic racing package for next season — an acknowledgment the current one wasn’t good enough — NASCAR experimented with two different packages over four races this season.
The low-downforce package, preferred by the drivers, put on fantastic shows at Kentucky Speedway and Darlington Raceway. Seriously, it was great. Everyone was pumped.
Meanwhile, NASCAR’s preferred high-drag package totally flopped at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Michigan International Speedway.
Thankfully, low downforce won out and will be the standard for all races (except restrictorplate events) starting next season.
6 Drivers council
Instead of speaking with individual voices, drivers were given the opportunity to present their viewpoints to NASCAR for the first time with an elected drivers council.
The first meeting of the peervoted group was in May at Dover International Speedway, and several more meetings with top brass were held throughout the year.
This was a huge win for everyone in the sport. Tony Stewart called it one of the greatest things he had experienced in his career. NASCAR, once a dictatorship, had been listening much more often through meetings with owners and manufacturers; now the drivers have a true platform to get their opinions transformed into policy.
5 Tony Stewart retirement announcement
Though it will be a bigger story in 2016, the official announcement that next season will be Stewart’s last is significant. NASCAR is losing a three-time champion and a major personality with a large fan base, and that will hurt.
Clint Bowyer will step into Stewart’s No. 14 car in 2017, and Stewart will still be around through his role as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. That’s good, because NASCAR is more interesting when “Smoke” is involved.
4 Matt Kenseth suspension for wrecking Joey Logano
Kenseth’s blatant wreck of Logano at Martinsville Speedway — retaliation for an incident at Kansas Speedway — divided NASCAR like few other issues in recent years. And when NASCAR suspended him for an unprecedented two races? It was explosive, to say the least.
Opinions were heated on both sides. Some thought Kenseth was justified, some thought he dramatically crossed the line and many were upset with NASCAR for what they viewed as an inconsistent punishment.
3 Kurt Busch domestic violence suspension
Few stories these days make headlines outside of NASCAR, but this one certainly did. Thanks in part to wild accusations on both sides of the alleged domestic violence incident between Busch and ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll, this case played out very publicly.
It was also at the height of a national conversation about domestic violence that started with incidents in the NFL. So when a Delaware family court commissioner ruled Busch probably committed the act, NASCAR did the only thing it could: It suspended him for the Daytona 500 and beyond.
But when no charges were filed against Busch, NASCAR did the right thing again and reinstated him after three races. Busch then rallied to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup, had a fantastic season and put the past behind him. He announced in August he was engaged to Ashley Van Metre.
2 Jeff Gordon retirement
Many people will argue this should be the top story of the year, and there’s certainly a case to be made for that. Either way, Gordon’s retirement was a season-long topic that only got more discussion as he kept advancing during the Chase, earning his final win at Martinsville along the way.
This wasn’t just any future Hall of Fame driver retiring — even though the four-time champion’s stats are legendary in themselves. No, this was about Gordon’s impact on stock car racing and how he helped transform NASCAR from a regional sport to a national one.
He’ll still have a weekly TV presence for the first half of next season through his role as a Fox Sports analyst, but that’s small consolation for fans who now have to find a new driver to root for .
1 Kyle Busch’s remarkable comeback
Gordon’s retirement would have been No. 1 in almost any other year, but nothing can beat Kyle Busch’s storybook season.
The word “unbelievable” gets thrown around a lot, but this truly was beyond belief. Busch broke his right leg and left foot in a crash the day before the Daytona 500, and there were many questions in the aftermath. Would he race again? If so, when? Would he be the same?
But he came back way ahead of schedule (after learning how to
walk again!), somehow won a race, then won three more in a row, then improbably made the top 30 in points.
All that would have been enough to make for an incredible story, except there was more. He advanced through the rounds of the Chase and won the final race of the season to clinch his first career title in the most difficult year of his life.