The racing world won’t be the same after some record-breaking performances and two notable retirements in 2016.
It gets tougher and tougher every year to watch and keep up with all the different forms of auto racing, especially because I seem to change up what I watch depending on the best storylines in each series.
This year I struggled to watch IndyCar at times (aside from the Indy 500), but found a renewed interest in Formula One and NHRA. NASCAR will always be my main area of knowledge and coverage, but the other series’ have really stepped up their competition and whether people are watching or not, television broadcasts continue to evolve with the ever-changing motorsports landscape.
NBC Sports Network has become a destination for motorsports fans and I think their NASCAR and F1 coverage is exceedingly better than ESPN’s last foray with the Chase. It still baffles me how ESPN/ABC has bowed out of the racing business with the small exception of the Indy 500 and a few select IndyCar races. I get the 500 is the crown jewel of the year, but not being involved with NASCAR at all is something that the bosses in Bristol are missing out on. But of course that isn’t the only thing they seem to whiff on these days.
Clearly the biggest story of 2016 was Jimmie Johnson winning his seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, joining Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as the only other drivers to win seven titles. The accomplishment shocked even one of the biggest fans of the #48 Lowe’s team…. Me.
When I was at Michigan in August, I watched Johnson and Chase Elliott dominate the race, only to lose out to Kyle Larson in the end. His summer stretch of races was disastrous. It was hard to imagine then that Johnson had enough to stop the Gibbs and Penske cars in the Chase. But he and Chad Knaus proved everyone wrong once again, using the repetitive Chase schedule to their advantage.
Johnson and his longtime crew chief seemed to relish the underdog role. Their biggest win came at Charlotte in October. That win allowed the team to advance to the next round and not face the pressure of having to survive the Talladega crash fest the next week. Johnson got his biggest break of the season when Carl Edwards and Joey Logano got together with 10 laps to go at the finale in Homestead. When Johnson came through with the best restart of his career shortly after, the celebration was on.
HOMESTEAD, FL – NOVEMBER 20: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 20, 2016 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Everyone has tried to put the record in perspective and debate whether Johnson belongs in the “best-ever” category with The King and The Intimidator. There is no question he belongs. In fact in a year or two it’s possible we could be calling the best of all-time.
Comparing newer successes with the old is a waste of time in racing, just like it is with just about every other sport. Just ask Carl Edwards how tough it is to win just one championship in the Chase era as he lost out to Johnson once again. Johnson has won seven. Seven championships. That’s not easy no matter what the era, no matter what the sport.
Johnson, now at age 41, is surely the best NASCAR driver I have seen in person and one of the best I’ve seen in my life. I was lucky enough to remember a lot of classic Earnhardt moments including his lone win in the Daytona 500 and I still think he is best ever although I never saw him race in person.
I think Johnson’s quest for #8 will make an amazing season-long story in NASCAR this year. Just like the return of Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona and the new beginning of the series with Monster Energy at the title sponsor. Can everyone say, “The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series?”
2016 was Tony Stewart’s last as a NASCAR driver. Instead of looking back on his final season, I am more curious about what Tony’s legacy will be in the sport. Will he be remembered as a 3-time champion, a championship owner, or one of the best drivers to ever grab a steering wheel no matter what kind of car it was. That all remains to be seen and I think Stewart’s future as a car owner is very bright. Clint Bowyer will take over for him in 2017.
The Daytona 500 was great. The Indianapolis 500 was even better. Alexander Rossi winning not only as a rookie, but coasting around the track as he tried to save fuel while others ran out was tremendous drama; everything the 500 was and continues to need. The F1 battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosburg went to Rosburg. Then Rosburg announced his retirement, leaving everyone to wonder, who can possibly stop Hamilton in the season to come?
One of my favorite moments of the year was the Truck race in Canada when Cole Custer went after and tackled John Hunter Nemechek after a controversial finish. On the final lap of the road course race in Bowmanville, Ontario, Nemechek tapped Custer and both cars careened into the wall on the final turn. But they didn’t stop. They kept racing all the way down the straightaway in the grass on the way to the checkered flag. After a short delay to sort out timing and scoring, NASCAR declared the young Nemechek the winner. But not before JHN celebrated. and was tackled by Custer who was attempting to the make the Truck Series Chase with a win. Nemechek had already qualified via a win in Atlanta earlier in the season.
Wrestling was a trend in the Truck Series this year as you also can’t forget John Wes Townley and Spencer Gallagher rolling down the track at Gateway after wrecking each other.
I also can’t leave out the great moment when Daniel Suarez won the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship. NASCAR needs all the fans they can get right now and having their first non-American born champion in Suarez will only grow the sport’s popularity in Mexico. Suarez is well on his way to a big career in the Cup Series.
Finally, I have to thank two of the best racing facilities in the country that just happen to be in my backyard. Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan and Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. MIS continued to bring amazing hospitality and first-class racing event management as I took one of my best friends to his first NASCAR race. He was so impressed he wanted to get season tickets for next year’s events. And the Bader family also excelled once again in putting on one of the best NHRA weekends on the schedule. My dad is now a multi-year season ticket holder and we are already planning our weekend this year when the Summit Racing Nationals return to the Buckeye state on June 22-25, 2017.
Perhaps the best part of the 2016 racing year is the doors that remain open and the continuation to the stories we have already seen and heard. Everyone wants a final stamp at the end of each and every year, and I don’t think we can put one on this racing year. There is so much development and potential in each and every series. Here’s to much more frequent blogs and coverage of all of them in 2017.
Speed For Thought 