Is NASCAR witnessing another changing of the guard?
Quote selected text Published May 13th, 2008 in NASCAR News
It happens about every three to five years, this unsettling upheaval of the NASCAR world as we know it.
Every few years, a new, young, hot driver — or drivers — emerges, changing the landscape of NASCAR’s Cup series and the hierarchy of things at the top.
A changing of the guard in NASCAR’s top series seems to be a regular cycle, and it’s clearly upon us again.
It’s happened several times in the past 20 years.
In the late 1980s and early ’90s, this was Dale Earnhardt’s world. Occasionally, he would share the glory with Bill Elliott or Rusty Wallace or Mark Martin. But mostly, NASCAR was seen in black and white — mostly Earnhardt black.
Earnhardt won championships in 1986-87, 1990-91 and again in 1993-94. In between, Wallace and Elliott reigned.
During that time, things shifted only slightly. And, unfortunately, it was short-lived because of the tragic deaths of 1992 champion Alan Kulwicki and rising star Davey Allison, both in 1993.
The early ’90s belonged mostly to Earnhardt, Wallace and Martin.
Then came 1995, when Jeff Gordon took NASCAR by storm, completely changing the balance of power.
Gordon dominated the next few years, winning 40 races in four years and championships in ‘95, ‘97 and ‘98.
By ‘97, Jeff Burton, another young star, was becoming a threat, as was Bobby Labonte (along with veterans Martin and Dale Jarrett). But mostly, NASCAR was seen in bright, vivid colors — the rainbow colors of Jeff Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Then came 1999, when rookie Tony Stewart exploded onto the scene. Stewart won three races as a rookie and then led the series with six wins in 2000.
By 2002, Stewart had his first championship and was firmly entrenched as a perennial championship contender and NASCAR’s next great driver. It looked as if the next decade would be a showdown between Stewart and Gordon.
Then suddenly, another changing of the guard occurred as a new wave of “young guns” began to emerge, led by Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch. Soon, they were joined by Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman.
Suddenly, NASCAR’s top series was being overrun by fresh faces. Gordon and Stewart were still leading the parade, but they were quickly losing ground to the likes of Kenseth, Junior, Busch and Johnson.
By 2004, there was clearly a new sheriff in town. Though Kurt Busch won the inaugural Chase that year and Stewart bagged the second one, Johnson was in the midst of a Gordon-like march to the top.
When he won back-to-back titles in 2006-2007, he had clearly established himself as NASCAR’s next big star. When he won 27 Cup races in four years, he was suddenly in Earnhardt-Gordon-Stewart territory.
Now, just a year later, are we seeing yet another changing of the guard?
It would appear so.
More at Fox Sports
- Nextel Cup to undergo name change to Sprint Cup?
- Coast Guard drops RCR sponsorship
- 1997 Daytona 500: Star becomes a mega-star
- National Guard to sponsor Cassill, Earnhardt Jr
- National Guard sponsorship moves to Hendrick, Mears #25 in 2007
I wouldn’t say it’s Kyle Busch era…it’s still way to early for that, sure he’s won 3 races so far, but lets give credit where credit is due. Most of this credit should go towards TRD and JGR. Lets face it, if TRD doesn’t get embarrassed in their first year in Cup then they wouldn’t go to the woodwork and start over again with a new team and even better testing. Now lets give credit to JGR for making the bold move, and finally lets give credit to the JGR engine builder, he in my eyes is the one giving toyota all the horsepower, lets not forget this guy developed the chevy engine, so with that knowledge he can make the toyota engine much better.
18 BITES THE BIG ONE!!!
busch will never be a great as gordon or earnhardt sr. and thats a fact.
Well the Changing of the Guard is I guess really up to personal opinion, but with that said I think they really only mentioned two “Changing of the Guards” in this article, and that is when Sr and others came in in the 80s, and when Gordon came in in 1995. While credit is due where its due, I don’t think Tony, Kurt, Jr and the others mentioned where really a changing of the guard, but more of a reenforcement of the old guard while planting seeds for the takeover of the new guard.
Now with that being said, I also think that the “Changing of the Guard” isn’t an overnight thing, it takes years. And from the 2008 season till the end of the 2010 season I think the new Guard is gaining more power over the old guard.
So I guess Yes I agree with the article in the idea that the “Changing of the Guard” is happening, but No I do not think Kyle is the lone ‘Guard’, and No I do not think that the ‘Guard (or Guardsmen)’ have to be the younger kids, but its more of a group of drivers (young and old) who win/dominate/be consistent.
Three racing does make for a nice beginning but Kyle is known to be his own worst enemy and the beginning of the season is not the time to peak. Although i dont like him i hope he doesnt let his team down that wouldnt be fair to his crew members. We will just have to wait and see if he has matured since last year.
He’s still young and you never know what he’s going to do. I think he’s got a lot of potential to be great or at least he’s on the right track. He is his own worst enemy though, but again that may come with age. He just turned 23 earlier this month and has a lot of years of racing left.
GordonOwnz wrote:
###############################################
I agree! Lets just look at the wins and championships that Gordon has in a short period of time.
Busch will never surpass Jimmie Johnson in wins… much less an Earnhardt or Gordon.