Bill Elliott wins the Daytona 500, fades into
mediocrity, and then retires. Inexplicably, he continues to win Most Popular Driver.
Jeremy Mayfield wins three races, spends most of
the season in the top ten, and gets tired of people referring to him as the next Jeff
Gordon.
Childress fires or reassigns half of the #31
crew, after Robby Gordon burns up all of his provisionals. Robby then complains loudly and
publicly that the #29 car gets more attention than he, and
laments how he could do so much better if he could get with a good team.
Jeff Green talks about how Jeff Green should be
winning races if only Jeff Green could get a break. Jeff Green believes that Jeff Green is
the next big thing. Jeff Green.
Johnny Benson gets his first win and finishes in
the top ten in points.
Terry Labonte grows tired of Jeff Gordon lapping
him and accepts a position of consultant for Rick Hendrick OR Robin
Pemberton looks in the engineering department of Petty Enterprises, runs away screaming,
to find a nice home with Hendrick where he returns Terry to prominence.
NASCAR blackflags Rusty Wallace at least once
every four races, boosting Rusty’s popularity and propping him up as Jeff
Gordon’s nemesis. Rusty quietly stews in his piles of millions.
Bobby Hamilton finds a pimple on his own butt
and remembers that what comes around will eventually come around the track and hit you
back.
Buckshot Jones wrecks more cars than the monster
truck Gravedigger. Richard is afraid to let him drive to the store by himself.
Geoffrey Bodine changes his name back to Geoff.
Only Benny Parsons seems to notice.
Casey Atwood wins a short-track race. Elliott
Sadler doesn’t.
Tony Stewart finally punches a fan and then
tells a reporter that he was stupid for not knowing that his “claustrophobia”
sometimes makes him punch people. NASCAR puts him on “second-level probation”
and makes him promise to be good or they’ll “tell” Joe Gibbs. To spite
them, Tony wins the championship.
Dale Jarrett and Mark Martin miss their crew
chiefs. They win three races between them.
Michael Waltrip, after a secret meeting with
Theresa, announces that he’ll be in the broadcast booth next year. His popularity
soars.
Junior wins the most races, but not the
championship.
Ward Burton runs well at Rockingham and
Darlington, and then Darlington and Rockingham.
Jeff Burton leaves Roush for one of the vacated
Childress rides.
Ryan Newman wins Rookie of the Year. After an
ugly Bristol incident, he and Harvick develop NASCAR’s next rivalry.
- Fans beg for high-banked, half-mile ovals, and ISC builds more 1.5-mile flat
tracks.
