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Sprint Cup
CUP: Talladega Top Race Of 2010
Kevin Harvick broke a 115-race winless streak at Talladega...
Kevin Harvick (29) begins his pass on Jamie McMurray (1) as the two drivers race toward the checkered flag at Talladega. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Jimmie Johnson won his fifth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship in 2010. Ho, hum, right? Wrong.
Although Johnson was the winner at the end of the season, he had to come from behind to do it. And from Daytona to Homestead, there was some of the best racing in years.
Here’s SPEED.com’s top five Sprint Cup races of 2010:
1. Aaron’s 499, Talladega Superspeedway — Drama, competition and — yes, danger — have long been staples of the Talladega experience and 2010 was no exception, as Kevin Harvick wowed the Talladega crowd with a last-lap, last-second pass of Jamie McMurray to claim victory in the Aaron’s 499. Juan Pablo Montoya finished third, followed by Denny Hamlin, and Mark Martin.
With his stunning move, Harvick broke a 115-race winless streak, dating back to the 2007 Daytona 500. Earlier in the weekend, Harvick and crew chief Gil Martin talked in detail about how to make the last-lap pass.
“We made a plan before the race, and I'm telling you, every piece of it played out exactly how we wanted to play it,” Harvick said. “We put four tires on the car when we wanted to, we pitted when we wanted to, we stayed out of the pack when we wanted to until it was time. And then coming into the last lap, that's exactly how we planned it out on paper.”
Harvick’s No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet crossed the start-finish line just 0.011 seconds ahead of McMurray’s No. 1 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet. It was the second-closest finish in Talladega history and the eighth-closest finish in NASCAR since the advent of electronic timing and scoring in 1993.
2. AAA Texas 500, Texas Motor Speedway — Greg Biffle dominated the first third of the AAA Texas 500 in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford. But the big story early on was the poor performance of Jimmie Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports pit crew, which consistently cost the four-time defending champion key positions on the track.
On Lap 191, Martin Truex Jr. crashed on the backstretch to bring out another caution. Under caution, Jeff Burton drilled Jeff Gordon hard, sending the No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet nose first into the wall. That led to an angry confrontation on the backstretch, Gordon shoving Burton a couple of times before cooler heads prevailed.
With Gordon out of the race, Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, huddled with Gordon’s crew chief, Steve Letarte, and made a shocking decision: Knaus took all of Gordon’s over-the-wall crew to service the No. 48 for the rest of the race.
Biffle had the fastest car, but a broken gear in his transmission made him a sitting duck on restarts, and Denny Hamlin was able to take over the lead on Lap 306 and hold on for the final 28 circuits of the race, to win over Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Joey Logano and Biffle.
Hamlin’s crew chief, Mike Ford, unleashed some incendiary post-race comments. “We played our game,” Ford said. “I stayed focused on what we needed to do, and I feel like ... it (the crew swap) was kind of a desperation move. But it's something that — I won't say that race team — that Jimmie, Chad and Rick (Hendrick) needed to do if they wanted to win a championship because they just took their team out of it. They removed their team. Their team got them to this point and they pulled them out, so this is more about trying to win a championship for the company and not the team.”
3. Ford 400, Homestead-Miami Speedway — The season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway will always be remembered as the race in which Jimmie Johnson won his fifth consecutive NASCAR Sprint championship and Denny Hamlin lost his first.
Oh, yeah, and by the way, Carl Edwards did alright for himself as he finished the season with his second consecutive victory following 70 winless races in a row. Throw in another strong performance by Kevin Harvick and the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup became one for the ages, not settled until the final lap when Edwards took the checkered flag ahead of Johnson and Harvick. Hamlin, who came into the final race of the year with a lead of 15 points on Johnson and 31 on Harvick, finished a disappointing 14th.
Although Johnson was the winner at the end of the season, he had to come from behind to do it. And from Daytona to Homestead, there was some of the best racing in years.
Here’s SPEED.com’s top five Sprint Cup races of 2010:
1. Aaron’s 499, Talladega Superspeedway — Drama, competition and — yes, danger — have long been staples of the Talladega experience and 2010 was no exception, as Kevin Harvick wowed the Talladega crowd with a last-lap, last-second pass of Jamie McMurray to claim victory in the Aaron’s 499. Juan Pablo Montoya finished third, followed by Denny Hamlin, and Mark Martin.
With his stunning move, Harvick broke a 115-race winless streak, dating back to the 2007 Daytona 500. Earlier in the weekend, Harvick and crew chief Gil Martin talked in detail about how to make the last-lap pass.
“We made a plan before the race, and I'm telling you, every piece of it played out exactly how we wanted to play it,” Harvick said. “We put four tires on the car when we wanted to, we pitted when we wanted to, we stayed out of the pack when we wanted to until it was time. And then coming into the last lap, that's exactly how we planned it out on paper.”
Harvick’s No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet crossed the start-finish line just 0.011 seconds ahead of McMurray’s No. 1 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet. It was the second-closest finish in Talladega history and the eighth-closest finish in NASCAR since the advent of electronic timing and scoring in 1993.
2. AAA Texas 500, Texas Motor Speedway — Greg Biffle dominated the first third of the AAA Texas 500 in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford. But the big story early on was the poor performance of Jimmie Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports pit crew, which consistently cost the four-time defending champion key positions on the track.
On Lap 191, Martin Truex Jr. crashed on the backstretch to bring out another caution. Under caution, Jeff Burton drilled Jeff Gordon hard, sending the No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet nose first into the wall. That led to an angry confrontation on the backstretch, Gordon shoving Burton a couple of times before cooler heads prevailed.
With Gordon out of the race, Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, huddled with Gordon’s crew chief, Steve Letarte, and made a shocking decision: Knaus took all of Gordon’s over-the-wall crew to service the No. 48 for the rest of the race.
Biffle had the fastest car, but a broken gear in his transmission made him a sitting duck on restarts, and Denny Hamlin was able to take over the lead on Lap 306 and hold on for the final 28 circuits of the race, to win over Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Joey Logano and Biffle.
Hamlin’s crew chief, Mike Ford, unleashed some incendiary post-race comments. “We played our game,” Ford said. “I stayed focused on what we needed to do, and I feel like ... it (the crew swap) was kind of a desperation move. But it's something that — I won't say that race team — that Jimmie, Chad and Rick (Hendrick) needed to do if they wanted to win a championship because they just took their team out of it. They removed their team. Their team got them to this point and they pulled them out, so this is more about trying to win a championship for the company and not the team.”
3. Ford 400, Homestead-Miami Speedway — The season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway will always be remembered as the race in which Jimmie Johnson won his fifth consecutive NASCAR Sprint championship and Denny Hamlin lost his first.
Oh, yeah, and by the way, Carl Edwards did alright for himself as he finished the season with his second consecutive victory following 70 winless races in a row. Throw in another strong performance by Kevin Harvick and the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup became one for the ages, not settled until the final lap when Edwards took the checkered flag ahead of Johnson and Harvick. Hamlin, who came into the final race of the year with a lead of 15 points on Johnson and 31 on Harvick, finished a disappointing 14th.
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