| Nascar Winston Cup ?99 Essay, Research Paper
Nascar Winston Cup ?99
I will inform you on all of the highlights that occurred in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. In case you have no idea on what NASCAR means it means National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. This series is fifty-one years old. That originated from the sandy beaches of Daytona. This is the longest sport to run in a year and it has the shortest break in-between seasons. NASCAR consists of thirty-six weeks including two non point events which are the first really competitive race of the year, which takes getting a pole position from the year before. Throughout the year, record crowds greeted the competitors at all twenty-one tracks, and those people who didn?t find tickets fueled the growth in the television and radio broadcasts of the events. The other non point race is similar to an all-star break in which all they do is race for the big money.
It was a year of beginnings and endings. The Rookie of the Year was Tony Stewart, with an unprecedented record setting three wins in a season as a rookie, while Ernie Irvan closed the book on a driving career due to injuries that almost took his life at Michigan. Joe Nemechek scored an emotional first-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series Victory at a track that took his brothers life, and who could ever forget the thrilling, dramatic finishes at Bristol and Darlington. The year belonged to Dale Jarrett. The forty-three-year-old, second generation champion had a most memorable season, winning four events to capture the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship. Dale Jarrett won his championship in his 22nd year of NASCAR Competition. Jarrett had to contend with the sport?s young lion throughout the season, including Bobby Labonte, Ward and younger brother Jeff Burton, and the aforementioned Tony Stewart, as well as the established veteran, including Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, and Jeff Gordon.
The year begins at Daytona, which is a two and a half mile facility. The two-timed defending champion at the time won the race with a daring move that took the lead from Rusty Wallace with only enough laps to go that you could have counted them on your fingers. That move helped Jeff Gordon with the famous Daytona 500. Winning that race, Gordon was two point one million dollars more rich. The stunning race finishes that I previously talked about at Bristol and Darlington were incredible. I will inform you on why they were stunning. The spring at Bristol was not at dramatic as the one in the fall. The race in the spring ended up Rusty Wallace defending the first position from Mark Martin to get his first victory of the season. The fall race was very exciting. Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte, brother of Bobby, were in a last lap duel. They were coming out of turn two on the last lap when Terry just got around him, Earnhardt nudges Terry, spins him out and Dale takes the victory. Last little incident started a lot of controversy. Both of the races at Darlington were won by Jeff Burton but that wasn?t why they were so thrilling. The reason was both races were shortened from their original distance because of rain. In the first race at Darlington, Jeff Burton was checking up (slowing down) for a crash that was in front of him. He didn?t slow down in time and had a collision with the wall. That was win the rain started to fall and he happened to cross the finish line first. In the second race there the rain started to fall again so they flew the checkered flag early, in which he took he took the victory again. Jeff Burton ended up winning six races that season. For Tony Stewart, in only his twenty-sixth start, he captured his first career victory at the three-quarter mile bullring which is also known as Richmond International Raceway. He later went on and won the inaugural race at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the Rookie of the Year. Jeff Gordon has won the most races in a season for the last five seasons. In which he won the championship three out of the five times. This season he won both of the Winston Cup races at the road courses, Sears Point and Watkins Glen. He has won the last five road courses. Dale Earnhardt came out and won three races that season to prove that he is not too old to race at the age of forty-nine. He thinks that he still has a good chance to add one more championship to the list of his seven. The one person that gets the most credit besides Dale Jarrett on winning the championship is Mark Martin. He had to put up with two thinks during the season. First it was the most dramatic change of his life of losing his father. He also lost his step-mom and stepsister. They all lost their life in a plane crash. The other problem Mark had when he was practicing at the second Daytona race, his right-front tire lost all air which made him have a collision with the wall. The result of that was a broken leg and a fractured wrist. He did finish the season with two wins and ending up at third in points. Dale Jarrett had four wins but that wasn?t the reason for the championship, it was because of the top tens that he finished with. In twenty-nine out of thirty-four races he finished in one of the top ten positions. In twenty-four out of thirty-four times he finished in the top five. There was one race to Dale Jarrett that really stuck out the most. That would be the Brickyard 400 at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. At that race the year before he came up short by running out of gas. He ended up many laps behind the leaders. The day he said that he was going to come back next year and dominate, so guess what he did? He came back and led the most laps and ?murdered? the field. Later on, with that winning attitude, was what helped him become the series champion.
So with all the information that I have given you recaps the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Book. Now you can say that you know some of the highest highlights of the 1999 season. So when that person comes to you and says, ?do you remember this at this race? you can say I surely do, all because of that one kid who filled me in on the nineteen ninety-nine season.
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