[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”249″]
[/media-credit]What an incredible 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. A season that started off with a Monday night under the lights Daytona 500 all the way to a riveting championship battle all the way to the final few laps at Homestead. I would like to give out some awards of excellence to close out 2012 and to honor some of the best performances of the season.
Driver of the Year – Brad Keselowski: Sunday night’s championship clinching race culminated Brad Keselowski’s meteoric rise to the top of the NASCAR mountain. In just three years he accomplished what many drivers never do in a career that spans more than a decade. After a sluggish first seven races of the 2012 season, the driver of the Penske Dodge went on an incredible run of consistency recording four wins, 11 top-5’s, and 19 top 10’s over the final 29 races of the season. Brad only finished outside the top-15 in three of those final 29 races. 2012 proved to be the year for Brad and with solid resources from Penske Racing the sky is the limit for this 28 year old from Michigan.
Crew Chiefs of the Year – Paul Wolfe and Chad Knaus: Without question the two smartest men in the NASCAR garage. Paul and Chad played a huge role in their respective teams successes in 2012. The No.2 and No.48 accounted for 10 wins, 31 top-5’s, and 47 top-10 finishes. As long as Paul and Chad are on top of the pit boxes and Brad and J.J. are behind the wheels of the race cars. Look for many more battles between the No.2 and No.48.
Breakout Driver of the Year – Clint Bowyer: 2012 can be summed up as nothing short of a banner year for the Emporia, Kansas native. Heading into 2012, Clint’s best finish was third in 2007 also he raised a lot of eyebrows by announcing he was leaving Richard Childress Racing (RCR) for Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) for the 2012 season. Clint proved the experts wrong about the decision to leave by posting his finest campaign in the cup series. Clint posted three wins, 10 top-5’s and 23 top-10 finishes not to mention a career best second place finish in points. With a solid team returning and Brian Pattie continuing to call the shots look for this No.15 team to be in the hunt for 2013.
Organization of the Year – Michael Waltrip Racing: To go from an organization that had only won two races in its existence to having two cars make the 2012 chase and all three cars running consistent through the 2012 season with four different drivers makes for a very successful season for MWR. As a collective unit MWR won three races, recorded 24 top-5’s, and 57 top-10 finishes in 2012. Also was very close to going to victory lane on several other occasions. Look for MWR to continue in 2013 the strong momentum from the 2012 season. MWR has become one of NASCAR’s elite teams.
Story of the Year – Hendrick Motorsports 200th NSCS win and Roger Penske’s first NSCS title: Nothing compares to these two moments in 2012. Jimmie Johnson’s win in the Southern 500 at Darlington and Roger Penske finally getting the one prize that had eluded him in Motor Sports definitely tops 2012’s great moments of the season. I can add a third moment with Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning and breaking his four year win less drought at Michigan in June.
ugg boots sale
2012 was one of those years that gave us a lot of moments. A lot of celebration and heartbreak. It is what draws us as fans to the sport. Hopefully 2013 can produce those same kinds of moments as 2012 did. Three long months till Daytona, I don’t know about you but I am already ready to go racing in 2013.
