Throughout the 2024 NASCAR season, Ken Martin, director of historical content for the sanctioning body, will offer his suggestions on which historical races fans should watch from the NASCAR Classics library in preparation for each upcoming race weekend.
Martin has worked exclusively for NASCAR since 2008 but has been involved with the sport since 1982, overseeing various projects. He has worked in the broadcast booth for hundreds of races, assisting the broadcast team with different tasks. This includes calculating the “points as they run” for the historic 1992 finale, the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The following suggestions are Ken‘s picks to watch before this Sunday‘s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
When the lights turn on at Richmond Raceway, the fireworks always follow — and that was no different in 2003.
The race for the championship was quiet at the top of the standings, as Cambridge, Wisconsin‘s Matt Kenseth led the rest of the drivers by 389 points, with just a handful of races remaining on the schedule.
The battle behind Kenseth was not as quiet, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick were separated by less than 30 points for the second spot in the standings. Other close battles littered the rest of the top half of the standings.
The weekend started out with a feel-good story, as the series returned to the track for the first time since Jerry Nadaeu was seriously injured in a practice crash at the track in May.
Former Truck Series champion Mike Skinner, who was making his fifth start in Nadeau‘s No. 01 car, put the car on the pole position. Unfortunately, the team‘s comeback story didn‘t last long, as Skinner crashed during final practice for the event, forcing him to start at the back of the field.
The race featured 13 different drivers leading over the first 200 laps, with no car standing out as the dominant driver in the field.
One of those drivers, Ryan Newman, took over the lead with 124 laps remaining and set sail, including a handful of late restarts.
Third-year-driver Kevin Harvick gave Newman a run for his money with just under ten laps remaining until Richmond‘s usual fireworks started going off.
Ricky Rudd got into the back of Harvick, sending him slamming into the first-turn wall. It wasn‘t the first time the two drivers had a run-in, as they raced for the win at Richmond in 2001.
Newman held off Jeremy Mayfield on a late restart to capture his sixth victory of the season. His victory was overshadowed by Harvick and Rudd, who let their anger boil over on pit road.
What followed was Harvick being fined $35,000 and placed on probation for the remainder of the season. His crew chief and two other crew members were also fined, while two of his crew members were fined and suspended.
Rudd‘s team only saw crew chief Pat Tryson fined $5,000 for the altercation.
Following Newman and Mayfield were Rudd, Jeff Burton, and Rusty Wallace.
The 2004 NASCAR Cup Series season was the first that would finish the season under the new playoff format, with the points of the top-10 drivers in the standings being reset for the final 10 races.
The regular season finale at Richmond couldn‘t have been scripted any better, as the race for the final few playoff spots were up for grabs. Ryan Newman entered the race seventh in the standings, only 76 points up on Kevin Harvick, who sat 15th in the standings.
The eight drivers who were set to battle it out for the final three playoff spots were Newman, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray, Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett, Jeremy Mayfield, and Harvick.
As the laps wound down, it was Kurt Busch out in front of the field with Mayfield right behind him. It seemed like Mayfield was destined to run second until Busch ran out of gas with under five laps remaining, opening the door for Mayfield to jump those drivers in the standings and clinch himself a clutch appearance in the NASCAR playoffs.
“Man, I love your new points system! You couldn‘t have come up with anything better than this,” Mayfield proclaimed after his clutch victory.
His teammate, Kasey Kahne, was not as lucky. He dropped from ninth in the standings after a 24th-place finish, missing the playoffs entirely.
Martin, Mayfield, and Newman were the three drivers who filled up the 10-driver playoff field, but it was McMurray and his team who were left wondering, “What could have been?”
McMurray was penalized 25 points earlier in the season by NASCAR at Bristol for an infraction. He missed the playoff field by just 15 points.
The final race of the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season always involved intense battles for the final playoff spots as drivers sought to win the championship.
The 2013 regular season finale proved nothing different, as chaos ensued, causing one of the most unique situations in NASCAR history.
Fast forward to the final few laps of the race, and Ryan Newman was out in front of the field with a clear hold on a playoff berth for himself, as Michael Waltrip Racing‘s Martin Truex Jr. seemed to be on the outside looking in.
With just under 10 laps remaining, another Michael Waltrip Racing driver, Clint Bowyer, spun and brought out the caution, resetting the field in the process.
This led to Carl Edwards eventually grabbing the checkered flag, with Kurt Busch coming home second and Newman in third. Truex Jr. was able to capture the playoff berth, as Newman was left empty-handed.
NASCAR soon began reviewing in-car audio and video from Bowyer‘s team, as well as Michael Waltrip Racing communications after another one of their cars came to the pits at one point late in the event.
What followed was a historic $300,000 fine to Michael Waltrip Racing, with fines, suspensions and probation being handed out to multiple team personnel. The biggest dagger to the team was a 50-point penalty to Truex Jr., which inadvertently knocked the team out of the playoffs, allowing Newman to race for a championship.
At the time of Bowyer‘s spin, Gordon was battling Joey Logano for a playoff spot and had the upper hand at the time of the incident in question. The restart knocked Gordon from the playoffs, but he was added in as a 13th entrant into the playoff field due to the presumed manipulation.
Bowyer and his team also received a 50-point penalty, but they had accumulated enough points during the regular season to still qualify for the playoffs.
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