NASCAR HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS BY YEAR - 2000's
2000 - As the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup season began with the Daytona 500, it became clear that action on the track had changed. Far from the 50 to 60 lead changes in a race that had been common in NASCAR's history, "aero-push" -- turbulence caused by the new aerodynamic cars that made passing difficult -- now kept a firmer grasp on the lead. In an attempt to spice things up, NASCAR introduced some new rules in time for the October 15, 2000, race at Talladega. A small blade attached to the top of each car made the vehicles less stable, which added to the challenge for their drivers. With a new millennium, some new rules, and a new champion, the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup season was packed with excitement.
2001 - In 2001, the Dodge division of Chrysler Corporation announced it would return to NASCAR Cup Series racing for the first time since the late 1970s, and they assembled a formidable team. Ray Evernham, who left the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet operation in 1999, was hired by MoPar to direct Dodge's effort. Evernham was in charge of Dodge's two-car flagship team with drivers Casey Atwood and Bill Elliott. Other Dodge teams included Bill Davis Racing, Felix Sabates, Melling Racing, and Petty Enterprises, which returned to the Chrysler fold for the first time since 1978. But the 2001 NASCAR Cup season saw the biggest story of the year occur in the season opening Daytona 500. On the final lap of the race Dale Earnhardt had a terrible crash and it took the life of the skilled driver and fan favorite.
2002 - The 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup season dawned with promise as NBC television broadcast the Daytona 500 for the first time, and a new crop of rookie drivers -- including Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman -- captured headlines. Excitement continued throughout the season as the points race remained the tightest seen in several years. A new generation of drivers, including Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr., gain popularity.
2003 - In many ways the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup season was a season of change. Before the racing season even began, an announcement by R.J. Reynolds began a series of shifting sponsors that would continue throughout the year and take full effect in 2004. Planned changes in rules and race scheduling also promised that 2003 would be the last NASCAR season of its kind. NASCAR Chairman Bill France, Jr. also stepped down during 2003 and passed the position to his son Brian. On the track, a surprising points victory by Matt Kenseth kept fans captivated all season long.
2004 - One note of interest for the 2004 NASCAR season -- in addition to its now being known as the NASCAR NEXTEL season -- was new chairman Brian Z. France's decision to move the sport west. Texas and Phoenix, Arizona, tracks gained a second event, while Rockingham's North Carolina Speedway hosted its last. The most noticeable change for 2004 was revamp of the points race into the "Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup," which narrowed the field of contenders for the final races of the season in a 'playoff' style format. In response, the points race in 2004 was the closest in NASCAR history and television ratings surged 30 percent over their 2003 levels. Kurt Busch would claim the crown. ANother major story was that beginning in 2004, the sport welcomed Japanese automaker Toyota into the mix. With its initial focus being the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Toyota earned its first NASCAR win in August of 2004 when Travis Kvapil won at Michigan.
2005 - Although neither Jeff Gordon nor Dale Earnhardt, Jr. qualified for the Chase portion of the 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season, fans remained captivated as the decision on the title came down to the very last race. Veteran driver Rusty Wallace also retired at the end of the 2005 season and began a new career as a commentator for ESPN. Continuing their efforts to make NASCAR a sport with truly nationwide appeal, the International Speedway Corporation purchased land near Seattle, Washington, and on Staten Island in New York City for potential future tracks.
2006 - In 2006, the International Speedway Corporation announced that the NASCAR Hall of Fame would be built in Charlotte, North Carolina. They also began introducing their "Car of Tomorrow" project to the public, which was designed to gradually move NASCAR races toward better safety and cost reduction. The new cars will be fully phased into all NASCAR events in 2009. On the track for 2006, Jimmie Johnson, who had driven well since his first season in 2002, finally put it all together and came away the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion. "Silly Season" was the name of the game for 2006. Silly season is when drivers shuffle around from team to team. Several new drivers were in their first stint as regulars on the NEXTEL Cup circuit in 2006. Martin Truex Jr. raced the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) after winning back-to-back Busch Series championships in 2004 and 2005. The #15 car, which was vacated by Michael Waltrip, is being driven by another rookie, Paul Menard, and is being sponsored by his father's Menards Home Improvement stores. The vacancy left following Rusty Wallace's retirement from the Penske #2 Miller Lite Dodge, was filled by former 2004 NEXTEL Cup champion Kurt Busch. Jamie McMurray took over for Busch in the #26 Sharpie / Crown Royal / Irwin Tools ride for Roush Racing which had previously been the #97. In addition, Mark Martin continued his "Salute to You" tour for an encore with new sponsorship from AAA and 3M, who replaced Viagra on the hood of the #6 Ford. Reed Sorenson took the wheel of the #41 Target ride and David Stremme became the pilot of the #40 car sponsored by Lone Star Steakhouse and Coors Light. in the Chip Ganassi Racing stables. Scott Riggs took the #10 Valvoline-sponsored car and number to Evernham Motorsports, where they switched from Chevy to Dodge. The #66 (formerly #0) car, now with full-time sponsorship from Best Buy Electronics stores and vacated by Mike Bliss, was driven by Jeff Green, leaving Petty Enterprises' fabled #43 Cheerios car open for former Joe Gibbs Racing driver Bobby Labonte. Waltrip and his sponsor, NAPA, left DEI for Bill Davis Racing and the new #55 car, but ownership was transferred to the newly merged (with the old #77 team) Waltrip-Jasper Racing in order to ensure that Waltrip made the first five races. Despite the change, the #55 still receives most of its equipment and crew from Bill Davis Racing. On January 23 in Charlotte, North Carolina as part of the annual Media Tour, NASCAR announced that the Toyota Camry will be added to the series in 2007, and become the first non-American brand to run in the premier series since Jaguar raced in the mid-1950s. Brent Sherman took over the #49 Dodge for BAM Racing with new sponsor Serta Mattresses and State Water Heaters, but was replaced by Kevin Lepage, who had started the season in the Peak Fitness Racing #61, which was the #66 in 2005. Ken Schrader moved to the famous Wood Brothers #21 Ford for Ricky Rudd which not only has the U.S. Air Force and Ford Motorcraft sponsorship, but also Little Debbie on board as a new sponsor. Clint Bowyer took over the wheel of the #07 Jack Daniels sponsored car for Richard Childress Racing. Other moves saw Scott Wimmer moved to the Morgan-McClure Motorsports Aero Exhaust Chevrolet replacing Mike Wallace, Travis Kvapil moved from the Jasper team to the PPI Motorsports Tide Chevrolet team. Furniture Row Racing announced it would run full-time with Kenny Wallace in the #78 Chevrolet. In 2006, Toyota won its first NASCAR championship in the Truck series, with Todd Bodine in the #30 Toyota Tundra. Toyota also to run the Camry model in the 2007 Xfinity and Cup Series.
2007 - The 2007 NASCAR Sprint Cup title was the second in a row for Jimmie Johnson, who had 10 wins in the season along with 20 top-five finishes. This was also Rick Hendrick's seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owner's title, which put him in second place behind Petty Enterprises in the team owner championship standings. Here are some changes that occurred during the 2007 season. It was officially announced on January 22 at the annual NASCAR Media Tour in Charlotte, North Carolina that two changes were made for the 2007 Chase for the NEXTEL Cup. The first is that wins became more important. The driver who finishes first now received 185 points instead of 180. Including the five-point bonus for leading a lap, and the possible five bonus points for leading the most laps, a driver could now get a maximum of 195 points for winning a race. The other changes involved the actual Chase. The top twelve drivers after the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 automatically qualified for the 2007 Chase. Additionally, each driver had their points reset to 5,000, plus ten points for each win during the first 26 races. However, when the season ended, only the top ten drivers would be honored at the annual banquet in New York City at the Waldorf-Astoria, NASCAR introduced a new car style known as the "Car of Tomorrow" for use in sixteen races in 2007. This car was the result of a design program which started after the death of Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 Daytona 500. It was intended to offer improvements in safety, performance, competition and cost efficiency. Plans for a partial schedule in 2008 were expanded to full usage after race results and owner feedback led to acceptance of the new car. Some drivers however, offered criticism over the decision, feeling the new design led to boring, uncompetitive races. (which it did). On May 10, 2007, it was announced that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. would be leaving the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet following the conclusion of the season as he could not get a contract extension with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., the driving team his father founded and run by his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt. at a press conference on June 13, 2007, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced a five-year deal to join Hendrick Motorsports. He replaced Kyle Busch, who at the time drove the #5 Kellogg's/Carquest Chevrolet; he subsequently joined Joe Gibbs Racing to replace J.J. Yeley in the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota. Before the season opening Daytona 500, NASCAR team owner Jack Roush announced the sell-off of 50% of his team, Roush Racing to the Fenway Sports Group, who own the Major League Baseball team the Boston Red Sox. The newly formed alliance between two differing sports markets involved the team name to change to Roush Fenway Racing. However, this was only the beginning of what was referred to as "Merger mania". The week before the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard became the week NASCAR was all shaken up in the ownership boxes. On July 24, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. merged with Ginn Racing, inheriting the #01 US Army ride of Mark Martin and Aric Almirola. Another merger was announced on August 6 when former crew chief Ray Evernham announced the merger of his team, Evernham Motorsports, with George Gillett, owner of the National Hockey League team the Montreal Canadians. Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC, a company created as a 50–50 partnership between Robert Kauffman and Michael Waltrip, was announced the weekend of the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Also, during the race weekend for the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway it was revealed to the racing world that 1999 Cup champion and three-time Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett would retire from full-time driving following the end of the 2007 season. In 2008, Jarrett drove in the first five points races, then handed the #44 UPS Toyota to David Reutimann for the Goody's Cool Orange 500. As Jarrett was the 1999 champion, entering the first five races, regardless of his previous standings, guaranteed his #44 in the field, as well as driving in the Budweiser Shootout and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. Jason Leffler earned the first Busch Series win for Toyota while wheeling a Camry when he won at O'Reilly Raceway Park in July of 2007.
2008 - Jimmie Johnson etched his name in the NASCAR record books in 2008. The 2006/2007 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion added his third consecutive title, a feat matched only by the legendary Cale Yarborough, who won three in a row in 1976-78. Johnson also garnered another win at Indianapolis with his second Allstate 400 at the Brickyard victory in July. All this came after a disappointing start, as the #48 Lowe's team didn't score a win until the eighth race at Phoenix, and remained in the shadows while Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards dominated for most of the season. 2008 saw the introduction of the CoT (Car of Tomorrow) NASCAR announced on May 22, 2007 that the original timetable, which would have the full-time use of the single car template in 2009, was being abandoned as 80% of all owners were in favor of moving the full-time use of the CoT one year ahead so they would not race with two sets of rules for all but ten races. The Economic crisis of 2008, with high gas prices over US $4 a gallon caused NASCAR's largely blue-collar fan base to feel the pinch. While Bristol was one of a few tracks that still sold out, others saw crowds shrink. Daytona International Speedway sold out the Daytona 500, but not the Coke Zero 400. The economy also affected the teams themselves with high diesel fuel prices, with that fuel needed to power the semi-trailer trucks which transport the race cars to and from racetracks. Sponsorships also grew increasingly harder to come by, further increasing the gap between teams. Before the season began, Morgan-McClure Motorsports ceased operations for their single-car team, while Yates Racing had no major sponsor on the #28 and #38 cars that they run in the series. Even better sponsored teams struggled. On July 1, Chip Ganassi Racing shut down its #40 team with 2007 IndyCar Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti driving because of a lack of sponsorship funding, becoming the first major victim. Some other changed during 2008 included: Over-the-wall pit crews in NASCAR's three national series were able to hand push their car no more than three pit boxes away from their assigned pit box—limiting the crews to the same three-box length for pushing as the vehicles could drive through getting onto pit road; Outside tires that had been removed from a vehicle during a pit stop could no longer be free-rolled from the outside of the pit box to the wall. The tires were required to be hand-directed to the inner half of the pit box before being released; All three national series ran the same upgraded 17¾ gallon fuel cell which was used in the 2007 Nextel Cup Series. The fuel cell was a safety feature that was added that year, replacing the old 22-gallon cell; Money collected from fines issued to drivers and others was remitted to the NASCAR Foundation, which supported a variety of charitable initiatives. Previously, fine money had been added to the season-ending point funds paid to drivers based on their finish in the point standings. Kyle Busch became the first Sprint Cup winner driving a Toyota when he won at Atlanta in March of 2008. That year Busch would win a total of eight races.
2009 - The economy proved to be a crisis for NASCAR in 2009. Fuel prices came down from record highs, but corporate American was hesitant to shell out big bucks to sponsor race teams. As a result, Chip Ganassi Racing merged with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. to form Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. They fielded the No. 1 and No. 8 from DEI and No. 42 from Ganassi, and shut down the DEI No. 01 and No. 15 teams as well as Ganassi's No. 40 and No. 41 teams. The No. 42 team will run under the Chevrolet banner under the merger as it changes from Dodge. In addition, Front Row Motorsports has EGR support for their No. 34 car, to be driven by John Andretti. On January 19, Petty Enterprises merged with Gillett Evernham Motorsports for the merger with Petty's famous No. 43 joining the newly renamed Richard Petty Motorsports. On December 22, 2008, Bill Davis Racing was sold to California businessman Mike Held and BDR vice president Marty Gaunt, and was renamed Triad Racing Development. Hall of Fame Racing announced an alliance with Yates Racing on January 13, 2009 and named Bobby Labonte as the new driver of the No. 96 team as they move from Toyota to Ford. The season saw several other in-season problems as the #28 team of Travis Kvapil shut down, and later Aric Almirola's team shut down also. NASCAR also announced the total elimination of testing for all three divisions. The ban included any tracks the CUP series raced on, as well as any track the Nationwide or Truck series raced on. Due to the economy General Motors had filed for bankruptcy and then cut all financial support to the Nationwide and Truck teams, and seriously curtailed support to the Cup series. Chrysler also filed for bankruptcy and the Dodge teams lost their factory support. Before years end, Richard Petty Motorsports would have to merge with Yates Racing and switch to racing Fords. Race procedures also saw more changes. Before the start of the season, NASCAR changed restart rules regarding the final moments of all races in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series. Previously, when the race was inside the final ten laps, all cars/trucks on the lead lap were in a single-file restart in that window. As of the 2009 season, the window changed to the final 20 laps. The "lucky dog"/"free pass" rule will still be eliminated in the last ten laps of a race. However, before the June Pocono race, the entire restart procedure changed entirely in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. After being run successfully at the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Race and in the Budweiser Shootout, NASCAR implemented a double-file restart system starting at Pocono for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. This change came at the request of fans, drivers, owners, and the media and as a result in a decrease in TV ratings during the NASCAR on Fox portion of the season. The entire field will line up double-file, much like the start of the race at every restart. The leaders and other lead lap cars are now in front always when taking the green flag. Cars who choose to stay out and not pit during a caution flag who are in front of the leaders are now waved-around to restart (double file) at the back of the field. The lucky dog/free pass rule is now in effect the entire distance of the race, and the double-file restarts are for every restart, including green-white-checkered finishes. As far as the race season played out. It saw Kyle Busch who posted 3 wins in the first eight races, and posted four wins by the first of May; ended up MISSING the Chase. Another disappointed driver was Matt Kenseth. He won two of the first three races, and also missed making the Chase. Jimmie Johnson seemed to have picked right up where he had left off in 2008; and posted three wins and a lot of consistent finished up to the time the Chase started. Johnson then won three of the first five events in the Chase; grabbed the points lead and never looked back. He added one more win at Phoenix and beat Mark Martin by over 100 points when the final curtain fell. This was Johnson fourth consecutive Cup Championship. It was another disappointment for Martin who once again finished as the runner-up for the Championship.