There have been a good amount of top level NASCAR drivers. Top drivers who usually win year in and year out as well as in some cases win championships. Then there are the drivers who are the “one hit wonders”, guys who win once and never pop up again. NASCAR makes an interesting 3rd party more often than most where there is the “one year wonder”, where a driver may be good but not good enough to really do it consistently or even more than one season. So today we will look at 5 NASCAR one year wonders.
Visit the New Merch Store Here:
Video Credits:
ABC Sports
CBS Sports
Dave W
ESPN
ESN
FOX Sports
HendrickChase9
Jamin Highlights
Jordan Buster
NASCAR
NASCAR on FOX
NBC Sports
Sandeep Banerjee
SMIFF TV
StarCom Racing
TheRacingJungleIII
Turner Sports
wfrncsu012
YouTube Audio Library
666Matys666
Thumbnail Credits:
NWI Times
Outro Song:
Strang Animal (Crowder Remix) by Gowan
Songs:
Cold Funk – Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod uploaded to the YouTube Audio Library
Heading West by Kevin MacLeod uploaded to the YouTube Audio Library
#nascar #motorsports #racing
53 comments
Who are some pop up drivers that you remember most!
Bowyer 2012
definitely Jimmy Spencer 1994
Stewart freisen 2019
@@tree2190Ahh yes. The 2x modified champion, who is so far the only guy to win multiple races for McDonald’s in a single season, and the last guy to win for Junior Johnson multiple times in a single season too. Not to mention, SPEED’s ultimate tv star too.
Aric Almirola 2018
Bill Rexford should be in the NASCAR HOF anyway
McMurray’s 2010 is absolutely great to look back on. Himself, Dale Jarrett and Jimmie Johnson are the only men to won the Daytona 500 and The Brickyard in the same year. Also, that Bass Pro scheme is underrated.
Yep. Dale Jarrett in 1996, Jimmie Johnson in 2006, and Jamie McMurray in 2010 are the only 3 to win the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year
He won a points race at charlotte too that was considered a crown jewel in the Winston cup era.
Clint Bowyer in 2012 comes to mind. He had 3 wins in 2012 and was looking like a legitimate championship contender if not for Phoenix.
But Clint Bowyer was already an Xfinity Series Champion before that, and he also had good seasons in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2018. Sure, 2012 was his best season, but it wasn’t his only good year.
I would agree with that, if it wasn’t for his 2018 season. While it wasn’t as competitive as 2012, they still mentioned him as the 4th player amongst the big 3 with his 2 wins and round of 8 appearance.
Regardless if he’d been able to find more consistency with Ganassi’s equipment or not, Montoya proved through his work across multiple sports, including NASCAR from 2007-2013, that he’s one of the best drivers to ever live on planet earth. NASCAR might not have been his best stretch of racing, but it was good.
With the increased variety nowadays he’d probably be even better
JPM to Project 91 when?
Exactly. It infuriates me when people associate Montoya only with that dryer incident at Daytona. The guy is a legend of IndyCar, won two Indy 500s which is in itself a huge thing. Apart from that he was winning races in Formula 1, was running pretty strong in NASCAR, at least in 2009, and was successful in sports cars. Super talented and super accomplished race car driver
McMurray’s 2010 season was legendary
2021 Alex Bowman will 100% make this list when someone makes it again in a decade
This is going to age so poorly
Agreed @@RhygonGG
@@RhygonGG Since his team got renumbered to 48, he’s been the worst HMS car of the 4 in terms of laps led every year, he’s not gonna last long enough in that seat for it to age poorly lol
Harry Gant’s September of 1991 winning streak comes to mind, It’s even more impressive when you take in the fact that he was 51 years old at the time.
But he was also in mathematical contention for the championship the following year in the last race.
@@nascarfanatic2425Not to mention runner-up in ’84.
If I had a nickel for every time Chip Ganassi Racing produced a one-year wonder, I would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.
Sterling marlin in 2002 would make Three nickels which is weird that it happened 3 times
I would say it happened a few more times. McMurray in 2004 and 2010. Montoya in 2009. Marlin in 2001 and 2002.
Congratulations on your exceptional mathological skills. If only you could monetize them to get more nickels.
@@longneck6456 Marlin was also really good in 1995. 22 top 10s in 31 races, 3 wins, 9.8 average.
@@paulday5722 haha, fr
Ron Bouchard deserves a mention too. His first and only win at Talladega in 1981, inching both Terry Labonte and Darrell Waltrip by mere milliseconds
That’s a one *race* wonder. Not really a one year wonder.
You could say Ryan Newman 2003. Phenomenal season but he never had a season close to that again.
Bro was literally one position away from winning the 2014 championship
@@TekuTaurusWith statistically the weakest second place season in history by a wide margin. Even James Hylton led more laps.
@@TekuTaurus Yeah and that would have been a no win season too. I don’t count that. That’s a huge flaw and indictment on the current system
Ted musgrave in 1995
His only top ten points finish.
He was really good that year and I thought he easily could have been a contender but bad luck, engine/mechanical issues, wrecks, pit road issues.
I expected more in 1996 but it wasn’t to be.
I dont see this anywhere, but Aric Almirola’s 2018. He ended up 5th in the standings after a win at Talladega. He was just insanely consistent that year, in a way he hasn’t been before or since.
That’s a good one. Didn’t he have Ten top Ten in a row?
Consistent in the Chase at least. In overall points, he was 12th.
I feel it’s just a LITTLE unfair to put Kulwicki in this list, just a little (nothing criticizing or going against you here), since he passed at an early and unexpectable time. But I do agree that his championship run was unprecedented and it was unsure what his future career would look like (of course, before his death). But I think we can all agree that we all wish Kulwicki could still be here today, still would’ve been a competitor, and most of all….prove us wrong.
I think it’s a little unfair too considering that up until 1992, he only had 1 win a season and even then he only started winning in 1988
The inclusion of Kulwicki in this list was a lot unfair!
I have mixed feelings about Kulwicki, I think he would have won a few more races had he lived but no more championships. I think his career would have been similar to Ricky Rudd had he lived, 1-2 wins per season and consistent, had Davey Allison lived, I’ll go out on a limb and say Earnhardt would have been a 6 time champion and Gordon would be down at least one. I don’t really think Kulwicki counts as a 1 season wonder, he didn’t dominate 92, he raced consistent and smart
@@aardremiz4752 as seen in 1994 with Geoff Bodine, he probably would’ve won at least one more and with his consistency, I have no doubt that Alan would’ve pulled it off
The first thing that comes to mind for me when talking about 1 season wonders is Elliott Sadler’s impressive 2004 season with a slowly dying Yates team
Interesting side note: Bill Rexford’s only career win is, to date, the only career win for car #60 in the Cup Series.
You forgot to also mention in 2010, Jamie McMurray finished 2nd in Talladega race 1, Southern 500, & Coca-Cola 600. Imagine if he’d won those races too this season
If we still used the point system from 1949, he’d have been fourth in points thanks to his finishes in the big money races.
As an F1 fan in addition to NASCAR, Montoya also had two seasons in his F1 stint (2002-2003) where he finished 3rd in the standings & felt like a championship contender. In 2003 in particular, he & Kimi Raikkonen were seen as real threats to ending Michael Schumacher’s & Ferrari’s dominance of the series which did not happen thanks to the FIA ordering Michelin to redesign their tires which negatively affected his performance towards the end of the season. After that Montoya struggled big time in 2004 as Williams struggled to provide him with a car that could help him compete. Then for the final two years of his F1 career, Montoya played second fiddle to Kimi Raikkonen at McLaren & frequently got into arguments with team principal Ron Dennis on just about everything. In fact one of the reasons why Montoya decided to jump to NASCAR when he did in 2006 was because he & Dennis got into an argument about him skipping F1 races so that he could gain experience in the Xfinity Series. Dennis decided that it would be better to release Montoya & tank the rest of the season with the test driver driving the second McLaren car knowing that Lewis Hamilton would be arriving the following season than deal with an unhappy & increasingly disinterested Montoya.
Tim Richmond 86, Neil Bonnett 88 with 3 consecutive wins if you count Australia, Morgan Sheppard held the points lead for a while, 90 I think it was. Harry Gant 1991 5 wins. Geoff Bodine 1994. You could make a case for Mark Martin 2009, that would be a good one for a career resurgence video along with Bill Elliott Dodge days. Call me crazy bud Dale Earnhardt 1980, 81-82 people thought he was a flash in the pan, a fluke. Last one that comes to mind is that year Ryan Newman won a whole bunch of races.
Other people have already commented about Aric Almirola in 2018 so I’ll go with Bobby Johns in 1960, where he finished 3rd in points but never finished better than 19th in points in any other season