5 of the Best "FINALLY!" Moments in Auto Racing

 5 of the Best "FINALLY!" Moments in Auto Racing

By Brian Cotnoir

Last night Daniel Hemric finally won his first race in NASCAR's Top 3 Series.  Not only was that his first win in NASCAR, but it also won him the 2021 Xfinity Series Champion.   Hemric who has been running in NASCAR full-time, in some capacity, since 2014 and until last night was tied for the record of most career runner-up finishes in the Xfinity series without a win, 10.   In addition he also had 2 runner-up finished in the Truck Series.   Hemric in the Xfinity and Truck Series consistently ran and finished in the Top 5, but never seemed to be able to pull it together, until last night.   No more will he have to hear the question "When are you going to win your first race?".   Finally, he is a NASCAR winner & champion.   That got me thinking; what are some of the other Best "Finally" moments in racing.

1.)  Will Power Finally wins the IndyCar Championship

I talked about this already in my "4 of the Unluckiest Moments in Auto Racing History", but I'll do a quick recap: Between 2010-2012, Australia's Will Power entered the final race of the season with a chance to win the IndyCar Championship, only to wreck in the race and have to settle for a 2nd place.   After a mediocre 2013 season, Power came back in 2014 and won 3 races and finally clinched the IndyCar championship.

2.)  Stewart Friesen Finally wins a Truck Series Race

Before Hemric, there was another driver who was known for having a lot of runner-up finishes.   Stewart Friesen, is a well-known and dirt modified racer in the Northeast, before going full-time in the NASCAR Truck Series in 2017.  After an rough Rookie Year, where his best finish was a runner-up at Eldora.  The following season he started racking up Top 5 finishes, and the success continued into the 2019 season.  Friesen had wrapped up 6 runner-up finishes in the Truck Series before finally securing his first win in the Truck Series--appropriately enough--at Eldora.     Kasey Kahne also had 6 runner-up finishes in the Cup Series before his first career win in the Cup Series, but he had backing from a large team, as opposed to Friesen who is a co-owner of his own Truck Series team.

3.)  Dale Sr. Finally wins the Daytona 500

You all know the quote by now: "20 years of trying, 20 years of frustration, Dale Earnhardt will come to the caution flag to win the Daytona 500!".

4.)  The Menard Family Finally kisses the bricks

Business Entrepreneur John Menard Jr. has been a huge investor in Auto Racing.   As an owner he entered multiple cars in the Indianapolis 500 between 1980 and 2003.  While his team won multiple races and championships in the 1990's with Tony Stewart and Greg Ray, they struggled to find success during the Indy 500.  The teams best finish at the Indy 500 was a 3rd place in 1992 scored by Al Unser Sr.   

In 2007 Menard's son, Paul, began his full-time NASCAR Cup Series career (with sponsorship money provided by his father).  Paul ran mostly mid pack usually finishing somewhere in the Top 25.   It wasn't until he made the jump to Richard Childress Racing that Paul Menard's day in the sun would come.  At the 2011 Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Paul Menard  managed to save enough fuel to put him the lead that allowed him to win his first--and ultimately--only win in the NASCAR Cup Series.   After 30 years of trying, father & son were able to "kiss the bricks" and celebrate a long waited victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

5.)  Nigel Mansell Finally wins the Formula 1 Championship

Nigel Mansell is one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers in history.   In his first 11 seasons Mansell won 21 Grand Prix's and finished runner-up in Drivers' Championship three times!   In 1992, behind the wheel of  the Adrian Newey designed Williams 14B, Mansell won 9 Grand Prix's  and finally wrapped up that much sought after World Drivers' Championship.   Mansell would retire from full-time Formula 1 competition after winning his one and only championship, and give open wheel racing in America a try (where he would win another championship in the IndyCar Series as a rookie).

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

Top 10 NASCAR drivers who never won a Cup Series Championship

Image
Top 10 NASCAR drivers who never won a Cup Series championship By: Brian Cotnoir           NASCAR has been around for over 70 Years now and over those seven decades we’ve had many fantastic drivers.    Petty, Earnhardt, Waltrip, Yarborough, Gordon, and Johnson are all great drivers and all have won multiple championships in their illustrious careers,   Just between Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr, Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon they have won more than 1/3 of all NASCAR Cup Series Championships, but there are dozens of NASCAR drivers who came close to scoring that illusive title, but just couldn’t pull it off.   These are the Top 10 NASCAR drivers who never won a Cup Series Championship. 10.)   Ernie Irvan Ernie “Swirvin” Irvan was my first favorite driver in NASCAR.   He was one of the best drivers of the early 1990’s driving for top tier teams like Morgan-McClure and Robert Yates Racing.    Irvan even won the 1991 Daytona 500, but as the decade went on his career suff
Read more