The 2020 Cup Series started out with a scare and followed that with pure chaos all along.
Following the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series was like burning your first cake or, finishing your first home renovation project. It was botched, you know it was botched, but you sure were proud of it when you were done. The season started with a scary crash at Daytona and ended with a dominating win in Phoenix. Everything in between, however, was pure chaos. It had retirements, unexpected wins, rovals, and much more. Let’s look back at a year of NASCAR.
The Big One and a Tour of the Wild West
The Cup Series landed at Daytona in February for America’s biggest race. Unbeknownst to us, it’d be a season like no other. As it has happened in recent times, rain brought the race to a halt and forced it to resume a day later. Ryan Newman spun during the final lap of the race and crashed into the wall before flipping on his roof.
Fans in the stands held their breath as it was very reminiscent of Dale Earnhardt’s fatal crash. Newman missed a big chunk of the season but incredibly, avoided serious injury and returned later in the year. He only sustained “a head injury” which we can now assume was a concussion as he described it as “Basically, like a bruised brain”
We then headed West to race at Las Vegas where Joey Logano got his first win of the season. Things went equally as smoothly in California where Alex Bowman punched his way into the Playoffs with a win. The first race at Phoenix would see Logano take his second win of the year before COVID-19 caught up with stock car racing. The season was put on hold for a little more than a month and in his place came an e-series on iRacing. That too had a very tense moment.
Fans, and Others, did not Return
Fans were not in attendance when NASCAR came back at Darlington. Neither was Kyle Larson as using racial slur during the aforementioned e-series cost him his seat in the number 42 car. He was replaced by former Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth. While some were forced to return others, left the sport as this was the final season of Clint Bowyer and seven times Champion Jimmie Johnson.
Bowyer made it to the playoffs but didn’t go very far as he was eliminated before reaching the round of eight. Johnson, on the other hand, didn’t make the Playoffs and missed a week of action due to COVID-19. Nonetheless, he went out in good fashion after running as high as seventh in a race that would eventually crown Chase Elliott as the 2020 Cup Series champion. While this was quite the highlight to end the season, there was one thing that outshined everything else: Pushing a car down pitlane.
Pushing A Car
The world of NASCAR came together after Bubba Wallace, the sport’s only African-American driver, found a noose hanging from his garage. Drivers were quick to respond and they made their presence felt. Wallace’s team, friends, and fellow drivers came together a day after the incident and pushed his car off pit road as a show of solidarity and support for Black Lives Matter. Some say actions speak louder than words and, that was true for everyone involved. Not only did it show NASCAR’s truest colors as they embraced diversity and inclusion but, it also lit up the fire that led Michael Jordan to start his own team for next season. If there’s anything fans can take from this chaotic season, take that: the pushing of that number 43 car down pitlane.
Featured Image: Getty Images
