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Today’s blog is going to be a bit different. We’ve talked endlessly about the 2021 season. Let’s have some fun and talk about some things we wish were still in NASCAR. This may include drivers, media, teams and everything in between. All that matters is that they’re not involved in NASCAR in 2021. Let’s begin.
1. Allen Bestwick
We’re starting off strong with my favorite NASCAR announcer of all time. Bestwick’s body of work reads like a time capsule for the sport. So many of my favorite moments include him on the microphone. Whether it was the 2011 Championship battle between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart, the crazy finish to the 2012 Nationwide race at Daytona that James Buescher won or the 2001 Pepsi 400, the greatest call in NASCAR history mind you, Bestwick has seen it all and called it all. From being an announcer for MRN, to NBC to ESPN, Bestwick had a perfect voice for announcing and brought the same joy for racing and passion everywhere he went. It was such a joy to hear him calling SRX this summer, as he was meant to call racing.
2. 200 mph Laps
The 2014 season was so much fun for me to watch. In the second year of the Gen-Six car, NASCAR didn’t have the limited aero packages they have today. They increased the spoiler height to eight inches; but the high horsepower worked so well with it. We were gifted with great, fast racing that showed off the drivers’ talent. I remember the race at Chicagoland, where Brad Keselowski made a bonsai three-wide pass for the win, while Kyle Larson was blowing everyone away with how he was riding the top. Not only was this fun to watch, but the drivers were well above 200 mph going into the corner. The speed these cars had was breathtaking, and no track had more of it than Michigan. Jeff Gordon won the pole for the second Michigan race with a speed of 206.558 mph. That’s just silly. Man, do I wish we could get that back.
3. Carl Edwards
Being from St. Louis, missing out on Rusty Wallace and Ken Schrader, Carl Edwards was the closest thing I had to a hometown hero. While he wasn’t my favorite driver, what made him a hero to me was how he conducted himself. He had two of the most gut-wrenching losses in NASCAR history in 2011 and 2016. In 2011, when Tony Stewart beat him in a tiebreaker, the first thing Edwards did was go over to Stewart and congratulate him. In 2016, when his championship bid ended with him in the wall after trying to block Joey Logano, he went to the no. 22 pit box, shook crew chief Todd Gordon’s hand and said it was a racing deal. That was the last time we saw Edwards in a NASCAR stock car. While we’ve seen many retirements since, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and Jamie McMurray, Edwards seems like he had the most left in the tank.
4. Dale Earnhardt Inc.
If you don’t listen to the Dale Jr. Download, I highly recommend it. The guests he brings in to talk about his late father’s legacy are so enjoyable. Every interview leaves me with one conclusion: when Dale Earnhardt had a vision, it would come to fruition. While he got his pet project in DEI off the ground before his untimely passing, the true vision never got the chance to see the light of day. I love hearing Ty Norris talk about the team, because he was absolutely all in on the team. Had Earnhardt lived, I fully believe that the team would be on a level with Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports. The only person who could’ve saved the team was Dale Earnhardt Jr., whom Theresa Earnhardt refused to give majority ownership to, despite the fact that the writing was on the wall. When Earnhardt Jr. left for Hendrick, that was it. It’s one of the saddest situations in NASCAR, but Theresa will never allow it to be reborn. What a shame.
5. SPEED
It’s October 2011, and a young Harry Loomis got home from school Friday, turned on SPEED, got updated on the day’s practice sessions at Charlotte and caught Nationwide qualifying before he left for his soccer game. When I tell you life couldn’t get any better, I mean it. SPEED was my dream come true, a realization that I never had until SPEED went away for Fox Sports 1. SPEED had everything I ever needed. There was daily NASCAR Race Hub with Steve Byrnes (whom I also miss dearly), then Friday afternoons you either got Cup practice or qualifying, Xfinity practice or qualifying, NASCAR Trackside or the occasional ARCA race. Sundays after races were NASCAR Victory Lane and Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain. While these were all great, nothing will ever beat NASCAR RaceDay on Sunday morning. I said life didn’t get any better than Fridays after school, the next best thing was Sunday morning. We’d go to mass, get White Castle and then I’d run to get my hands on the TV remote to find channel 607. John Roberts, Kenny Wallace and Jimmy Spencer were on the panel Built by the Home Depot in front of a rocking crowd of fans, and would send it off to Bob Diller and Rutledge Wood for some awesome interviews. There will never be anything like NASCAR Racday again.
What do you miss in today’s NASCAR? Leave a comment below or tweet me @HBLoomis. Let’s talk racing!
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