Performance was the name of the game in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing this past season. The level of competition in NASCAR’s most elite arena has been growing over the past decade to the point where stock car racing in America is considered the toughest form of auto racing in the world.

A look at statistics for some of the sport’s biggest names explains why NASCAR enjoyed another incredible season in 2008.

Kyle Busch, a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, dominated the season’s first 26 races, claiming eight victories to go along with 15 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes.

He was the points leader heading into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup this past September. Across all three national series, Busch won a total of 21 races in 2008, including a NASCAR Nationwide Series record-tying 10 victories.

Carl Edwards, a driver for Roush-Fenway Racing, won a series-high nine races in NASCAR Sprint Cup competition, including three victories in the Chase. He finished in the runner-up position in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series. Edwards also posted a NASCAR Sprint Cup series best 27 top-10 and 19 top-five finishes.

Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports etched his name in the record books by claiming his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, joining Cale Yarborough as the only other driver to accomplish the feat.

Johnson was particularly strong during the Chase, as he had three wins, six top fives, eight top 10s, and an average finish of 5.7 during the season’s final 10 races.

While driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc., Regan Smith was named the Raybestos Rookie of the Year for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

In 34 starts, Smith became the first rookie in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history to finish all 36 races on the schedule throughout the course of the season. He turned in a pair of 14th-place finishes at Martinsville and Bristol and completed 98 percent of the scheduled laps in 2008.

Even though he enjoyed a successful start, Smith is looking for a full-time Sprint Cup ride for the 2009 season. He will run a limited schedule with Furniture Row Racing in 2009. The team is owned by Barney Visser and based in Denver, Colo.

Team owner Rick Hendrick won his eighth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owner championship, second only to Petty Enterprises with nine. Johnson claimed his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in Hendrick’s Chevrolets, and three of Hendrick’s drivers finished in the top 12 in driver points in 2008. Johnson finished first, Jeff Gordon finished seventh and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 12th.

In just his second season of competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, David Ragan, a driver for Roush-Fenway Racing, could be considered the most improved driver of the season.

The Georgia native finished 13th in the point standings, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Ragan posted six top-five and 14 top-10 finishes, including a pair of career-best third-place showings at Michigan in August and Talladega in October. Ragan completed a series-best 99.4 percent of the scheduled laps during the season.

Greg Biffle, another of the Roush-Fenway drivers, returned to the Chase after a two-year absence. Seeded ninth heading into the last 10 races of the year, Biffle got off to a blazing start by winning the first two Chase races at New Hampshire and Dover. He ultimately finished third in the final point standings and established himself as a championship contender in 2009.

With the Bud Shoot-Out special non-points event for pole position winners scheduled for Feb. 7 and the Daytona 500 set for Feb. 15 at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR is ready to get started on another record-setting season.

Author - Ben White is the motorsports columnist for The Dispatch.

June 21, 2008

Remember all that hype? Remember those who wondered if it was just too much?

Could an 18-year old with no experience at the level he was entering handle the eyes of a NASCAR world intently focused on him without falling on his face?

Well, it’s starting to look like all that hype, all that buildup, maybe it wasn’t even enough.

A week ago 18-year old Middletown native Joey Logano, in his third Nationwide Series start, became the youngest driver in NASCAR history to win in the division, or in any of NASCAR’s three national divisions.

So how does one follow up such a stunning feat? How about battling to the end with one of the Sprint Cup Series’ biggest stars?

Logano, the 2007 Camping World East Series champion who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, followed up his victory last week at Kentucky Speedway by finishing second to Roush Fenway Driver Carl Edwards in the Camping World RV Rental 250 at the 1-mile Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisc.

It was the fourth career Nationwide Series start for Logano, who finished sixth in his series debut at Dover International Speedway on May 31. After winning the pole in his second event, at Nashville Superspeedway on June 7, Logano crashed and finished 31st.

Logano was the only non-Sprint Cup Series regular in the top-5. Clint Bowyer was third, David Ragan fourth and David Reutimann fifth. Logano, who led 35 laps, finished 1.58 seconds behind Edwards, the 2007 Nationwide Series champion.

“We started off and my car wasn’t where it needed to be,” Logano said. “We were way off. We kept going backwards. We just kept working on it and never gave up. We finally got it where we needed to and we were running down the leaders pretty fast there on the longer haul. And then a caution came out and we got tires, and I was just not good on new tires. It took me five to 10 laps for it to come in. I just lost positions on restarts, and you can’t afford to do that. It’s hard to come back from that. We were just too tight at the end to catch Carl [Edwards]. I don’t think we adjusted to the race track enough. I think the track got a lot tighter. Overall, from where we started today to where we ended was a big plus.”

The hot streak for Logano will come to an uncontrollable stop though. Logano will hang up the helmet for the next three Nationwide Series events. Tony Stewart will be in the car for next week’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Logano isn’t approved to run Daytona International Speedway on July 4 and Stewart will again be in the car at Chicagoland Speedway on July 11.

By Shawn Courchesne
Courant.com