November 22nd, 2009 
Journo For those of you who follow us on Twitter, you know every Monday we do a ‘best and worst’ of the weekend tweet. With the 2009 season now in the bag, we thought it might be fun to bring it over to the blog and ask you to do your best and worst of the 2009 season.
2009 certainly wasn’t short of any interesting, and compelling story lines. Toward the end of 2008 and through the entire 2009 season the economy was on everyone’s mind. The troubled state of GM and Chrysler forced the manufacturers to make cuts in their NASCAR spending; several sponsors announced their intention to leave the sport; and perhaps most noticeably the stands at many tracks were far from capacity.
Despite the bad economy, 2009 saw the start-up of several teams. After being laid-off by Bill Davis Racing in the off season, Tommy Baldwin started his own team. Jeremy Mayfield, who had been out of a full time ride since 2005 also started a team. TRG Motorsports also began running a car full-time in the Cup Series.
From Carl Long to Jeremy Mayfield, NASCAR also had its fair share of controversy in 2009. Long was suspended and fined following the All-Star race after an inspection of his expired engine revealed it was too large. Jeremy Mayfield was indefinitely suspended May 9 after NASCAR said he failed a drug test. Mayfield contends the failed test was caused by a combination of Adderall and Claritin D. He sued NASCAR.
It wasn’t all bad though. Juan Pablo Montoya had a breakthrough season scoring seven top-fives, 18 top-10s, two poles and his first Chase berth. After running two part-time seasons in 2007 and 2008 Mark Martin joined Hendrick Motorsports full time and came back with a vengeance this season, winning five races and finishing second in the points.
We even had some promising prospects show what they were made of. In just his second full season, David Reutimann won his first race and came just short of making the chase. Marcos Ambrose also started to show his potential in just his first full time season. He scored four top-fives and seven top-tens finishing 18th in the points. No doubt they’ll both be teams to watch in 2010.
We also had a slew of first time winners with David Reutimann, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski all taking the checkered flag.
And how about Hendrick Motorsports? They had thirteen wins on the season and Jimmie Johnson did the unheard of, winning his fourth straight championship after seven wins, 16 top-fives, 24 top-tens and four poles. As a team they went 1-2-3 in the standings, the first time that has happened.
So now it’s your turn. What was your best and worst of 2009? Please remember to keep it clean (I know where you’re going to go with this) and treat others the way you want to be treated (if I see anything over the line it will be deleted).
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Best: SHR surprises a lot of folks right from the start.
Worst: All the Danica talk. Enough, already.
Best: Kasey Kahne despite all the factors that were against him, between switching engines back and forth. Management issues. Switching manufactures… still finished 10th with two wins in his pocket… in an odd year.
Worst: The Nascar season started.
Best: The Nascar season ended.
Best was Mark Martin’s dream season.
Worst was Johnson winning another championship.
Best? Mark Martin @ what? 50…WOW! Ambrose, JPM and of course #48′s 4-peat. Keselowski giving us something to love or hate.
Worst? Lack of Roush presence, especially Carl w/ a goose egg. The other Carl, Mr. Long’s incident. Gimmie a break NASCAR. Mayfield is done gone. JR’s lack of performance. INDY snoozefest & JPM giving away INDY.
In 2010 looking forward to: Feb Speedweeks and feuds between BK & DH and TS & JPM. Better looking NW cars!
Best: Stewart-Haas Racing success and Tony leading the points for most of the season. And, the double file restart.
Worst: Jimmie Johnson boring everyone by winning yet another title. The phrase, “shootout style.” Please stop using that in 2010, it’s stupid.
Best: Mark Martin finished 2nd in championship point. Again.
Worst: There were two races at Fontana.
The best -Three VERY deserving champions – Ron Hornaday, Kyle Busch (first of many), and JJ (FOURTH of many)
@Rachel: You missed one – Robby Gordon, 2009 SCORE International Off-Road series Champion.
Best: This boring season has ended.
Worst.: Another chase 10 race manufactured champsionship being compared to year long champshionship races of Dale, Gordon, and Petty.
NASCAR:
best=double file restart
worst= Talladega
DRIVERS
best=Mark Martin/ Jimmie Johnson’s seasons
worst=Jermmy Mayfield’s season =(
Worst: lack of explanation / analysis for why Roush and Childress fell off so badly. I don’t need an announcer to tell what I can see myself (that Edwards didn’t win a race), I would like to have some insight into the why. Same complaint regarding most technical analysis offered by talking heads.
Best/worst: anticipation of Talledega, single file racing was boring to watch and unfortunately much of the talk got diverted into safety issues, which is ok, but shouldn’t dominate talk.
Worst: predictable interviews with most drivers: praise the sponsors, thank the crew, owner, etc., etc., etc. 20 interviews with 20 different drivers all sound the same.
Best: continued use of technology in broadcast: telemetry, in car camera and especially scanner traffic (how great was it to hear Stewart last week call Jr a ‘no talent bleep’? Any guesses on what word was bleeped?).
Worst: continued hyping of in-race point standings. Fine to show, but over and over and over and over and over again?
Best: feuds. Not all 43 drivers get along, nice to see that some don’t hide their feelings.
Best: enough cameras that very little was uncovered. TV may not have had live feed of incidents, but most of the time, they were able to pull up at least 2 feeds on pretty much every accident.
Best/worst: scroll at top showing current position and time behind leader. but boy do they show it slow, are there that many viewers who need the scroll that slow?
what? no comments about Tony “whiney” Stewart’s antics yesterday? He wrecked another chase driver, and that is not news? ALL his BS led to that pile up on pit road ,,,, and no comments?
If someone had done that to whiney Stewart, he would complain till the cows came home. How can he wreck another chase driver, and it is swept under the carpet?
What if someone had done that to your precious JJ?
Just another reason why Stewart is a loser, no matter how many races he might win.
worst?? …. Tony “whiney” Stewart
BEST? ….. MARK MARTIN, of course : )
Garry- What are you talking about? There are stories all over about it today.
Montoya, Stewart let anger get the best of them in finale (NASCAR.com)
Juan Pablo Montoya earns two-lap penalty for aggressive driving after contact with Tony Stewart (NASCAR Scene)
Montoya-Stewart add spark to finale (FoxSports)
Montoya-Stewart rivalry spices up season finale (USA Today)
Juan Pablo Montoya’s exciting homecoming (Miami Herald)
Sure doesn’t look to me like it’s getting swept under the rug.
just making sure
best quote from your articles…
…. “Although Stewart wasn’t penalized for the first portion of the incident, Montoya was black-flagged by NASCAR and parked for two laps ”
…Well… of course NASCAR did not penalize whiney boy, I mean he only intnetionally wrecked another chase driver, and could have wrecked JJ …… but…. Stewart has pulled this crap years, and NASCAR has allowed it ,,this the reason I am no fan of whiney boy.
He whines when drivers get aggressive against him, but he is the first to drive dirty, he sucks., always has…..but this is just my opinion, you can love him if you want to.
Garry,
I think Juan Pablo showed that “if you mess with the bull you get the horns.’ Ha Ha!
Best: Stewart’s season and SHR getting both cars in the chase.
Best: Double-file re-starts.
Worst: Jimmie Johnson bringing the season to a snoozer of an end. Congrats and all, sure. And I don’t hate him. But I gotta say- yesterday was just boring.
just to add…
worst-not one of the media had the ability, or guts, to get an interview w/ TS or JPM. Com’on that’s the “only” reason I watched all of the post race coverage to no avail. I just wish Daytona was this Sunday…
best-well maybe not the best way to put it, but Garry is spot on w/ his assesment to TS and his antics. Remember the old saying “you can dish it out, but you can’t take it?”. Fits Smoke to a tee.
worst-veteran drivers blasting rookie drivers for making rookie mistakes, all the while, veteran drivers making rookie mistakes and no one says to them “hey that was bonehead move, especially for a veteran”.
I seem to remember hearing during the broadcast that if #14 finished 5th in the pts there was a handsome bonus for the crew. #14 finished a scant 4 pts ahead of #42 for 5th place. Me thinks JPM should have done a bit better job of wrecking TS to secure 5th. Not that #14 crew didn’t deserve a bonus.
Best
Mark running well and winning.
JPM showing that talented open-wheel guys can drive stock cars.
NASCAR actually listened to fans complaints and TRIED to make racing more excited. Not that I agreed with what all they did, but at least they tried.
Worst
More sponsors going away…more “real” teams going away.
TV Coverage – thanks for the team radio communication…NOW QUIT TALKING OVER IT!!!!
TV coverage – give us more split screens and show 2/3/4 battles on the track at once. Don’t just follow the leader around.
NASCAR blaming decreasing TV ratings on Jr.
TC talking heads….tell us something new and that we could not figure out. Anybody watch Tony Dungy on Sunday Night Football? I dvr it just to watch his analysis.
Mayfield – showed that NASCAR is not immune to “bad boys.”
Mayfield – sad when you are auctioning off your Xbox to survive
Lack of wins from non-Hendrick teams…HMS & SHR. I have upmost respect for what they have accomplished…but what happened to everybody else?
steve – I am with you on the constant talk about “points as they run…” SHoot, they start talking about Chase cutoff at about lap 10 of Daytona. ENOUGH.
Garry – I think TS & JPM were both complicit in the incidents yesterday. You have two hot heads beating on each other. They both let their emotions screw up their races. However, I don’t think either of them caused the pit road pile up. Looked to me like #96 slammed on his brakes and entered his pit (like 3rd or 4th in) from the fast lane. He probably should have stayed to the left.
So many bests and worsts: Martin and Montoya’s seasons are bests; the Homestead race was terrific. The ABC broadcast team was excellent; so was the midseason team with Petty and Dallenbach. The RCR season was a worst, as was the mergermania surrounding GEM, Yates, and Petty. But you want one of each, so here goes:
Best: Johnson wins #4. You may not be a Hendrick fan or a Johnson fan (I’m not), but this is a tremendous accomplishment and deserves the appreciation of anyone considering himself a NASCAR fan. I like colorful personalities as much as the next guy (I’m a fan of both Montoya and Stewart for that reason), but Johnson seems to be a very decent and thoughtful guy who will be a great representative of NASCAR. His comments in the ceremonies yesterday convinced me of that.
Worst: the Mayfield saga. The suspension itself was bad enough, but the collapse of Mayfield’s life was painful to see – suing his stepmother, having to sell off his house – just sad to watch.
One more worst….
Drivers continue to think they are too good/important/busy to do interviews..storm off and/or shove reporters and fans out of the way. Spend a day following Richard Petty. See how many autograph/picture requests he turns down.
Clint Bowyer…you were interviewed what 2 times this year? And your interview at Bristol was what…3 words and 2 seconds before you stormed off? You are not THAT good. You are not THAT in demand. Opportunity knocks but once. Take it. Fine say what you think…maybe don’t throw f-bombs, but tell us what an idiot that guy is. We are fine with that. Watch some tapes of Sr coming out of infield car centers. He can learn a few things.
The good: All three series made it though the year in fairly good shape and will be back (and better) next year. When the economy was crashing, I really was afraid that the Truck Series was a goner earlier this year. Thank goodness they made it through okay!
Also good, Mark Martin running like he was 20 years younger and having a great year.
Another good one, Joey Logano, who put his first full seasons in NNS and Cup to good use, showing that he might just be the “Tiger Woods” of NASCAR. Expect bigger and better things from this kid.
JJ and Chad are the men! Winning 4 championships in a row is nothing short of phenomenal.
Marcos Ambrose and Dave R. put MWR solidly in the game with their great runs this year.
As for the bad – Fans getting hurt at the Spring ‘Dega race is unacceptable.
Best: The big wrecks this year that the drivers were able to walk away from!!
Best: JJ, MM, HMS making history!
Worst: Media not covering other drivers during the chase!!
Worst: Media not covering enough of the other drivers during most of the season! Why repeat everything over and over. Get info on the other 35+ drivers and lets hear about them.
Best: This website wish I found it years earlier!!!!!
Good: HMS what a program. JJ and crew are the men, like them or hate them you have to give them their due. As a Stewart fan glad to see his and Newman’s teams do good this year. Mark Martin having a great year.
Bad: Mark not winning the championship. Michael retiring. The current 10 race chase. The current points system.
Thanks Ric!
Worst: Dale Jr’s season
Best: Dale Jr’s season being over.
T.C. and Journo,
BEST: Your site. You two find stories and angles which broaden our understanding of the sport both on and away from the track. Your decision to moderate the comments encourages thoughtful and intelligent discussion. I always learn something from reading your site, and much of the time, it comes from your readers.
Without TNI and DalyPlanet, I probably would have bailed on the season a few weeks ago.
BEST & WORST: The 48 team winning its 4th Championship. Do not misunderstand me. This might be the most amazing sports record I will see in my life. I can’t think of another which comes close. Chad and Jimmie and Rick and the team deserve our utmost respect on this achievement.
That said, I’m underwhelmed. As I said in an earlier column I have an “absence of like” for Jimmie. He’s a decent person with incredible talent and work ethic. He’s just not very interesting to me. He seems so buttoned-down. Just once I want to see him frown. FROWN!
I guess the other thing which bothers me about Jimmie Johnson, and I’ll admit this is bias, is that he reveals my driver, Junior, as just another driver in the field.
BEST: TNT’s coverage. They got it right. Even without the online component which perfectly complemented the television racecast, they did everything right. Except their portion of the season was too short.
BEST: Mike Joy. Quiet excellence in the same vein as Vin Scully.
BEST: Mark Martin. Thanks for showing us that class and success go hand-in-hand. Hat tip to Rick Hendrick for making it possible.
BEST: Marcos Ambrose. Hat tip: Max Papis. I hope you get a full-time ride next year. Such joy is contagious.
WORST: ESPN’s coverage. Too many close-ups of the leaders and too much focus on the Chasers. One the Chase begins, ESPN treats the coverage as if it’s an IROC event. The other cars are just an afterthought; part of the track to be passed by Jimmie Johnson or “50 year-old Mark Martin.”
I love Dr. Jerry Punch. But his promotion to the booth is the ultimate example of the Peter Principle. He’s got sources and stories second to none, but he should be telling those pre- and post-race and from the pits.
WORST: The season is too long. I might feel differently had this not been another repeat of 2007 and 2008; an inevitable 48 championship.
WORST: Those obnoxious “thinking with your dipstick” commercials. Why in the world was he Scottish? Yes, Home Depot, we get it that Joey Logano is a rookie.
Thanks again, fellas, and readers.
West Coast Kenny
Alameda, California
Best , No tire problems at Indy. Also Buying $40.00 seats @ X track and sitting in the EMPTY $120.00 seats. And Tony and Ryan doing well. And of course Mark also doing well.
Worst, Jr. not doing well. And my favorites at RCR’s lowsey season. I guess you can tell I am a Chevy guy. Also worst. Nascar just does not get it. The COToday is not a race machine. It is a boat. It can not pass in the wake of the boat in front of it. It is that simple. Think fluid dynamics.
Best, I start my Nascar season with the 24 hours of Daytona. Go figure. Tony was incredible 3 years ago driving on “two” wheels for so many laps until his second shock mount failed. So much for stressed members.
And then the next year. The rain stopping the field for four hours. 1/4 of the race track was under water. “Real” racing Drama.
I also rememberi Dale and Jr. sharing a car in the Corvette Class and almost winning.
And then Jr’s crash the next year with fire and Jr. saying that “someone (Daddy) pulled him from that car.” That was a miracle on live Television.
And Kudo’s to all the other NASCAR drivers that participate in this race.
It is the way that I like kick off the Nascar racing season.
Worst. Speed channel needs to go 24 hours for this race. I bet that there are others that think like me.
One more Best. Dave Despain