Top 10 NASCAR Stories of 2004

1. The Chase For The Cup

Dominating every NASCAR story for most of the year was NASCAR's new Championship format. It was big news in February when everyone talked about what it might be like. It was big news through the summer as the contenders started to sort themselves out. It was huge news in September as we headed towards Richmond. Finally, the last ten races were nail biters as the Championship came down to the very last lap. Whether you love it or hate it, the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup was THE story of 2004.

2. The Hendrick Tragedy

Race fans got their first glimpse of the tragedy during the confusing moments after the end of the race in Martinsville. No victory lane celebration, just a brief statement from NASCAR. Then the news started to spread as to what had truly happened. In the wake of this tragedy Jimmie Johnson and his team put together an incredible hot streak and nearly won the Championship.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr Swears

As it turns out, the 25 point penalty for cursing on live national television didn't affect his final points position. At the time though, it knocked Junior out of the points lead and was huge news for NASCAR fans.

4. Green-White-Checkers Finish

After the fans became increasingly unruly due to yellow-flag finishes NASCAR relented and instituted a green-white-checkers finish in July of this year. This rule change greatly increases the chance of having the race end under green. Personally I'm not a fan of the rule and I definitely don't think it should have been installed in the middle of the year. But there's no arguing that it was a significant moment in NASCAR history.

5. Winston Out NEXTEL In

This transition happened so smoothly that it was barely a blip on the radar in 2004. However the consequences are far-reaching for the sport. The NEXTEL relationship opens up new marketing opportunities that were never available before. Certainly this monumental change in direction for the sport deserves a spot in the top 5.

6. Retirement Announcements

Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin all announced that 2005 will be their last full season in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing. 2006 will mark the changing of the guard in NASCAR as Jeff Gordon will become one of the older guys in the garage.

7. Kasey Kahne Lights Up NASCAR

Unable to find victory lane in 2004 and only managing a 13th place finish in the points, this does not look like a great year by recent rookie standards. However with four poles and thirteen top five finishes Kasey lit up the early part of the season with two near misses. Nipped at the line by Matt Kenseth and Elliott Sadler at Rockingham and Texas respectively this kid was the talk of the garage early in 2004.

8. Kurt Busch Wins The Cup

Amazing that the NEXTEL Cup winner could be this far down on the list. But really, have you ever seen so much hype about the battle and then so little about the actual winner? Even when it's not the fan's most popular driver the 2004 NEXTEL Cup Champion did all the right things to win it and deserves a mention as a big story of the year.

9. NASCAR Allows Hard Liquor Sponsors

NASCAR finally relented on its long standing ban of distilled spirit advertisers. This paved the way for team owners to begin courting a whole new class of potential sponsors. First to take advantage of the new ruling, Richard Childress Racing announced that Jack Daniels would be the primary sponsor for Dave Blaney in 2005.

10. Field Fillers

For the first two months of the season NASCAR was having trouble drumming up a 43 car field. This caused some guys to start races that just simply did not belong. NASCAR clamped down and this story disappeared through the summer.