NASCAR's Most Forgotten Championship Battle
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- The 2003 NASCAR Busch Series had one of the greatest championship battles ever but is largely forgotten.
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2003 the narrative was flipped while Kenseth had an insurmountable lead in the Cup Series. The Busch Series delivered the title fight when you let things play out and things happen organically as this championship needed no Chase or playoff. It also made the Saturday races watchable because you never knew who was going to win or be the leader. Those are the kind of things that happen once in a lifetime.
Damn the playoffs
The truck series was a great points battle as well. I think you find that the series inversely mirrored each other before the playoffs. If the cup series was a runaway, the Busch and truck series was a tight battle. If the trucks or Busch were a runaway, the cup series was a closer battle.
I remember watching the '03 Ford 300 and not only was the points battle back and forth but the race was back and forth too. Biffle lead early, then McMurray dominated, then Kenseth came out of nowhere to lead, the Truex looked like he had the car to beat, the FINALLY Kasey Kahne stole the show and won.
It's a shame because these kinds of battles are what makes the sport special because they were organic. The playoffs forces these championship battles. When every final race is special, none of them are special.
Kenseth was the biggest extreme since 1987, but in all reality the title race was over with at least a race to go in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. It was becoming way too common. In a couple cases, in all practicality it was over with 2-4 races left. 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, and 2000
@@scjacket611 Up to that point I was used to it. I was okay with it being clinched with a race to go because of just how long the season was. I was never concerned about the championship as much as I was the racing.
Its the ultimate irony that in a season which most people point toward as the reason we ended up with a chase so it would be more exciting, the busch series simultaneously had an all time great points battle between 6 people right down to the wire.
Which means it's time for NASCAR to stop the gimmick "one race" champion crap so relevancy is added to all races to score maximum points. Wins should have a bonus of like well like this:' (I could go on and on and on about this)
+3 Lead a Lap
+6 Lead the Most Laps
+5 Winner bonus
So the max points for a winner in a race who led the most laps and won would be 102 (3 lead a lap, 6 led the most laps 5 the win)
With this system, there isn't a possibility that second place could outscore the winner of the race as the winner would have lead a lap and receives a bonus for winning.
No CHASE, a full season champion, the driver that performs well in every race would be the result with a points system designed to make EACH point matter..
No damage vehicle clock/policy but a driver MUST maintain a minimum average speed over a 5 lap period or be parked.
Engine changes allowed with a rear of the field starting spot.
Each race has a maximum of 40 entrants, starting fields based on qualifying speeds of one lap (less Daytona and Talledaga). The fastest 20 cars in the first round start in p1-20, the slowest 18 in p21-38. Only the fastest cars make the race, no CHARTER guarantee.. P39,40 would be reserved for provisionals: past champs get 4 on the year and everyone else, 3.
No more wave-around or "Lucky Dog" rules. In the event of a caution, lapped cars line up in the order that came off of pit row, double file, in front of the leaders. However, those lapped cars do not get to use the choose rule. The leader, lined behind the lapped cars, will be the first to use the choose rule.
Racing back to the caution flag, in that event, will be in effect barring that no cars involved in an accident are a hazard to the cars racing back to the line.
No more stage racing, rather 1 competition caution at the halfway point of the race to "break it in half" but allow for strategy to play out.
(1) 88 (2) 85 (3) 82 (4) 80 (5) 78 (6) 76 (7) 74 (8) 72 (9) 70 (10) 68 (11) 64 (12) 61 (13) 58 (14) 55 (15) 52 (16) 50 (17) 48 (18) 46 (19) 44 (20) 42 (21) 38 (22) 35 (23) 32 (24) 29 (25) 26 (26) 24 (27) 22 (28) 20 (29) 18 (30) 16 (31) 13 (32) 11 (33) 9 (34) 7 (35) 6 (36) 6 (37) 4 (38) 3 (39) 2 (40) 1
when you realize that Brian Vickers actually had a Busch series title before *Jimmy Spencer comment blasted Vickerism*
One of the most underrated championship battles ever. It just proves you don’t need the “playoffs” to have a good championship battle.
And how many times has that actually happened? Not often enough
@@k18rock22 Isn't that kind of the point? These battles are special when they're organic. When they're forced every year, they stop becoming special.
@@k18rock22 THANK YOU
@@k18rock22 The thing about championship fights on a traditional points system is that they are memorable because they dont happen literally every single time, and if they happen constantly, is good to watch because the drivers are competing every single race for every single position, its not like get a win on the beggining of the round of 8 and then just cruise around knowing that you'll be on the finale anyway
David Green and that great looking Pontiac.
I forgot that Brian Vickers was in contention for the championship, until he went on a charge and won the titled.
Man Bobby Hamilton in my mind is the most impressive, nearly won and cut more then 300 points out of the deficit
Despite Brian doing some questionable things throughout his career he imo was a very underrated driver.
Best ride and equipment he had really was at Hendrick in the 25 car and a lot of people have said that was the “experimental” car at that time, maybe if he were in top equipment he could’ve been better… maybe 🤷🏻♂️
The last time Keller was a threat for anything in Busch.His career really faded after 03.
I do wonder.... could the same be argued for Bobby Hamilton, Jr? (To a certain extent?)
@@davidpeters2625 Same with David Green.
Still kept getting decent rides long enough to become the Busch Series iron man in 2010, but by then he was driving in a midpack TriStar car that was struggling for sponsors and he subsequently retired. Still a great career, a true Busch Series lifer
Ricky Hendrick's scheme won the Xfinity Championship and the Cup Championship 18 years apart
Oh yes!
That's awesome
Rip Ricky Hendrick 1980-2004
Todd Bodine would've been in this championship battle, as well, if he didn't get dropped from his ride.
At least he and Jamie Mac provided a fantastic encore finish at Darlington.
@@luisy.gonzalez6469 Agreed. Probably one of the most underrated finishes of all time. To be fair, the Cup Series race finish stole its thunder, but both finishes are a primary example of why Darlington is the best Intermediate track in NASCAR. Chicagoland would be #2 if they kept racing there. Then again, Atlanta would be #2 if the track wasn't getting reconfigured. Fortunately, with the package presumably changing combined with the debut of the Gen-7 car, maybe we'll get a better race than expected, and I would be happy to be proven wrong in that case.
Well... why was he dropped?
@@Thedearster Lack of sponsorship funding.
Pain, endless pain
Well it shows Scott Riggs is good so yay
YESSS!!!! 03 was my first season watching NASCAR. The Busch field was stacked.
What about Gordon vs Terry Labonte? (1996)
Another underrated title feud was JJ vs Edwards vs Kyle Busch (2008)
In Xfinity Series 2015 the title battle was good with a medium equipament winning the Championship (Chris Buescher)
At Trucks the 2008 season Championship was great too
Actually in Atlanta 1992. 6 drivers had a shot. Alan pulled it off. Yes I was there
Watching this video, really makes me miss the old points system that deserves a come back. I mean, look at this awesome battle man.
The 1997 Winston Cup championship always gets overlooked. Gordon, Jarrett & Martin finished within 30 points of each other & those three combined to win 21 of the 32 races that year.
Too bad the Cup series overshadowed it like always, despite not being very exciting.
??? That cup series season was awesome, apart from all the rain.
'03 season was the greatest season ever across all three series. Great winner parody, closest ever finish in nascar history at Darlington. Pontiac's last win. Terry Labonte's last win and a great resurgence finishing 10th in standings. Last lap pass for the win in the last race of the season and Bobby Labonte's last cup series win. Michael Waltrip recorded his last two points paying wins. Truck series had a phenomenal points battle along with the Busch series. Kenseth won the last non chase points championship. Bill Elliot won his last career race at Rockingham's last fall race. I could go on and on and on.
Last great year in NASCAR. After 2003, 2004-2007 were ok and by 2008 NASCAR was unwatchable. I miss NASCAR 1995-2003 era of NASCAR.
@@osurocks24 1988-94 had greatness too
Imagine of this year's Xfinity season was Winston points. Hemric, dinger and Cindric would be in a dog fight for the chip
In terms of full season points:
1. Austin Cindric, 1,336 points
2. A.J. Allmendinger, 1,288 points, -48
3. Justin Allgaier, 1,203 points, -133
4. Daniel Hemric, 1,201 points, -135
8:21 Oh yeah, back when NEMCO basically said "Hey, Randy LaJoie, you're doing mediocre this season, so we're just gonna dump you out for a Cup driver because we wanna win. Screw winning possible championships, am I right? The sponsor won't mind, either, by the way." Sorry, I just really hated that.
Agreed. Never knew at the time how that whole Biffle deal happened. Was weird.
Nothing to do with the topic but i miss that announcers crew from those day's. The Jr win at Daytona during the Pepsi 400 2001 was classic.
Weird how people thought about the format being boring in 2003 due to Cup even though the Busch and Truck series had great title battles that same year
Man, Bobby Hamilton Jr. made a heck of a comeback during that season's end. From being over 300 points behind, finishing only 49 points behind the champion.
6 drivers battle for the championship was the true Game Seven moments. These days, its always 4 drivers they guarentee to battle at a one race deal. Damn the playoffs. Bring back the full season points.
Like Darian said, it seems like the 2003 NASCAR season was one of the greatest of all time championship battle wise. Especially in the Truck and Busch series
Video idea (I lost count lol):
Nascar's worst rookie of the year
Kevin conway comes to my mind. He won it pretty much by default if i remember correctly being the only one running for it
Stephen Leicht
Kevin Conway. Only won it because he was the only rookie
The great years of the Busch series. I'm happy the competition level is finally starting to get back to this. The series took a nose dove afterwards. Brian vickers is probably my all time favorite Busch series driver and I enjoyed watching him in cup, I just wish he coulda lived up to the expectations
Great job with the video btw!! I also believe that along with 2003, 2013 and 2015 are so criminally underrated (Sam Hornish Jr, and Austin Dillon with very high-level quality equipment, that is of Team Penske, and RCR, would've been a dream come true to see Hornish win an Xfinity Series title, on his way out, but nevertheless a very exciting battle right down to the end)... and 2015 where Chris Buescher may not have had the best equipment, but his consistency was spectacularly admirable... and also proof that you don't need a fancy, poofy playoff system... (damn, now that I think about it, 2015 was the last year before the playoff system was implemented)...
Bobby Hamilton Jr really cut that gap. Imagine if he would of mirrored that in the first half of the season
Great video. I couldn't help but laugh when you said "configurated" after making fun of the way Larry Mac delivers his "trends". That's Karma!
Look at all those big name sponsors that people don’t have to look up to see what they do (like they do today).
That 37 Wolf car was one of my favorite paint jobs. SD video just doesn’t do it justice.
Man... had Hamilton Jr didnt wreck at Kansas & finished in the Top 5, he would have won the title. Thus pulling a "Kulwicki"
And people say a traditional points system is boring
That’s the thing. The traditional points could go either way. It doesn’t manufacture a close championship, so when the fight for the title is actually close, it makes a year special or stick out. I feel like with the playoffs, it’s just an expectation (not a welcome surprise) that no one knows who will be the championship until the final race.
AND ONCE AGAIN: I demand a Paul Menard video
This was also the last year it used the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series name, in 2004 it officially became just the NASCAR Busch Series
Its funny how I remember these guys all having a good season in 2003 but I forgot it was all at the same time
2:53 Kyle Busch in 2011
Awesome video as always Darian
Bro this video came out 1 minute ago. Are you a time traveler?
That was the championship battle that year. The Cup Series was already over.
Say what you will about the iconic paint schemes in NASCAR, that 25 Marines car has always been my favorite.
This season would probably have 7 drivers at the end if Todd Bodine's point leading team didn't shut down halfway through the season due to no sponsorship.
While I watched NASCAR races here and there starting in ‘98, 2003 was the first year I really got to see a significant majority of all the races for all three series, and it was so exciting getting to see the battles, trials, and tribulations among the Busch Series title contenders that year as it got down to the wire.
This is great, but the all-time most underrated title battle is '19 Xfinity.
"The Big 3" dominating for the entire season and then having a 60 lap green-flag shootout among themselves for the title was lowkey the most epic finale in NASCAR history.
Yeah that was pretty great, and Custer keeping Reddick mistake free for the last 20 laps as he was right behind him.
@@supertornadogun1690 I remember that. It was amazing fight for the championship. Was so pumped for Tyler Reddick, who was my second favorite Xfinity Series driver at the time. Since 2020, he's my 5th favorite Cup Series driver.
Excellent video! It's nice to see this battle showcased today. As a David Green fan, this one was bittersweet.
2:55 I used to have this race on VHS, and as a child, I would imitate this rant word for word next to the tv screen to entertain my parents xD
What makes watching kinda videos isn't all the retrospect but the great story telling you do in such a great way.
This was 18 years ago... how quickly time flies
On an unrelated note my boi Kasey won the last race of the season
Would like to see a career video on Bobby Jr if possible and also David greens last win love the content
I love that you used Nascar Thunder 04's soundtrack with this vid. All those songs remind me of this era
Im watching the 2003 nascar season right now on RUclips and have enjoyed the Busch series updates they show every week, that battle was like the winston cup battle the year before when smoke won his first cup. Great battle and great video👍
For anybody wondering, the song playing in the background is I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace
Never knew how Vickers won his only busch/xfinity title
for the song/guiter soundtrack was it 'I hate everything about you"
great video as usual, maybe you try more if NASCAR used a f1 or another motorsports points system.
If they'd used F1 points in this season, Hamilton would have won.
Wow - I remembered Hamilton Jr winning a few races, but forgot he was so good and in the title hunt in 2003. What went wrong with his career? Looks like it fell off a cliff after this season.
Non-Cup affiliated teams like Rensi, Pollax and Brewer all started falling off while Buschwackers in Cup teams kept increasing. This was their last hurrah.
The uncompetitive #32 Tide Ride in Cup happened…he was having to qualify on speed week in week out because that team had fallen off horribly by 2004…he DNQ’d a shitpile of races because of it then went back to Rensi but by then the Cup affiliated teams were dominating the series and it was not the same at all
This is why I want these normal points back
My favorite championship battle nascar couldn't put together one like this if they tried I remember watching this I was in high school and would talk about it with a few teachers we all thought BHJ was gonna come and steal it away
Only Closet Points In NASCAR History 1992 Winston Cup Series And Busch Grand National Series ☺
TIL Bobby Hamilton Jr did the fence climb before Tony (and obviously Helio was the one who started it)
The nesquik car always looked great on track
Now thats the type of season i want to see PURE CHAOS
“BASED ON THE TRENDS” 😂
Fingertight playing in the background! Nice!
Spent the latter portion of the video jamming out to the I Hate Everything About You instrumental in the background lol
Caution clock lol? I think you meant Damage Vehicle Policy haha
BTW: Great to see these race in Rockingham and Memphis. Two tracks which should be come back in Xfinity and Trucks in future.
This is when everyone should have known Jon Wood had no business racing at this level
That paint scheme on that 5 car reminds me of Larson’s. Love it!!
I enjoyed watching this back in 03 the same amount as me watching the current format. Both are exciting and good in their own special ways.
To add to that. We don’t realize how great some of these drivers were.
Love the song!! Fingertight- Guilt (Hold Down!!
Lol Riggs knew Hornaday was a scrub before Kyle Busch knew it 😂
It’s literally like they didn’t want us to remember this.
Love the throw-forward paint scheme Vickers has lol!
You could add basically every championship "battle" since 2014 as well.
Imagine if all 3 series had a championship battle like this that year?
Great vid, also love the TDG - I Hate Everything About You instrumental in the background!
And Memento.
I will always have fond memories of this battle. I was 12 or 13 and that Timberwolf Pontiac looked pretty 🔥 Its a shame David couldn't get it even though I was a Gordon fan pulling for Vickers.
That scheme and number #5 is absolutely one of the all time classic paint schemes. Larsons looks amazing. Hopefully they don't change it
13:53 Miseria Cantare by AFI. CM Punk's old theme in ROH
15:44 hey, I recognize that song!!!
I Hate Everything About You by Theee Days Grace BTW
Bad Seasons: Stewart Haas Racing 2021
I really thought Scott Wimmer was the guy to beat heading into the 2003 season.
Nascar 04 soundtrack song guilt
hell yea
David Greens Pontiac though 😍😍😍😍😍😍
2003 was my first year as a fan (Born 1997)
Greatest year in NASCAR with 3 different scenarios.
Natural battle
10:56 Hank Parker, Jr. actually.
The soundtrack for this video seems a bit familiar. I wonder if a certain video game company came up with it in the subject year?
I remember this year and it was so fun
*"Era before the crash clock"
In other words, an era where real non gimmicky racing existed in NASCAR
6:00 was Jimmie Johnson commentating?
One of the few times he did. He was VERY boring lol
@@BobbertYates I'm not surprised he was lol. At least he has a nice voice for commentating
Gotta do a video on why biffle was in the 7 lolol
No one of going to remember Hamlin vs Larson 2021 because NASCAR has to have their precious playoffs instead of a real points system.
*champion-tip season* 😂💀
Everything since they started "The Chase" started.
And no playoff system was needed :)
ur rite darrian 2003 bush was insane
This is basically the nascar version of the 2007 college football season, no one wanted to win it lol