When NASCAR Underdogs Ruled For A Day!
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- Опубліковано 4 лис 2024
- The 2001 NASCAR Cup Series season is one of the greatest ever, but a race took place during the fall that was totally bizarre. A race in which every points contender didn't seem to exist leaving a few underdog drivers to run up front!
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Rockingham is such a great track because it takes a great performance from the driver to win there. It needs to come back 5 years ago.
There’s been talks that it might
But Bristol was the same exact way till this new car. The great drivers truly shined. A lower tier team driver was able to run top 5-10.
But I do hope it comes back I just hope people don’t set their expectations so high
@@timechanger9162it needs to come back with lights at the track but I think it will do better than North Wilkesboro did. The track is literally a track that creates long runs just like Darlington.
@@runrafarunthebestintheworldthe problem is its location. It’s just too close to other tracks. N. Wilkesboro, Charlotte, Darlington, Richmond are all within a 3-4 hour drive.
Nascar wants to expand out and N. Wilkesboro which is ready to race is trying to get a date for a points paying race on the schedule soon. My vote would be they take one of Richmond’s dates
It should've never been abandoned in the first place.
And here's a Fun Fact about that racecar Nemechek was driving. A couple years prior which mainly led to Andy Petree Racing shutting down, was the loss of the Skoal Bandit tobacco sponsor, which left NASCAR after 1999. Knowing that in mind, the #33 car hadn't been as good since 1994, and it was like Joe Nemechek was racing like Harry Gant did in the early 90's with that same exact car and team, but different sponsorship. It's a real shame that team shut down though. If Nemechek were to still be with that team, I could've seen 2002 being a breakout season for him.
What's funny was that both of his wins as an Cup Series owner was in 2001 Bobby Hamilton winning at Talladega that April in the 55 car.
The number 33 car did finish 10th in the points in 1997 with ken schrader but the 33 hadn't had a great year since 1992 when Harry gant finished 4th in the points
Yeah, and it doesn't help that Joe Nemechek wasn't known to stay with teams for long terms. I think he was only with Felix Sabates (eventually becoming Ganassi Racing) for a couple years, he was only with Andy Petree for 2 years, and I think he wasn't even with Hendrick Motorsports for a full 2 years before filling in the 01 at MB2 Motorsports. MB2 Motorsports was probably his longest tenure as a Cup driver, and he was kinda irrelevant after that. It's a shame, because he was already an Xfinity Series Champion prior to all of that team jumping, and he did it in his own equipment.
Also, in qualifying that weekend, Dick Trickle had a top 10 starting spot driving Dave Marcis's car, a team that only runs well at the restrictor plate tracks.
I'm a huge fan of shining a spotlight on, not only underdog drivers, but also random races that may not have been particularly notable, but still featured unique storylines. Would love to see more content like this!
NASCAR made a huge mistake taking Rockingham off of the schedule. Plus, I also miss this type of Era for NASCAR so much.
Go cry
@@Catdude1991excuse me? Who pissed in your cornflakes?
@@BrianIsTheGOAT594 Francis Ferko, I guess
The scheduling is honestly what killed off Rockingham. The 2 races were always in February and November. When it'd either be cold or rainy. People just got tired of it. April and September would be the perfect months for races at Rockingham
Front Row Joe and Herman! both great drivers and Busch series mainstays battling it out for a cup series win is truly mindblowing.
Forgot to mention that Johnny Benson Jr won his only Cup race at Rockingham the following year. Benson, the 1995 Busch Series Champion, would later go on to win the 2008 Truck series championship.
I always loved that oakwood's home scheme Joe ran in 2001
As an F1 fan in addition to NASCAR, this race reminds me a lot of the 1996 Monaco GP in terms of weirdness where both Williams (the dominant team that season) did not finish & only one Ferrari finished. Meanwhile Mika Salo driving a Tyrrell would finish 5th marking the last time Tyrrell would finish in the points. However what makes this weird is that the drivers that finished 4th-6th did not complete all of the laps to get their points. Only 3 cars completed the entire race which were also the same 3 who finished on the podium in Olivier Panis (Ligier), David Coulthard (McLaren) & Johnny Herbert (Sauber). For both Panis & Ligier it would be their only F1 win & to this day this race holds the record for the fewest cars running at the end of it in F1 history.
That was a great race. Especially for Monaco.
Ligier won races between 1976 and 1981 as well.
Also the last win for a French driver in a French car until Hungary 2021
DC was running in one of Schumacher's helmets as well, the closest McLaren got to having Schumacher in their car as well
In some ways, this race reminds me of an F1 race that featured underdogs running ahead of the "front runners".
In Belgium 2009, Jenson Button had a fairly healthy 18 point lead (bearing in mind there were 10 points available for a win in F1 at the time) over his Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello (who had won the previous race in Valencia) and 20.5 over Mark Webber. The first indication of something unusual happening was in the second part of qualifying where two of the champions in the field, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were only 12th and 13th respectively, but the big shock was who was 14th on the grid, championship leader Jenson Button. In the end, the top 3 in qualifying were as follows: on pole position (the first for Force India and his first since Malaysia 2006) was Giancarlo Fisichella, second was the Toyota of Jarno Trulli and third was the BMW of Nick Heidfeld. It wasn't a fluke either, owing to the top 10 running with race fuel in Q3 at the time, Fisichella had a competitive fuel load, the team had fuelled him for a 2 stop fuel strategy, in other words it wasn't a glory run to take pole. A first lap accident in the race involved 2 of the front runners, Hamilton and Button and after the Safety Car period, Fisichella still led the field at the restart on lap 5. However, right behind him was the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) boosted Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and on the longest straight, he used KERS to boost past the Force India to take the lead.
Everyone assumed that was that, but it became clear that Raikkonen, contrary to expectations couldn't pull clear of the Force India, driving as fast as possible just to stay ahead. Despite being on the same fuel strategy, Ferrari could do little more to help Raikkonen extend the gap. By the end of the race, Raikkonen held on to claim Ferrari's only win of 2009, but for Force India it was a bitter sweet result. Yes, it was their first points finish and a podium on top of that, but with a race win less than a second ahead of them and Fisichella leaving after that race (ironically) to replace the underperforming Luca Badoer (who himself was subbing for the injured Felipe Massa), meant that this was as good as it got for that team
I'm surprised Ricky Craven wasn't in the top five. He was pretty good on the worn out tracks, having a setup for Atlanta, Darlington, and Rockingham.
He was up there early then faded from what I remember
We needs a Rockingham returning
Front Row Joe Nemechek was screwed multiple times by funding issues. The 33 Oakwood car, the 26 Travis Carter car with KMart, the 13 Ginn car and the years he was forced into start and parking with his own 87 car. And... Joe isn't officially retired yet.
Yep but we can kind of say he's retired since he hasn't raced since 2020 I believe.
His last start was 2020, 8 Xfinity starts in the #47 for Mike Harmon Racing and a Truck start in the #8 for NEMCO Motorsports. For 2021 he attempted to qualify that Truck for the opener at Daytona but DNQ then 2022 was another DNQ at the Summer Daytona race in the #24 for Sam Hunt Racing.
Edit: As for Cup, it would be 2019 with 7 starts for Premium Motorsports, 5 in the #27 & 2 in the #15.
Fun video! I'd love to see you talk about the 2006 fall Charlotte race where Dave Blaney won. It was wild.
shout out to the 2007 coca cola 600 as well
Lot of great competitive racing that year. You didn't know who would be in the top 5. I really enjoyed watching through them all again on youtube
As a 9 year old Gordon fan at this race I remember being bored out of my mind! Glad it had some significance for this video 😅
I was confused at first cause I thought you said you was a 9 year old who loves Jeff Gordon.
This was a miserable race as a Gordon fan freaking Loomis was starting to lose it
Joe Nemechek is so underrated but hard not to like him, he had a pretty good cup career, despite winning only 4 races
Yep Joe Nemechek had talent just never had the equipment. He could've been Front Row Joe multiple times in great equipment.
Why did we have better TV HUD graphics 2 decades ago?
The main reason Kenny was an underdog for that race, he was basically a substitute driver for Steve Park (who had been injured in a crash earlier in the year), and Park had won that year's other Rockingham race.
Had Herman won, it would have been a very popular win.
Especially since that would've been a sweep for the track for the #1 team, and considering this was 2001, that really would've been a big deal.
Kind of odd to hear of Kurt Busch being called an underdog when looking back from today. Over thirty wins including the 2017 Daytona 500, he did have some struggle years, but you still couldn't always count him out.
Kurt had an odd year in 2001. 3 top 5’s and 6 top 10’s and a pole position, but a 27th place finish in points and also a DNQ at the second Atlanta race. It was kinda like a wait and see type of thing in terms of if he’d be successful or not back in 2001
The 97 team was his truck team from 2000. They were entirely new to Cup. Previously the 97 was driven by Chad Little, who was terrible.
@@BardelystheMagnificent I don't wonder if Roush intentionally put the least into the 97 car. Chad could have been a solid driver, I feel like. Same can be said for a few others through the years, like Rick Mast.
Helluva driver in latemodels, couldn't catch a damn break in Cup
0:51 a wreck involving an Earnhardt, Elliott, and Petty. Wonder how many other times that has happened?
Unfortunately, we couldn't see a Victory Lane celebration and interview of Nemechek's win here because the race went on a little too long, awkwardly enough...even though it aired on TNT, therefore, it shouldn't be much of an issue.
Found some VL & Burnout footage actually!
@@BlackFlagsMatter I noticed, but wow, it's in very spotty quality.
Better than nothing lol
3:42 "The Matrix Coming in December"
fuck i feel old
Crazy that Andy Petree racing couldn't stay open with the success they had. You figure someone would sponsor them
BFM another great video 📷 my friend. For the record Rockingham should be back on the cup series schedule sooner than later.😊
2007 Coca Cola 600 was another underdog day
When I saw Joe Nemechek at Rockingham as the thumbnail, I knew immediately which race this was...
I just smiled. 😊
That was the last ever win for Andy Petree Racing. Kurt eventually got his first cup win months later at Bristol.
Never heard of this before. Thanks for the video BFM.
Holy shit, the GOAT is alive.
Hmm, just looking up something and came across a interesting Idea for a potential series: NASCAR Team Owners who races themselves. Looking around Wikipedia I found out that Trackhouse owner Justin Marks got some raceing experience rangeing from ARCA to Cup along with IMSA and a SRX start. ARCA from 2005-2010, mainly part time with 2007 & 2010 being his only full time seasons with 1 Win in 2010, finishing 6th in points with a 5th in points for his 2007 run. IMSA (GTD class (GT3 cars)) 2016-2019 with 2018 being his only full time season there finishing 9th in points with a best finish of 2nd before getting a Win in his 3rd of 4 starts in 2019. As for NASCAR, in Trucks he make 39 starts over 7 years between 2007 & 2022 with 4 top 10s & and 2 poles, Xfinity was 36 Races over 10 years between 2008 & 2023 (Most recent race was Chicago in the Kaulig #10 (DNFed to end up 38th)) with 1 Win (2016 Mid-Ohio) and 7 Top 10s (1 Win, and 2 Top 5s among those), and he also got some Cup starts with 6 races over 4 years from 2013-2018 with a best finish of 12th for Rick Ware Racing in the 2018 Daytona 500.
Me and my dad went up to Kenny's shop a few months ago and talked to him for about an hour or so. I definitely made sure to ask him about this race. He actually has the piston from qualifying engraved. Definitely his finest hour in Cup.
That 2007 Coke 600 T5 might be in the conversation as well
25- Casey mears winner
18 JJ Yeley 2nd
45 Kyle petty 3rd
41 reed sorenson 4th
83 Vickers 5th (dominant car)
To me that’s still one of the most wtf but satisfying top 5 finishing order ever
If Nemecheck or Benson had been put in an A tier ride, i seriously think we'd be talking about perennial championship contenders
what a race, allowed to develop without bs cautions, stages or lucky dogs
Rockingham didn't get debris cautions very often though.
Nowadays a race like this can't happen due to stage cautions. I think the green white checkered should be dropped but not the yellow.
Amazing race and story
I just watched that race not long ago. Once again, great Rockingham racing. Hopefully get to see it again one day
This would make a great series
PLEASE BRING ROCKINGHAM BACK!
Should make a series out of this lol🤙🏁
I remember Kenny earning the nickname "the super sub" though i feel like he complained about it for some reason?
Been playing dirt to Daytona and I love this track !
Miss those tracks with old abrasive asphalt. Made it a drivers race where being smooth, managing tires and finding grip were the key.
I need more of this !! Awesome content
Solid video man
I believe this was the race where Ward Burton crashed out and said something along the lines of "..we ran like shit anyway". I remember watching this race live, I was 16 at the time. It was sort of a snooze fest at the end. Happy Nemechek got a win that season. Especially after pushing Bobby Hamilton, his teammate to a win at the Spring '01 Talladega race.
Imagine the next gen car running on this track.
6:53 Imagine a car owner today being over the wall on pitroad during a race.
Wild to see that wasn’t a caution and a red flag for Kurt Busch’s overheating issue on pit road. At least there wasn’t a playoff format too or this race would have ended everything for countless top guys - including the champ Gordon.
Kenny Wallace needs to make a video about this race. How it was driving for DEI.
I see new video, I click.
I miss nascar without stages and stage cautions! I miss organic racing!
If you want to talk about Underdog's, talk about the day's of the 80's and 90's. Back when the driver had to manhandle the car and all teams didn't have the same equipment
I miss that track. I hope it was worth your second Texas race Ferko…
I believe this was the race where Kyle Petty said "something something I don't wanna bad mouth Dale Jr cause if you ask the fans he hung the moon and I wanna make sure I see the moon tonight"
Back when NASCAR was still making “BANK”…. Literally……
Awesome vid I had just watched the 2000 race from the rock
I was never a fan of Kurt Busch but his '01 paint scheme was such an underrated beauty. I wish he'd done what Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. did at the end of their careers and replicated it on a next gen car. It likely would've been my first Kurt Busch 1:24 lol
I remember this race. My driver was having a very bad race & season. For this race. I was rooting for Kenny Wallace. Mike Wallace was also played in the replacement role in #12 car.
The 2001 popsecret popcorn popping in a bag in a nicrowave for 2 min and 30 msybe add some melted butter 400.
Rockingham was a driver's track. Moreso than Darlington, in my opinion. Alot of underdog moments at that track.
Also, it wasn't mentioned here, but Kenny was catching up to Joe at the very end. Just didn't have enough laps left to get there.
Always good when it happens on a real driver's track and not some superspeedway where there was a big wreck
Superspeedway racing takes more talent than most types of racing. That’s why you see the same names over and over winning superspeedways
Marty Robbins
Marty Robbins
6:17 While I felt bad for Kurt Busch at the time, he got a championship and 34 wins in his career. Wasn't much of an underdog anymore starting next year. And glad Joe got the win since he only has 4 wins.
All 4 of joe nemechek cup wins are with 4 different cup teams
At four different tracks, all of them being different types of tracks. There should have been another 4 wins too, three of them in 2005. 2002 Ford 400, 2005 AutoClub spring, 2005 Coke 600 and 2005 Michigan 2
And all in his last year with those teams as well.
@@BardelystheMagnificent Just his first three were with teams he was leaving. His fourth and final win at Kansas in 2004 he won in the #01 Army car which he drove until the end of 2006 and stayed with the MB2/Ginn team, moving to the #13, until the DEI merger in August 2007.
As long as Rockingham gets the intermediate package, or NASCAR gets their heads out of Hendrick's ass, I'm totally in for a return to the Rock.
I so wish NASCAR would either bring Rockingham back (unlikely) or build a replica/reconfigure an existing track (cough Texas cough) into a Rockingham clone. That track produced good racing.
What about elliot sadler going from 43rd to 1st at bristol with the wood brothers?
Future uploads: Random Drivers: Rico Abreu and Revisiting J.J. Yeley.
One of the few races where 3 drivers who became apart of the "NASCAR Dozen" swept the podium. 😀😀😀
I think Gen 7 cars would like Rockingham
I need my check.
I was there! 😂
kurt busch an underdog? in the 97? kurt won a championship in that car
This was in 2001 Kurt was a winless rookie at this point. He would eventually get wins and his only championship but not til next year far as wins goes and 04 for the championship.
i never knew Joe won this race 😮
i never cared for one lap down joe
Why?
he was always laps down@@nickdoneilo1551
Pin?
Just the clips would be so much better. Too much commentary.
That name tho lol 😂