Wild moments and unprecedented events are nothing new to NASCAR. Throughout its history, there will be moments that fans know will likely not happen again. The 2010s are especially true of this. So, similar to our 2020’s list, let’s look back at the top five unprecedented NASCAR moments of the 2010s.
The move that shocked the NASCAR world! One month before the 2017 Cup Series season, Carl Edwards announced he would step away from full-time racing. This came just months after Edwards’ heartbreaking wreck during the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where Edwards was just 10 laps away from his first title before being involved in a multi-car crash.
Two things made this so shocking: First, Edwards was slated to continue driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2017. Retiring just one month before the season threw everyone off guard and led to 2016 Xfinity Series champion Daniel Suarez taking over the No. 19 Toyota at the last minute. Second, Edwards was still in his prime. He was coming off a three-win season and a Championship 4 appearance. Rarely does a big-name driver walk away from the sport when they’re at their peak performance. It’s a moment fans still talk about to this day and earns its spot to kick off this list.
On paper, this doesn’t sound too far-fetched. Kyle Busch is one of the greatest drivers in the sport and is considered by many to be the most talented driver in NASCAR history. A driver of his caliber is expected to win a championship, if not multiple. So why is his 2015 championship on this list?
Busch missed the first 11 races of the 2015 season due to an injury he sustained during the Xfinity Series opener at Daytona. His path to winning the championship would require him to win a race and make the top 30 in the driver’s standings. Not only did Busch accomplish this, he exceeded expectations by winning five races, including three in a row, en route to the championship.
While the win-and-you’re-in system allows a driver to miss races and compete in the playoffs (if granted a waiver), seeing Busch come back from a gruesome injury to hoisting the Cup just nine months later is something never seen before. Never before in the modern era has a driver missed one-third of the season and won the title, making this a truly unprecedented moment in NASCAR history.
Remember earlier how Carl Edwards lost the 2016 Cup Series championship? That didn’t just lead to one unprecedented moment, but two. Edwards’ wreck opened the door for the time’s six-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, to win his record-tying seventh Cup Series championship. A record that still holds to this day, Johnson won the most championships in Cup Series history, alongside Hall-of-Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. On that day, Johnson cemented his legacy as one of the greatest drivers of all time.
Some might wonder how this is unprecedented if it’s been done before, let alone twice beforehand. First off, Johnson became the first seven-time champion since 1994, over 22 years between title runs. Second, the chance of another driver winning seven championships is slim. Currently, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch have the most championships among active drivers, with two apiece. With the playoff format and winner-takes-all final race format, it makes it extremely difficult to win one championship, let alone seven. NBC announcer Rick Allen said it best: “We may never see this again in our lifetime,” referring to Johnson’s seventh title, which was a historic time for the sport.
2017 was a turning point for NASCAR. Monster Energy took over as Sprint’s title sponsor, a new Damaged Vehicle Policy was implemented, and the biggest one of all was the introduction of stage racing to the sport.
Before 2017, every race ran its scheduled distance (or overtime) without any scheduled breaks, with points awarded at the end, excluding leading a lap and the most laps. From 2017 onward, races would be broken into three stages, with the first two awarding points to the top 10 finishers in the stage. In addition, playoff points were introduced, with one going to each stage winner, five going to the race winner, and the top 10 finishers of the regular season earning additional points. Playoff points would carry over from round to round up until the championship race.
This changed not just the racing but the entire industry! Besides some past experiments with the All-Star Race, NASCAR has never remotely adopted stage racing. It changed how drivers and teams would race. Do you go for the win or play it safe for points? Formulating a strategy around the stage cautions. It wasn’t on anyone’s radar when it was announced, and it completely changed the sport when it was introduced. Today, fans would be surprised to hear about a time without stage racing, but in 2017, it took the sport by storm.
The spin heard around the world—the moment the sport changed forever. “Spingate,” as it’s known, started when Michael Waltrip Racing driver Clint Bowyer spun late during the regular-season finale at Richmond, bringing out a caution. His fellow teammate, Brian Vickers, pitted during the restart, which allowed their teammate, Martin Truex Jr., to make it into the 2013 Chase for the Sprint Cup over Ryan Newman.
NASCAR found that MWR used both teams to manipulate the finish of the race to allow Truex to get into the Chase. For this, the No. 15, No. 55, and No. 56 teams were docked 50 driver and owner’s points, executive vice president Ty Norris was suspended indefinitely, all three MWR crew chiefs were put on probation, and the organization was fined a NASCAR record $300,000. The points penalty dropped Truex out of the Chase to 17th in points. In addition, Jeff Gordon was added as a 13th Chase driver.
The ripple effects of Spingate are still felt to this day. NAPA Auto Parts, Truex’s primary sponsor, left the team at the end of the season, forcing the team to drop Truex and downsize to two cars. MWR shut down at the end of the 2015 season. Truex signed with Furniture Row Racing, where he won the Cup title in 2017. Bowyer moved to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2017, where he won two races in 2018 before retiring in 2020. Norris is currently with Trackhouse Racing. NAPA went to Chase Elliott, who they still sponsor to this day. The effects of Spingate spread all over the NASCAR world. For that, it earned its spot at No. 1 on this list.
What do you think about all this? Let us know on Discord or X what your take is, and don’t forget you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
