Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Another NASCAR season has officially come to an end. I’m pretty sure that you may not be as disappointed as I am, but if you are somewhat interested in the results, here’s the rundown of the final top ten standings:
NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion: Kurt Busch
2) Jimmy Johnson
3) Jeff Gordon
4) Mark Martin
5) Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
6) Tony Stewart
7) Ryan Newman
Matt Kenseth
9) Elliott Sadler
10) Jeremy Mayfield
There were many hot issues in the Nextel Cup this year. First off, the NASCAR senior circuit was changed to the Nextel Cup. Since most people are making a big deal about cigarette sponsorships these days, the Winston Cigarette Company had to give up their sponsorship of the nations most popular racing sport. The Nextel cell phone company then got the honor of sponsoring the senior circuit and having their name branded everywhere NASCAR was seen. I’m not really sure how popular of a move this sponsorship, change was since most people still don’t have a clue and are referring to it still as the Winston Cup.
Another change this past season was the reconstruciton of the points system. In previous years, drivers were awarded points based on their finishing position. That usually led to a ho-hum season ender, when you could predict who would win the series by whoever placed the most. This season, first-year President Brian France decided to spice things up a bit and created The Chase for the Cup. What that means is that near the end of the season, the points system is narrowed down to the top ten drivers. If a driver was in the top ten in the points total, they were able to compete for the Nextel Cup. If they didn’t finish in the top 10, well, there’s always next year. Fans weren’t exactly thrilled with the system change, but when the championship couldn’t be decided till the last race of the season, with five drivers in the running for the cup, the change did make the season a little more interesting.
The point total wasn’t the only change that France made this season. He also lifted the liquor ban. In the past, hard liquor was not allowed to be advertised by NASCAR, which promoted the “if you drink, don’t drive” idea. But now, hard liquor companies will be able to sponsor race cars. Crown Royal is already in the running by being on Kurt Busch’s car next season. So NASCAR couldn’t be sponsored by a cigarette company, but yet it is able to promote hard liquor while people are driving around a race track at high rates of speed? That sounds a little sketchy to me.
This NASCAR season was the year of the revolt. NASCAR representatives tried to put big plastic bottles of the major drink sponsors, one of them being Coca-Cola, on various cars in victory lane. Powerade, who is part of the Coca-Cola Company, tried to put their big blue bottle on some of the cars that were sponsored by Gatorade, Powerade’s biggest rival. When the Gatorade drivers tried to hide the Powerade bottle or even push it off the car while on TV, NASCAR officials warned them with the threat of a fine. When Jimmy Johnson tried to hide the bottle, he was fined by NASCAR. Jeff Gordon actually avoided driving up to victory lane, just so they wouldn’t put the Powerade bottle on his car. What a move Jeff – it’s still too bad most fans hate you.
Lastly, you can’t talk about a NASCAR season without talking about the most popular driver, my man Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Earnhardt, who started off the year on a strong note, by winning the Daytona 500, the most popular race in NASCAR, and the race that claimed his father’s life three years ago. Yet, after that, Jr.’s season seemed to go downhill.
Overall, this year’s Nextel Cup was interesting and exciting. We said hello to some very tough rookies, including Kasey Kahne, who finished second in five races. It was also the time to say goodbye to veteran racers Ricky Rudd, Dale Jarrett, Sterling Marlin, and Kyle Petty, who all announced that 2004 would be their last season. We also said goodbye to Maine’s own Ricky Craven, who lost his sponsorship in the Nextel Cup, but will continue racing in NASCAR’s Truck Series next year.
Hopefully, the 2005 season will be as successful as this year And on a final note: Please, if you are still thinking that racing is for a few drunken rednecks please, give NASCAR a try.
Bangor Daily News