2011 NASCAR Memories

With the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at an end I thought I would start the off-season by looking back at highlights of this tightly fought Championship...

After five consecutive Jimmie Johnson titles was 2011 going to become number 6?



The season got off to a great start with a new name, Trevor Bayne, winning the years biggest race. Not only that, but he also put one of NASCARs oldest teams, Wood Brothers Racing, back in Victory Lane!

The Daytona 500 signalled the start of an up and down year for restrictor plate racing in NASCAR with "tandem drafting" one of the stories of the year. Two cars have always been faster than one, but this year things got physical with drivers literally pushing each other all the way round the two 'plate tracks. Sounds exciting but was not always, until...



The finish was close but many fans were not convinced by this style of racing, me included. The downside of this style of racing was that the drivers teamed up before the race and decided who was going to do the pushing and who was going to be pushed. It all got a little too planned for my liking. I do not want a return to the old "pack" races where drivers could not overtake, but it would be nice if a driver could race for themselves... then again...



Clint Bowyer proved that even in the era of the "tandem", the slingshot is alive and kicking!!

That wasn't the only close finish of the year...



2011 brought a renewed emphasis on winning and several drivers took their first Sprint Cup win this year...





Which brings me on to another story of the year, Kyle Busch... for all the wrong reasons...



"Boys Have At It" has always had an imaginary line that drivers should not cross, trouble is NASCAR decided that he did! NASCAR told Kyle he wasn't racing any more that weekend, put him on probation to the end of the year and issued him with a fine! He also got in trouble with his team and his sponsors. What effects that incident will have on him for next year only time will tell.

"Retaliation" and "payback" were two of the years watch words...




Which brings me to what will be the long standing story of the year, not a sixth title for the 48 car but the battle between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart. After such a dominating run by one driver it was great to see that run broken by one of the tightest battles in NASCAR history.



One of the greatest NASCAR Championship battles ever?

Certainly!

Do NASCAR have to work on the product a bit... I think so, but that's for another day...

Indiana Jones and the Yard of Bricks

Star Wars... two sets of three.

 

Three Spiderman films, and by the end of next year there will have been three Batman movies...

Pirates of the Caribbean originally came in three parts...

Raiders of the Lost Ark originally had two follow ups...

What does any of this have to do with racing?

Hollywood loves a twist. And the movie of the Brickyard 400 always throws up a surprise.

Juan Pablo Montoya should have won the last two races at the Brickyard but let both races slip through his fingers. Will this weekend’s race be part three of the trilogy or the much needed franchise reboot? Montoya needs to hold on to this one, or "Indy, no more parachutes!"

Another cast member hoping to turn a great weekend at the box office into a successful follow up has to be Stewart Haas Racing. After starting and finishing in first and second at New Hampshire, (how many times do the front row of the grid finish in that order in a Cup race) the sequel needs feature another set of strong performances but, for the sake of their championship chances, with the “leading man” getting the spoils this time, not his “sidekick”.

The Brickyard is a wonderful setting for a NASCAR rollercoaster storyline...

I can’t wait to see who’s name is on top of the list come the credits!