The 5 Most Surprising Champions in NASCAR History


The 5 Most Surprising Champions in NASCAR History

By: Brian Cotnoir

For Pretty Much All of NASCAR History the Series Champion did go to the Best driver in the Series throughout the season, unfortunately that NASCAR decided to shake things up a bit and completely screw with the points so it doesn’t even matter who has the most wins or the most consistent results they’ve got this “knock-out” playoff system so one bad race can mean you get screwed on your entire season.  Recently we’ve seen drivers like William Byron, Erik Jones, and Christopher Bell be completely screwed out of Championships in the Gander Outdoor Truck Series and the Xfinity Series despite having the most wins and most top 5’s that season because apparently the only race on the schedule that really matters is the series finale.  But believe it or not, there was a time when NASCAR would just let teams and drivers race and wouldn’t attempt to manipulate the points or institute any mid-season rule changes—ahh how I miss those days—and there were some drivers who won championships that no one thought they could win, and we’re here to pay homage to the 5 Most Surprising Champions in NASCAR history.

5.) Travis Kvapil, 2003 Craftsman Truck Series Champion

I guess you could argue it wasn’t too surprising that Travis Kvapil won the 2003 Craftsman Truck Series Championship; his team had won the championship the year before with driver Mike Bliss, but it’s how he became champion that is most surprising.  In one of the most infamous races in Truck Series History, points leader Brendan Gaughan was wrecked by a field filler (put in by championship rival owner Jimmy Smith of Ultra Motorsports) and it appeared that Ted Musgrave was going to be champion, however Musgrave jumped the final restart and was black flagged, after several agonizing minutes, Travis Kvapil was declared the Truck Series Champion.


4.) Chuck Bown 1990, Busch Series Champion

Now if you’re like me you’re probably saying to yourself “Who the hell his Chuck Bown?”.  Well he was the 1990 Busch Series Champion, back in the early days of the series when the field was mostly local short track guys driving for teams they owned, there were a few drivers that no one really heard of winning the championship like Tommy Ellis, Steve Grissom, and David Green, and while all of those drivers had successful careers in the Busch Series I decided the most surprising Busch Series champion is probably Chuck Bown.  Why? 

I wouldn't have a clue what Chuck Bown looked like without this picture

Well Ellis won a lot of races in the Busch Series and it’s not surprising he became a champion and Grissom and Green both raced for good teams and got multiple shots in the Cup Series.  Chuck Bown, however, didn’t have a lot of success in Racing. 

Bown only ran 5 Full Time Seasons in the Busch Series—winning 11 races, and 1990 was hands down his best season.  Other than the 1990 Season  he didn’t have a lot of success and was mostly a grid filler, oh and he never ran a full-time cup season or strong ride in the Cup Series.

3.) Brett Moffitt, 2018 Truck Series Champion

Last Year’s Truck Series Champion Brett Moffitt surprised the racing world by winning the truck series championship, but early on in the season  it didn’t seem possible.  His team was having major sponsorship issues and they weren’t sure if they would be able to run the full-season.   Moffitt won 6 races and took the championship.

Never thought I'd see the day when a Championship driver gets dropped from his team

Moffitt early in his career struck me as a driver who got rushed through the ranks too fast and seemed destined to become a NASCAR bust like Casey Atwood, Cole Whitt, and Trevor Bayne, but I’m grateful he finally had a chance to run a full-season in one of the lower-tier series and really develop into a championship winning driver.

2.) Rob Moroso, 1989 Busch Series Champion

Probably the only more surprising Busch Series Champion than Chuck Bown has to be Rob Moroso.  Today 19 and 20-year-olds winning races in the Truck and Xfinity series isn’t all that surprising, but back in 1989 it was unthinkable.  At 20-years-old Rob Moroso was not only winning races while competing against NASCAR talent like Dale Earnhardt Sr. Rusty Wallace, Harry Gant, Tommy Ellis, Bobby Labonte, and Jack Ingram, but was also competing for championships. 

Can you believe they had an Oldsmobile in NASCAR?

Moroso won the Bush Series Championship in 1989, at the time he was the youngest NASCAR champion ever.  Unfortunately, just one year after winning the Busch Series championship, Moroso drove drunk and crashed into another car killing himself a young mother in the other vehicle, and injuring two others.  He was posthumously named NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year for 1990. 

Wasted Talent

1.)  Alan Kulwicki, 1992 Winston Cup Champion

You all know this story already:  A Owner Driver doing things his own way, drives his heart out and beats the odds to become the NASCAR Winston Cup Champion in probably the most famous race ever run in NASCAR History.  Kulwicki was one-of-four drivers who stood a chance to win the 1992 Winston Cup Championship at the season finale in Atlanta, and by leading the most laps and finishing 2nd in the race he beat Bill Elliot in one of the closest finishes in NASCAR championship history.

The "Underbird" and The King


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Top 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History

Image
The Top 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History An Article by Brian Cotnoir I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in Cup History, I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in Xfinity History, and now today I’d like to present you the 10 Most Iconic Paint Schemes in NASCAR Cup History. 10.) Citgo, Wood Brothers Racing The Wood Brothers are one of the oldest teams in NASCAR, and in the late 80’s early 90’s they left quite the impression on NASCAR fans with the Citgo Paint Scheme which was piloted by drivers Dale Jarret, Morgan Shepherd, and Michael Waltrip.   Citgo eventually left the wood brothers and sponsored Jeff Burton at Roush Racing, but it was a truly iconic sponsor with that famous number twenty-one 9.)    Skoal Bandit, Harry Gant Harry Gant earned the nickname “Mr. September” when he won 4 straight Winston Cup Races (and two Busch Series) races in September of 1991, and he did it all behind the wheel of the Iconic Skoal Bandit race car.
Read more

Top 10 Ugliest Paint Schemes in NASCAR History

Image
Top 10 Ugliest Paint Schemes in NASCAR History By: Brian Cotnoir I’ve talked about the Best Paint Schemes in NASCAR, and now I’m here to talk about the Ugliest.   Sometimes a paint scheme looks bad because of whose sponsoring the car, and other times it’s a real bad color combination, but whatever the reason these are some of the most hideous Paint Schemes to have ever graced a NASCAR track. 10.)   Dave Marcis, Prodigy paint scheme This one is so ugly, that it’s kind of cool.   For me the big issue is the combination of Purple & Green, and the Neon Orange numbers make it a little better, but this car is still looks like a disaster. 9.)     Joey Logano, AAA Insurance paint scheme Joey Logano has had a number of awesome paint schemes while driving for Roger Penske, however this red, white, and blue monstrosity is not one of them.    I think Logano and Penske should call AAA Insurance and see if they can use their policy to give this paint scheme a complete
Read more

Another 10 Awesome NASCAR Paint Scheme's that you (may have) forgot about

Image
Another 10 Awesome NASCAR Paint Scheme’s that you (may have) forgot about By: Brian Cotnoir 1.)   Kevin Lepage, Hype Energy I still have never had a can of Hype Energy, but I do I remember this paint scheme driven by Kevin Lepage in the Busch Series in the 1990s.   Lepage would score his 1 st career win in the Busch Series with this paint scheme at the 1996 finale at Homestead. 2.) Stanley Smith, Interstate Batteries Long before Interstate Batteries became a mainstay at Joe Gibbs Racing, they sponsored another driver, Stanley Smith.   I honestly wish Gibbs would have kept this scheme over the one he had with Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, JJ Yeley and Kyle Busch 3.)   Bill Elliott, Burger King Despite having a long-time sponsorship with McDonald’s that lasted several seasons, Bill Elliott drove the #00 car for Michael Waltrip Racing with sponsorship from rival Burger King at the 2006 Brickyard 400.   This is one of the better Burger King designs I’ve seen in NASCAR.   4.
Read more