The "wing" is a thing of the past on NASCAR Sprint Cup Cars. (Photo: Getty Images)

6. From the wing to a spoiler – When NASCAR announced early in the season that it would switch from the rear wing to more traditional spoiler on its three-year-old Sprint Cup car, drivers and teams scratched their heads trying to analyze how it would affect their cars and teams. Some adapted quickly while some were slower in adjusting to the move. Some still haven’t figured it out. Still, the move was made to appease fans as much as anything and it seemed to make the racing a bit more competitive throughout one of the sport’s best seasons in years.

7. Green-White-Checkered rule – NASCAR officials announced in February that it was expanding the rule, allowing for a maximum of three green-white-checkered restarts. It immediately paid big dividends. The Daytona 500 featured a thrilling finish, sparked by two green-white-checkered restarts, and one of the most exciting races of the season, at Talladega in April, featured the maximum of three. That Talladega race featured a side-by-side finish and records for lead changes and the number of leaders. The green-white-checkered rule, coupled with double-file restarts, continued to generate excitement and close finishes.

8. Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon swap pit crews – When Johnson crew chief Chad Knaus benched his pit crew in the middle of the November race at Texas, replacing it with Jeff Gordon’s crew, it seemed like a bad move, one that threatened the morale of the championship team. Instead, the move sparked Johnson to top-five finishes in the final two races of the season, leading him to his fifth straight Sprint Cup championship. And Knaus made sure at the end that both crews were part of the team’s championship celebration.

9. RCR swaps Harvick, Bowyer pit crews – When Richard Childress Racing swapped the pit crews of Kevin Harvick and
Clint Bowyer with five races remaining in the season, the two teams had nothing to lose. Harvick was beginning to fade in the Chase and Bowyer was already eliminated thanks to a 150-point penalty. The move gave Harvick’s team the spark it needed as he finished in the top six in the final five races to climb back into contention and stayed there until the final lap of the season, finishing third in the final standings. Asked after the season what he would have changed about the Chase, Harvick said, “I would take the first five [races] back with the pit crew that I had the last five.”

NASCAR rolled out the new Nationwide CoT in 2010. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

10. New Nationwide Series car – NASCAR unveiled a new car that was used in four races this season and will be used exclusively in 2011. The move makes the Nationwide car a bit closer to the Cup car and gave manufacturers a bit more brand identity, something they are hoping to get back in the Cup series.

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