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 The Jeff Gordon Mirror Image Award - Kyle Busch.
Gordon and Kyle Busch hit the Sprint Cup circuit as highly heralded
young drivers. Gordon won his fourth championship at age 30. Busch
won his first title at age 30. Gordon started his family after his
championship skein. Busch witnessed the birth of his first child, a
son, at age 30 and then went on to win his first Sprint Cup
championship. Gordon won his four titles over the span of six years.
It will be interesting to see if Busch, who will undergo surgery in
the off season to remove plates from his left foot and a rod from
his right leg, goes on a similar streak to Gordon's in the coming
seasons now that he's learned how to win a championship.
Best 4-4-3 Offense Award - Joe Gibbs.
This year's Sprint Cup title for Joe Gibbs Racing was the fourth for
the former NFL coach since he joined the series in 1992. His team
has also won four Xfinity Series titles. Combined with three Super
Bowl wins as a coach, Gibbs has racked up a pretty impressive
record.
What makes Gibbs' racing record even more impressive is the fact
he's not backed by his own multi-million dollar corporation. During
the 16-year span when his Sprint Cup titles have been won, Gibbs'
team has been the only "non-industrial" Sprint Cup outfit to win a
championship. Others have gone to Rick Hendrick, Jack Roush, Gene
Haas and Roger Penske, all of whom made hefty fortunes in business
before taking up NASCAR team ownership and are still successfully
running those businesses, which help fund their teams.
Most Consistent Driver Award - Kevin Harvick.
This award used to be called the Sprint Cup championship before the
advent of the Chase format. Had the "total points" over the course
of a season continued as the method to determine a champion, Harvick
would have been this year's Sprint Cup titlist.
Harvick, who set a record for most second place finishes with 13,
including his near miss of a second Chase title in Homestead, had an
average finish of 8.7. The runner-up in traditional points would
have been Joey Logano, who led the series with six victories and
whose average finish was 9.2. Chase winner Kyle Busch would have
been third in this particular scheme after winning five times -
including the Chase championship clincher at Homestead - and had a
10.8 average finish.
Best Season by A Driver to be Named Later - Brett Moffitt.
Moffitt began the season with only one Sprint Cup opportunity in
place - to sub for Brian Vickers in the Atlanta race for Michael
Waltrip Racing. After David Ragan was named to substitute for Kyle
Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing, Moffitt filled in admirably at MWR. The
Front Row Motorsports team then picked him up. Moffitt elected to
sign up for the rookie of the year title and then won it. His best
finish, oddly enough, was that first race in Atlanta, where he came
home eighth.
One didn't hear much about Moffitt after Atlanta, which is not
necessarily a bad thing for a rookie title winner and means he drove
cleanly and consistently. In what is now a typical scenario, Moffitt
is searching for enough sponsorship to enable him to continue in the
Sprint Cup.
Quintessential NASCAR Award - Brian France.
The Chairman and CEO of NASCAR tried to draw up the terms of the
debate over the feud between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano by
describing the two drivers's incident at the Kansas Speedway as
"quintessential NASCAR." Never before has "my guy versus your guy"
been elevated to the level of four syllables.
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The idea of France's preference for the younger driver and new
superstar, maybe with an eye on the future health and appeal of the
sport, perhaps should be discarded as too cynical.
Also, perhaps the idea that France tends to model NASCAR after the
NFL, which relies heavily on contact and on a playoff ending in a
Super Bowl, should be temporarily set aside.
France has probably made his forbears uncomfortable from their
current point of view due to his coziness with manufacturers, team
owners and drivers. Ye gads! Then there's that business of giving
tracks a five-year deal on their race dates. Where's the leverage in
that?
But France's methods certainly have long term logic to them if
nothing else. If tire manufacturers and TV executives are included,
France has managed to get all key stake holders in the future of
NASCAR on the same page. Whether they continue to pull together and
whether that will make a difference remains to be seen.
Least Heralded Fast Driver Award - Jeb Burton.
Burton led all drivers in pit road speeding penalties. Denny Hamlin
was the runner-up.
Have Sponsorship Will Travel Award - Brian Scott.
Look for Scott to continue in both the Xfinity and Sprint Cup
series.
Alternate Stadium Use Award - Bruton Smith.
It was Bruton Smith, chief stockholder of Speedway Motorsports,
Inc., who led the way when it came to building too many grandstand
seats. He ignored the advice of his longtime promoter Humpy Wheeler,
who advised him to stick with the plan of building 10,000 seats per
year, selling all the tickets to those additional seats for three
years, and only then building another set of 10,000.
Instead, Smith adopted a strategy of "the sky is the limit" and led
the way to overbuilt NASCAR stadia, which subsequently led the way
in the modern sports trend of fewer people attending live events
when ticket prices are too high.
This coming season, Smith plans to make use of all 160,000 seats at
the Bristol Motor Speedway by hosting a college football game
between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Virginia Tech Hokies. If
all those seats are filled, Bristol would set a record for college
football attendance and make racing at Bristol look, well, like it
comes in second.
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