To no surprise, Jimmie Johnson extending his consecutive title record to five was voted as the top story of 2010 by the NASCAR media corps this week. A total of 21 story lines were up for ranking, a first place vote earned the story line 21 points with a last place vote earning one point. Johnson’s fifth consecutive title, which he driver earned in come-from-behind fashion in the final race at Homestead, earned 1,449 total points with 49 first place votes.
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[/media-credit]NASCAR’s new “Boys Have At It” policy was the second top story line of the season, earning a total of 1,294 points.
Rounding out the top-five story lines was Denny Hamlin’s comeback from re-constructive knee surgery, Kyle Busch’s 24 national touring series victories and Jamie McMurray’s breakout season that featured wins at the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and the Bank of American 500 this season.
The three Richard Childress Racing teams making it into the chase, the spoiler returning to the rear of the cars, adjusting the green-white-checkered rule to include up to three attempts to finish the race under the green flag, Brad Keselowski winning the Nationwide Series championship and giving Roger Penske his first NASCAR championship and the Sprint Cup Series setting a record for most lead changes and leaders in a single season were the remaining top-ten biggest stories of 2010.
