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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
VODA: The Best Of The Worst In 2010
Here are those who stood out for all the wrong reasons in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season...
Krista Voda  |  Posted December 16, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Elliott Sadler, driver of the #19 Air Force Ford, lays on the track after he hit the wall in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway. (Photo: Getty Images)
It was the edict heard round the racing world … “Boys, have at it.” And, boy, did they ever.

Shouldn’t they be applauded for their efforts?

There’s no time like the present. We’re on the fringe of the awards season as we close out 2010. The NASCAR Awards Ceremony and the inaugural American Country Awards now are history, nominations for the Golden Globes were just released and nominees for the Academy Awards will be announced in January.

All these accolades recognize outstanding achievement in their respective fields. But what about those who stood out for all the wrong reasons in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season? Don’t they deserve their moment in the spotlight?

Best feud:
Teammates at odds with each other made their share of the headlines in 2010 but none tops the Kyle Busch/Denny Hamlin saga in the Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch’s prolonged rant on the radio regarding Hamlin costing him the win, followed by him parking his car at the No. 11 hauler in a fit of rage was “scandalous” by our accepted Cup standards of teammate decorum. But it sure was fun to watch.

Best fight:
The “golden gloves” award goes to Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick, or, should I say DeLana Harvick. We in the media had a field day with this little spat because of the way it unfolded and the classic one-liner Logano delivered. But I was proud of the way he stood up for himself not only at Pocono that day, but throughout the season, putting his foot down with drivers such as Harvick, Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya. Logano was a busy boy in 2010, wasn’t he?

The “Jeffs” come in a close second on this one. Jeff Gordon charging and trying to rough up Jeff Burton on the track at Texas probably wouldn’t have been that big of a deal had it not transpired between arguably two of the most well-behaved veterans in the garage area. But the sight of them pushing and shoving like two kids ready to rumble in the schoolyard dirt is ingrained in our memories for a while to come.

Biggest temper tantrum:
This one was unanimous and completely void of suspense. Kyle Busch can add “biggest temper tantrum” to the wagonload of awards, good and bad, he snagged this year. Look no further than the aforementioned “best feud” category or his tirade against (and “you’re number one” sign) the NASCAR officials at Texas.

Biggest hit:
Elliott Sadler made all of us wince and recoil in pain with his wicked hit at Pocono. Slamming the wall going that fast anywhere is bad enough, but coupled with the fact there was no SAFER barrier at his point of impact, you’ve got by far the biggest hit of the year. In fact, it was the hardest contact ever recorded in NASCAR history. What made it sting even more for Sadler was the fact he was hoping momentum from his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win hours before would carry him into Sunday’s Cup race. It carried him, alright, but just in the wrong direction.

Biggest mismatch:
Young Logano wins yet another one. Most anyone who follows this sport knows Harvick is one of the scrappiest drivers in the garage and the least likely to back down from a fight, but that didn’t stop Logano from confronting him (over and around the shoulders of his protective crew members) and insulting his wife. Picking on Ryan Newman wasn’t the smartest move Logano has ever made, either. We all watched with bated breath for Newman to squash him like a bug, but I think Logano versus Harvick would have been a bigger mismatch given the wiliness of “Happy Harvick.” I’m afraid Logano wouldn’t have made it past the first round.
NASCAR officials prepare to break up a fight between Jeff Gordon (Left) and Jeff Burton (Right) after an on-track incident at Texas Motor Speedway. (Image: Speed)

Biggest flop:
There were numerous disappointments in the 2010 season among those who didn’t live up to expectations. Several top names didn’t even win a race – Gordon, Burton and Matt Kenseth are leading contenders for this category. Granted, they all made the Chase, but I think they also would categorize their seasons as substandard because of their goose eggs in the win column.

We’d be remiss to exclude Dale Earnhardt Jr. from this discussion because he flat-out failed to perform. Rick Hendrick and his entire Hendrick Motorsports organization are doing everything in their power to see that Dale Jr. rallies in 2011 and begins to show glimmers of the potential he did when this marriage of the superpowers commenced. With his recent shuffling of crew chiefs and crews for 2011, Hendrick now has made every effort to elicit performance from Dale Jr., as well as Gordon and Mark Martin, who also went winless this season. Hendrick Motorsports was a strange juxtaposition in 2010, with three teams that struggled by their own standards and one that brought home a fifth consecutive Sprint Cup title. In just a few short weeks, we’ll get our first peek at whether or not these off-season moves were sufficient to keep the Hendrick guys off my ballot for the 2011 season. Ditto for the other drivers honored in this column.

Krista Voda is the host of NCTS Setup, the popular pre-race program for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series on SPEED. She also hosts Trackside, The Speed Report and special events such as the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, in addition to serving as a pit road reporter for FOX Sports. Voda also covers the NFL and BCS for FOX and has reported on sporting events ranging from The Kentucky Derby to the NCAA Final Four. Visit Krista's official website at KristaVoda.net

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