With holidays on the horizon and December days dwindling, the ongoing victory lap following the festivities at Phoenix Raceway is drawing to a close. The imminence of NASCAR’s next generation is already standing front and center, but The Circuit Journal continues to bask in the glories prominently displayed in 2021.
After years of weekly, spaced-out monotony at the finish line with the occasional sprinkle of intrigue spawned from certain tracks or events, the 2021 season produced virtually a season-long campaign of thrilling victories. Whether it’d be Cinderella stories, history rewritten, or multiple wins decided by tenths of a second, headlines were essentially being made every weekend.
Before turning off the engine completely, let’s coast around the track once more and reminisce about the best finishes of the 2021 NASCAR season.
Photo Finishes
NASCAR is a game of inches, right? This notion was confirmed between all three national series on eight occasions, with victories being determined by under one-tenth of a second. Unsurprisingly, the NASCAR Xfinity Series was responsible for six of these photo finishes, validating the argument that it could be the most entertaining division of the sport.
While each nail-biter moment was unique in its own way, there were three that stood out as the most iconic. Among finishes headlining the year were the wins by Justin Haley at Daytona International Speedway and Daniel Hemric at Phoenix Raceway.
Kaulig Racing orchestrated a masterfully choreographed final lap at Daytona, which concluded with their best “Ford v. Ferrari” impression; a three-wide organization sweep at the finish line with Haley besting his teammates by .023 seconds.
Hemric is responsible for one of the best moments and finishes in Phoenix’s history after he executed the ultimate walk-off victory. Winless through 207 NASCAR sanctioned starts across all three national series, the 30-year-old put on the gutsiest performance of his career in the Xfinity finale. Coming off Turn 4 to the checkered flag, he was door-to-door with reigning champion Austin Cindric, and performed the perfect bump-and-run to win his first race and the title.
In what’s been deemed one of the most remarkable finishes in NASCAR history, the Xfinity Series opened up the playoffs at Bristol Motor Speedway with A.J. Allmendinger edging out Cindric by a slim .082-second margin. What made for an even more enthralling conclusion was that both cars were sideways and wrecking as the checkered flag waved – showcasing a textbook definition of “checkers or wreckers.”
First Timers and Cinderella Stories
As mentioned earlier, the Xfinity Series season was capped off with a first-time winner, but this was hardly a rare occurrence in 2021. In fact, there were 13 new winners between all three national series.
The NASCAR Cup Series started the year off with the baker’s dozen of first-time winners in the form of Michael McDowell’s Daytona 500 victory, one of many Cinderella stories to take place in 2021. Another popular and emotional win occurred at Martinsville Speedway in the Xfinity Series, where late model and short track specialist Josh Berry held off JR Motorsports teammate Noah Gragson for the elusive victory.
There were also a pair of redemptive-filled victories in the form of Kyle Larson and A.J. Allmendinger in the Cup Series. Just one year removed after being exiled from the sport due to the use of a racial slur, the now reigning champion put on a dominant performance at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to win in his fourth race back at the sport’s premier level.
Allmendinger, who was already in the midst of a career revival with Kaulig Racing in the Xfinity Series, found his way to victory lane at the Cup level for the first time since 2014. In what was a disastrous event overall, the 39-year-old flexed his muscles and kissed the bricks at the inaugural Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course event with the team who gave him a second chance at success just three years after being blackballed from racing in the premier series.
Among other notable first-time winners was Ty Gibbs at the Daytona road course at 18 years old in his Xfinity Series debut and Bubba Wallace at Talladega Superspeedway.
Historic
History was rewritten on a few occasions in 2021, predominantly in Hendrick Motorsports. The Chevrolet team won back-to-back championships and 17-of-36 points-paying races (18 if you include the All-Star Race), but there were a pair of victories that added to the organization’s storied legacy.
Beginning with the race at Dover International Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports became just the third team in Cup Series history to sweep the top-four positions with Alex Bowman leading the charge. This spawned a six-race win streak for the team owned by Rick Hendrick.
Two weeks later, Larson wheeled his No. 5 to a dominant 327-lap leading victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600, while his teammate all placed inside the top-five as well. Serving as one of the sport’s crowned jewels always adds significance to a win, but this also ended up being Hendrick Motorsports’ 269th victory, making them the winningest organization in the Cup Series ahead of Petty Enterprises.
Another underrated and historic win came at Talladega, where Brad Keselowski won his sixth race at the 2.5-mile track, tying Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon on the all-time wins list there.
Stay tuned next week for the conclusion of The Circuit Journal’s “Best Of 2021” columns before we dive headfirst into 2022 and NASCAR’s Next Gen.
you mean all-time ACTIVE winners at Talledaga. The simple absence of the word ACTIVE creates an infinitive meaning for a new fan who might not know that the all-time winner at the track is Dale Earnhardt Sr, with 10.