CONCORD, N.C. — The talking heads on FOX’s coverage of NASCAR racing are obsessed with “comers and goers.” We’re going to take a different approach.
In all sports there are frequently athletes, rules, themes, trends or other things that burst on the scene, while others exit stage left.
The winter and the first few weeks of the new season got us thinking about the changing landscape of our sport, as well as the many things that seem to rarely change. As a result, we bring you “hello-goodbye.”
Hello Matt DiBenedetto. While many of us have known of DiBenedetto since his days racing outlaw karts in his native California, the veteran of 141 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts burst upon the national scene by leading the most laps in the Daytona 500.
Hello Daryn Pittman. It may not be fair to say, “Where have you been?” But Pittman, who lost his longtime ride at Kasey Kahne Racing during the offseason, looked dominant in winning the first two World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series races of the season at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park.
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Hello Cooper Webb. The 23-year-old North Carolina motorcycle racer has exploded on the Monster Energy Supercross scene during his sophomore season in the 450 class, winning four of the first seven events.
Hello Austin Prock. The former midget racer and son of legendary tuner Jimmy Prock made his NHRA Top Fuel debut during the Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Calif.).
Hello Tyler Erb. After showing promise on the dirt late model scene for several seasons, Erb moved to the Best Performance No. 1 and won three of the first four Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Car Series features of the season.
Hello Colton Herta. The 18-year-old son of Bryan Herta was the fastest on the track during NTT IndyCar Series testing at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. Herta is a rookie in the series after working his way through the Road To Indy ladder system.
Hello Mustang and Supra body styles. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series welcomes Ford Mustang bodied cars to the fold, while Toyota’s Supra returns to the showroom and the race track. Supra-bodied cars are competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. However, the on-track Supra bears little resemblance to the super-sleek street version of the Supra, which returned to production this year after a long hiatus.
Hello NBC. NBC and NBC Sports Network have risen to the top when it comes to televising motorsports. In addition to the second half of the NASCAR Cup Series season, NBC now has the rights to the NTT IndyCar Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Monster Energy AMA Supercross.
Goodbye restrictor plates. After decades of use on the engines of NASCAR stock cars, the devices were used one final time during the 61st running of the Daytona 500. Hopefully, this will also be the last time we complain about restrictor-plate racing, the resultant crashes and the ridiculous amount of wasted time, money and effort that go hand-in-hand with this type of racing.
Goodbye Tony Schumacher? As the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series kicked off the season, the eight-time Top Fuel champion was on the sideline without a sponsor. Forever known as “The Sarge” thanks to his long association with the U.S. Army that ended last season, we hope to say hello to Schumacher again soon.
Goodbye Pato O’Ward. The Mexican Indy Lights champion lost his NTT IndyCar Series ride with Harding Steinbrenner Racing without running a single lap this season.
Goodbye Jamie McMurray. McMurray won seven Cup Series races, including the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400, over 583 starts. The always-classy McMurray made his last start at Daytona and will retire to the FOX television studio.
Goodbye Craftsman. After three years as sponsor of the two traveling World of Outlaws dirt-track series, Craftsman left the sport and was replaced by a pair of sponsors, resulting in the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series.
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