I say You forgot the biggest one. Ayrton Senna never dying in 1994 at Imola, and moving to CART that year and later going to NASCAR as it was his plan post F1. How he would fare and which team he would land.
If the chase system never existed, Kevin Harvick , MTJ and probably others would have 4 Titles, and Jeff Gordon would have 7. What if Dale Earnhardt had won the 1990 Daytona 500? What if he had broke through in 1989 and 1995?
Yeah I know petty was different situation but that’s why disagree with him saying Adam would’ve peaked like Kyle and never be better nobody would’ve known what jj did
I'm very disappointed that nobody mentioned Alan Kulwicki. From what I recall, he still is (and hopefully will forever be) the only defending NASCAR Champion that didn't live long enough to defend his title. He was at the top of his game in 1992, when he won the championship and in 1993 things looked pretty good as well. At Daytona he had problems and was involved in an accident and DNFed at Atlanta, but the other 3 races that he started that season before his death resulted in 2 Top5s and a 6th place finish. That's an average finishing position of around 4.3. I believe that with his engineering know how, his driving ability and the way he lead his team AK Racing could've been a championship contending team well into the 90s and well into the 2000s. He himself propably would've won some more races and maybe even another championship. The 7 wouldn't be a number that's being ran by bottom feeder teams, that's for sure. (I forgot about Joe Weatherly when I was writing this comment. 62' and 63' champion, died in 1964 at Riverside)
One of the most underrated drivers in the series. He showed everyone you could be a champion as an owner+driver, long past when people considered it to be a viable option. He did it with only a few race wins to his name and a team mostly consisting of people that didn't fit in well in elsewhere and constantly battling for funds during most of his career. And after 1992 finally managed to get all the things in order and probably would have done great things. The fact that Junior tried to hire him TWICE offering an unheard of salary before he became 1992 Winston Cup Champion, says tons. And yet to this day people still seem to try and discredit him, as you can even see in some of the responses here.
@@AlonsoRules Irvan led most of the year and had only barley fallen behind when he wrecked at Michigan, Irvan and Earnhardt were both way , way ahead of everybody else in points that season ( Irvans crash allowed Earnhardt to coast to a championship)
Stewart would have won the 2006 championship in the Chase format. With Jimmie not there, Stewart 1 spot away from making it in, he would have won. Edwards would have won in 2008. If Chase didn't exist, Stewart would have won 2009 and Harvick claiming 2010 in the most consistent season in the COT era.
Imagine if they don't change it to the chase format. Jeff Gordon has 7 championships and Jimmie has 5. Then we're having a totally different conversation about the best ever. One more point before I go. At the end of his career Jimmie went the equivalent of 3 full seasons without winning a single race. That's over a 100 races. Did Jeff Gordon ever come close to that? That was rhetorical by the way. Of course he didn't. He worked with like 6 or 7 different crew chiefs and still won. Jimmie had Chad his entire career. That's definitely worth something. You'll never convince me that Jimmie is a better driver than Jeff. Take a gander at their top 10's and 5's. Not even close. Ok I'm done...
I can think of some what ifs: What if Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart & Dale Jr. didn't retire? What if Dale Sr. didn't die at 2001 Daytona 500? What if Dale Jr. stayed at DEI? What if no chase was introduced in 2004? What if NASCAR kept race back to line when caution flag waves rule? What if NASCAR got rid of the Yellow Line Rule at Daytona & Talladega? What if Danica Patrick got Top 5, instead of 6th, at Atlanta? What if Danica Patrick didn't run over shoe? What if Danica Patrick won NASCAR race? What if Tony Stewart won Daytona 500? What if Michael Waltrip stayed at DEI & never formed MWR? What if Mark Martin won 2007 Daytona 500? What if Mark Martin won Cup Championships? What if Dale Jr won Cup championships? What if Dale Jr. didn't get screwed over so many times at Talladega? What if Kyle Larson signed with Stewart-Haas Racing? What if Penske stayed with Dodge after 2012? What if Jimmie Johnson & Joey Logano never raced in Cup Series?
@@jonathonevans1883 Yeah. Haas remains an afterthought start and park team. Joey Logano ends up where? Matt Kenneth retires with RFR or where does he go? No SHR, so does Newman stay with Penske? Later on, does Karen Harvick stay with RCR? Tony leaving JGR had HUGE consequences for the sport
@@travisallen2442 Joey Logano stays in Xfinity Series Matt Kenseth retires with Roush Ryan Newman stays at Penske Kevin Harvick stays with RCR (RCR doesn't bring back #3 & Austin Dillon doesn't drive in Cup Series)
When talking about KFB in 2015, the wall would have stayed concrete through 2017 when Reed Sorensen had a terrible impact with it in the duels, that would have ended his career more than likely
If you want a glimpse of David Pearson's greatness, check out the last lap of the 1974 Firecracker 400. They didn't call him the Silver Fox for nothing.
@@polycube868 yeah that's the one...Just listening to the broadcast call is amazing. It took balls to give up the lead on the last lap and have the confidence that the slingshot would work. I've always loved that finish. NASCAR posted a very clean clip of it on their David Pearson's Greatest Moments video.
What if Tony Stewart never broke his leg in that dirt race in 2013? Would the Kevin Ward incident still happen? Would Stewart still be racing today and contending for more wins and championships?
@Bable12 seen alot of guys get out of cars and do that without getting run over. Stewart was a hot head and he's lucky thier wasn't enough incriminating evidence to show he had alot to do with that
What people forget is that Harvick's Daytona 500 win was exactly 6 years after Dale's death. In fact, it was on the day Dale passed just 6 years later.
Davey Allison is a tough one. He was clearly a fearless person so the multiple injuries he received seemed to not slow him down, but how long would that last. Not to mention had his head injuries possibly contributed to more risk taking behavior on and off the track, like trying to fly a helicopter when he wasn't quite experienced enough.
Brian Vickers at Red Bull was not a joke. Dude was building that team. Prime of his career Kasey Kahne came in and showed what the team was capable of, which wasn't much. I think if Kahne had always been there too, Vickers would look better by comparison
You do make a good point on Mark Martin, even with the 500 win he probably wouldn't have gone full-time, now my thinking on the alternate timeline is if Martin gets the 500 trophy I feel the Hendrick deal wouldn't have happened
Im from Europe (Germany) so I did not grew up with nascar, rather F1 but we always new it existed as we were Kids in the 2000s and that americans absolutely LOVED it! So I never had any contact with nascar directly, but this RUclips channel created interest in nascar for myself (thanks to the algorithm) and I plan to watch the 2022 series! Im hyped!
Personally, I think Danica would have been one of those drivers to move to cup without much success, but move back to xfinity and have a decent career.
I think there would've been more fatalities if Dale survived. NASCAR would've taken a much slower time of mandating the HANS device and other safety measures without the death of a big name driver.
I think the moment that changed Danica's stock car career was the Montreal race where she hit a shoe. She was was bad fast and on track to win that race. The confidence and narrative change in the media off of that 'win', would've helped her and NASCAR immensely! One asshole threw a shoe, and I think that may have robbed NASCAR a boost at a difficult time in it's popularity.
What if Alan Kulwicki never was tragically killed :/ Personally I don't think he would've gotten another championship, but a solid career of maybe 20-25 wins maybe? Retiring around in the late 2000s? Also, relating to Kulwicki, what if Bill Elliott stood out...what would his legacy have been remembered as?
Black Flags Matter, in his Gone Too Soon video about Alan Kulwicki, talked about a potentially cool alternate scenario for him eventually stepping back to just being an owner and hiring fellow Wisconsinite (and in our timeline the last champion of the Winston Cup era) Matt Kenseth as a driver
What if Trevor Bayne didn't block Carl Edwards, and Edwards won the 2011 Daytona 500? You got bonus points under the chase format in 2011 for winning races, meaning Edwards would not have been tied with Tony Stewart at years end and would have taken home the championship, changing the outlook of his career forever.
Video idea: What if North Wilkesboro stayed open after 1996? What if North Wilkesboro stayed on the Cup schedule? Would Rockingham stay on the schedule hadn't if North Wilkesboro wasn't taken off the schedule after 1996? Would we have more short tracks on the schedule than 1.5 mile tracks? What would the schedule be like if we kept North Wilkesboro on the schedule after 1996?
Hold on…..racing conferences based on region? That would’ve been awesome!!! - More tracks! - Room to create more stars. - More regional sponsors getting involved and being represented nationally with a playoff team.
I remember this and my pops talked about it. I thought it was a brilliant concept and actually would make playoffs more purposeful. Logistics though how'd it work out say if Hendrick or Gibbs wanted to have cars in both leagues, would that be allowed? I bet we'd have 30+ teams on both "conferences," and maybe low ball of 25.
I like idea and I think die hard race fans would love it. But I think a primary problem is that it would water down the series too much and not garner enough TV ratings to make the broadcast of each regional race viable nationwide. So it would relegate NASCAR to lower level cable networks mostly.
Don't know if anyone said this. What if Park never got hurt? Would he had another year, or 2, in the top 10 in points? Would DEI been around if Terresa let Dale Jr. take control?
Here are some what ifs for the best video -What if NASCAR never adapted the playoff format -What if NASCAR never left North Wilkesboro and Rockingham -What if NASCAR never adapted stages -What if EA kept making NASCAR games -What if Jeff Gordon won his 5th cup title -What if Sprint was still a sponsor
I guess the answer to the last one is, the series would now be called T-Mobile Cup. What if Sprint and T-Mobile hadn't merged? Then I'd still have cell service at my house right now. On phone company "what if's", what if Nextel and Sprint hadn't merged? Nextel is the company I miss. Back to NASCAR, what if Nextel hadn't taken over for Winston in 2004? Would whatever other series title sponsor that came along have been better or worse for the sport? I think Nextel and Sprint both did a great job in many ways to support NASCAR and contribute to its growth (or slow its decline) as much as they could, so I think some other sponsor would've probably not been as good.
If Dale Earnhardt was still alive, I think that most likely, he would've won an eighth championship and his son, Dale Jr. Would've won a championship in the Cup series.
I always wondered how many more wins Ernie Irvan could've captured if he never damn near gotten killed in that practice session. If I remember right he was leading the field in the championship up until that point.
The first one that I thought of is simply, 'What if Carl Edwards won the 2016 title, instead of being crashed out at Homestead? Would he still be racing in the 19 car??'
For the next video: What if Jr signed with Gibbs in 08? What if Kurt Busch signed to drive the 43 after Roush? What if Tim Richmond wasn’t blackballed and then afterwards passed away?
I have a couple Tony Stewart ones here -What if he won a Daytona 500. It could have happened many times -What if he stayed at JGR -What if he hadn't gotten hurt in 2013 -What if he had came to NASCAR sooner. He didn't start in NASCAR until he was like 28. I believe he would have won at least 5 championships
This sport is full of what ifs. My favorite one question I question myself is “where would Larson be if he stayed at CGR? What if SHR got him instead of Hendricks? What if joe Gibbs got Larson? Granted Larson has always shown how great he really is.
Here's some DiBenedetto what ifs: -What if he won the 2019 Bristol Night Race -What if Wood Bros decided to keep him after 2021 -What if he never decided to take a chance on himself after 2018 -What if Matt stayed at Leavine
My dad and I will always contend that Earnhardt would have won the 2001 championship. Look how strong Harvick was all season as a rookie. DEI would still be around and Jr would have stayed in the 8 his whole career and would have had probably 2 or 3 titles. I think Mikey would have still created his own team, but Truex would have been at DEI longer and had more early career success. Brad K would have also been at DEI too.
What if Carl Edward's won the championship in 2011 or 2016? Or he doesn't retire so suddenly after 2016? Does he win the championship or make the final 4 in 2017? What if jeff gordon doesn't have a season collapse in 2005 is he championship contender till the end? What if Danica Patrick won the Daytona 500 or a championship or multiple races and made the playoffs/chase consecutive years? And lastly what if roush never diminishes from a 5 car team to a 2 car team and all the powerhouses like busch,Kenseth,Edward's,biffle,all stay? Would they have been a potential dynasty? It certainly had the makings of one.
I woke up middle of the night a few nights ago with this idea and I was about to send you a message about doing videos about “Almost Great Moments in NASCAR”. And..... here you are on top of it! I’ll follow you on Twitter and name a few
I believe Adam Petty would have turned out a lot like Dale Jr. as a driver. Someone who spends lots of time towards the top of the point standings but never quite made it all the way. Then he’d become a great visionary after his retirement.
Iceberg, you should make a follow up video on this topic discussing other good "what if's" from these comments and whatever else you've received. Two of the first three that came to my mind didn't even make this video. I thought of Earnhardt's death first, and then... 2. What if Tim Richmond hadn't gotten sick and passed away so early in his career? It seems likely he'd have won at least one championship, but could his career with Hendrick have been just as good as Jeff Gordon's? Would the 25 car have been the flagship Hendrick car for a long time, instead of the 'runt of the litter' as it basically was for the rest of its time in the Hendrick stable? 3. What if Ricky Rudd had remained in the 3 car with Richard Childress? How much of the success Childress had with Dale would have been realized with Ricky? Would Ricky Rudd be a Cup champion? And how much less (or more?) successful would Earnhardt's career have been if he stayed with Bud Moore or went to someone else? I'll add one more I thought of after watching this video, inspired by my previous two questions and also the current Cup champion: 4. What if Geoff Bodine had stayed in the 5 car for the duration of his career? Would Bodine have been more successful (Cup champion?), or would Hendrick have been less successful than he was with Ricky Rudd and Terry Labonte?
I like McDowell. I believe he would be a top 10 driver on a good team. But it's not possible at FRM. They have so fewer resources than the bigger teams the BIGGEST difference is at FRM they have to reuse parts every chance they get. Notice at the start of the season, when everything on the chassis was fresh, he was in the Top 15 nearly every week. But as the season progressed, he lost speed. The high budget teams have he money to replace parts whenever they like, FRM has to use parts until they need to be replaced.
Here are some ideas for another What If episode: 1. What if Ray Evernham never had an affair with Erin Crocker? 2A. What if Dale Earnhardt never married Teresa Houston? 2B. What if Dale Earnhardt divorced Teresa? 3. What if Teresa allowed Dale Jr. to run Dale Earnhardt, Inc.? 4. What if another tire company was allowed to join NASCAR after Hoosier's departure? 5. What if Tim Richmond did not die in 1989?
What if Tony Stewart hadn't had all of his injuries and incidents towards the final years of his career? Would he have been in the discussion for becoming a 4+ time champion?
the biggest what if in the history of NASCAR is Tim Richmond hands down, others worth mentioning what if DW, Rudd, Bill Elliott had not tried to run their own team in the 90s, DW stay with Hendrick, would hendrick expanded to a 4th car for Gordon?same if Rudd stayed in the 5, Would he have put Terry Labonte in the 25 and Bill elliott to Yates? Yates not messed up when rudd left and had expanded to a 3 car team like ford wanted. What if drivers like Lake Speed, Joe Ruttman, and Johnny Benson had consistently good rides, Todd Bodines 35 Car not been run by a bunch of crooks. Richard Petty to Hendrick... almost happened? Drivers like Jack Ingram, Sam Ard and Tommy Houston gotten good cup rides?
As an outsider I have a doubt: What if NASCAR decided to have races for the championship outside of the US during his peak? What if they took that decision instead of the chase/playoff introduction? I know NASCAR has an European, a Canadian and even a Mexican series. Could that gamble work? Or would it be the start of the decline?
I got one. What if NASCAR called the 2012 Daytona 500 at the lap 160 mark where Dave Blaney was in the lead When they had the race under the red flag for the jet dryer incident. Like how would a 500 win change Dave’s entire racing career?
another big what if, what if Bobby Allison didnt get seriously injured at Pocono and forced to retire? how much longer would he have kept racing? i can see him retiring the same year as The King which is wild to think about, i mean imagine Jeff Gordon racing his first cup race with The King and Bobby Allison...
Ok. What If NASCAR Brought Back The Original 2004-2006 Chase Format, Instead Of The Elimination Playoffs Format, And What If NASCAR Didn't Brought The Playoffs System/Elimination Playoffs Format For The Xfinity And Truck Series.
the thing I always think when it comes to "what if dale didn't die" is what the impact on the adoption of the HANS device and related safety stuff would be. I'm sure they would have eventually become compulsory in mosf series anyway, but would it have taken longer? or alternatively, if the accident had still happened but he'd been wearing a HANS and itcwas credited with wigh saving his life, would other drivers have started wearing them sooner, and would that have prevented any deaths?
Ernie Irvan would've never gone to the 28, which means perhaps no coma, which also means no Dale Jarrett in the 88, which could mean Dale Jarrett goes & starts his own team like originally planned to do, which unfortunately doesn't become champion in 1999. Kenny Irwin also doesn't drive the 28, which means he also never dies in 2000, also means Ricky Rudd doesn't run the 28 in 2000 & never has a career resurgence.
WWE on wheels made me lol as an AEW fan that watches Nascar. I don't know if my impression of Nascar is WWE on wheels though, but the France family sure share a lot in common with the McMahons.
Bill Elliott in a Yates Ford would have been magic...so would have Mark Martin...if Mark Martin takes the 28 car he's definitely a NASCAR Cup Series champion... probably takes 1999 instead of Dale Jarrett.
On the Brian France part, I feel like if he was thankfully NOT in charge of NASCAR and Jim France was, NASCAR would not decline as much when the superstar drivers like Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Jimmie Johnson retired. Maybe we could’ve gotten the ORIGINAL 2004 championship format when a race winner gets a lot more points. Jesus Christ, so many What If’s
I’m 41 and followed Adam Petty very closely you really need to go back and rewatch a lot of stuff because he could’ve easily been a multiple NASCAR championship winner.
No one talks about this but what if for example 3 out of the 4 hendrick cars somehow make it in to the final 4. Let’s say Johnson does not go to the garage at Dover and actually runs top 5 in dover and makes it in(once again somehow). Junior wins dega, Johnson makes it into the round of 8 in points. Gordon wins martinsville and advances, Jimmay wins Texas and makes it in, and junebug makes it in due to him winning at Phoenix. Kyle Busch makes it in. Now unfortunately I can’t tell who would actually win. But I do mostly think Kyle Busch still wins in this scenario. But part of me wants to believe that jimmay would actually win the championship due to added momentum from the Texas win
If Ford had let Tony hire Larson, Larson wouldn't have moved. Ganassi took a risk on Larson when not many knew who he was. I remember reading somewhere that Larson talked to other teams, but they all wanted some form of collateral that Larson at the time couldn't provide, so he had an undisclosed contract with Ganassi that couldn't be broken unless something astronomical happened.
My biggest what-if is if Leavine Family Racing and Germain Racing stayed around in NASCAR Would they have performed a bit better, would they have won at least one race?
i think a cool whatif would be if ginn racing actually was able to maintain sponsorship. They had a good roster, and it seemed they were semi-decent. I feel like had they gotten full sponsorship and not had the boneheaded leader they had, they probably couldve been around for a long time as an independent team. Maybe i changed too many variables to the situation but i think its something to think about
I got a couple. What if Stewart-Haas was still Chevy? What if Carl Edwards had won the 2016 title? PS: as a 48 fan I’m glad he didn’t but it is a big what if. Lol. Did that perhaps have a ripple effect on Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, and Furniture Row? What if Spingate didn’t happen? Would MWR still be here? Would Truex be where is now?
What are your favorite NASCAR what if’s?
Junior winning a championship will always be the biggest what if regardless who you rooted for on sundays
Shevy carried JGR
I say You forgot the biggest one.
Ayrton Senna never dying in 1994 at Imola, and moving to CART that year and later going to NASCAR as it was his plan post F1. How he would fare and which team he would land.
If the chase system never existed, Kevin Harvick , MTJ and probably others would have 4 Titles, and Jeff Gordon would have 7. What if Dale Earnhardt had won the 1990 Daytona 500? What if he had broke through in 1989 and 1995?
What if Jeremy Mayfield never left the 19? What if Tony Stewart never got injured in 2013? What if Roush didn't have all of their old drivers leave?
KG has already covered this, but if Jimmie Johnson had died at Watkins Glen in 2000, the entire history of the sport is _incredibly_ different.
Yeah I know petty was different situation but that’s why disagree with him saying Adam would’ve peaked like Kyle and never be better nobody would’ve known what jj did
@Philip Greenwald doubt it
Who is KG?
@@-BigMike- KamikazeGames
@@TriumphantPenguin2 damn I was trying to think of YTers with those initials...I should've known! Lol
I'm very disappointed that nobody mentioned Alan Kulwicki.
From what I recall, he still is (and hopefully will forever be) the only defending NASCAR Champion that didn't live long enough to defend his title.
He was at the top of his game in 1992, when he won the championship and in 1993 things looked pretty good as well.
At Daytona he had problems and was involved in an accident and DNFed at Atlanta, but the other 3 races that he started that season before his death resulted in 2 Top5s and a 6th place finish. That's an average finishing position of around 4.3.
I believe that with his engineering know how, his driving ability and the way he lead his team AK Racing could've been a championship contending team well into the 90s and well into the 2000s.
He himself propably would've won some more races and maybe even another championship.
The 7 wouldn't be a number that's being ran by bottom feeder teams, that's for sure.
(I forgot about Joe Weatherly when I was writing this comment. 62' and 63' champion, died in 1964 at Riverside)
Joe Weatherly died at Riverside in '64 after winning the '62 and '63 Cups.
"What if Bill Elliott stayed out two more laps at Atlanta in 1992?”
One of the most underrated drivers in the series. He showed everyone you could be a champion as an owner+driver, long past when people considered it to be a viable option. He did it with only a few race wins to his name and a team mostly consisting of people that didn't fit in well in elsewhere and constantly battling for funds during most of his career. And after 1992 finally managed to get all the things in order and probably would have done great things. The fact that Junior tried to hire him TWICE offering an unheard of salary before he became 1992 Winston Cup Champion, says tons. And yet to this day people still seem to try and discredit him, as you can even see in some of the responses here.
@Daniel G lol
@@travisallen2442 Tim Brewer would've still had a job
What if Ernie Irvan wouldn't have gotten hurt in 1994 or Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki hadn't died in 1993?
Ernie might have won championships in 94 and 95
Irvan's consistency started to fall away before the Michigan crash. Earnhardt still would have strolled to the 94 Cup.
@@AlonsoRules Irvan led most of the year and had only barley fallen behind when he wrecked at Michigan, Irvan and Earnhardt were both way , way ahead of everybody else in points that season ( Irvans crash allowed Earnhardt to coast to a championship)
What if Jimmie Johnson didn’t race…
Imagine the different amount of title winners that could’ve happened from ‘06 to ‘10
Thats a crazy thought, and very interesting
Stewart would have won the 2006 championship in the Chase format. With Jimmie not there, Stewart 1 spot away from making it in, he would have won. Edwards would have won in 2008. If Chase didn't exist, Stewart would have won 2009 and Harvick claiming 2010 in the most consistent season in the COT era.
Jimmie Johnson could have died in that Watkins Glen race in like 2000 in the Busch series. And he would have never made a cup start. Pretty crazy
@@81casperflip that would have been a terrible tragedy.
Imagine if they don't change it to the chase format. Jeff Gordon has 7 championships and Jimmie has 5. Then we're having a totally different conversation about the best ever. One more point before I go. At the end of his career Jimmie went the equivalent of 3 full seasons without winning a single race. That's over a 100 races. Did Jeff Gordon ever come close to that? That was rhetorical by the way. Of course he didn't. He worked with like 6 or 7 different crew chiefs and still won. Jimmie had Chad his entire career. That's definitely worth something. You'll never convince me that Jimmie is a better driver than Jeff. Take a gander at their top 10's and 5's. Not even close. Ok I'm done...
More of these fan-interaction vids please
Jeff Gordon 2016 Full Time
Jimmie Johnson 2021 Full Time
Terry Labonte 2005 Full Time
My 3 Favorite Whatifs
I can think of some what ifs:
What if Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart & Dale Jr. didn't retire?
What if Dale Sr. didn't die at 2001 Daytona 500?
What if Dale Jr. stayed at DEI?
What if no chase was introduced in 2004?
What if NASCAR kept race back to line when caution flag waves rule?
What if NASCAR got rid of the Yellow Line Rule at Daytona & Talladega?
What if Danica Patrick got Top 5, instead of 6th, at Atlanta?
What if Danica Patrick didn't run over shoe?
What if Danica Patrick won NASCAR race?
What if Tony Stewart won Daytona 500?
What if Michael Waltrip stayed at DEI & never formed MWR?
What if Mark Martin won 2007 Daytona 500?
What if Mark Martin won Cup Championships?
What if Dale Jr won Cup championships?
What if Dale Jr. didn't get screwed over so many times at Talladega?
What if Kyle Larson signed with Stewart-Haas Racing?
What if Penske stayed with Dodge after 2012?
What if Jimmie Johnson & Joey Logano never raced in Cup Series?
What if Tony Stewart stayed with JGR
@@travisallen2442 Stewart-Haas Racing wouldn't exist if he stayed with Gibbs
@@jonathonevans1883 Yeah. Haas remains an afterthought start and park team. Joey Logano ends up where? Matt Kenneth retires with RFR or where does he go? No SHR, so does Newman stay with Penske? Later on, does Karen Harvick stay with RCR? Tony leaving JGR had HUGE consequences for the sport
@@travisallen2442 Joey Logano stays in Xfinity Series
Matt Kenseth retires with Roush
Ryan Newman stays at Penske
Kevin Harvick stays with RCR (RCR doesn't bring back #3 & Austin Dillon doesn't drive in Cup Series)
@@travisallen2442 Karen Harvick may have stayed at RCR but Kevin Harvick would have still left 😛
When talking about KFB in 2015, the wall would have stayed concrete through 2017 when Reed Sorensen had a terrible impact with it in the duels, that would have ended his career more than likely
2007 Daytona 500 hurts every time someone plays it or mentions it, i feel like a Atlanta Falcons fan being reminded of 28-3
Or wide right
Or Golden State 3-1 😢
@@aldouscoroza there's been more 3-1s since, like the Indians blowing it against the Cubs
Or the no-call pass interference that kept the Saints from a Super Bowl
If you want a glimpse of David Pearson's greatness, check out the last lap of the 1974 Firecracker 400.
They didn't call him the Silver Fox for nothing.
That's the race he lost the lead on purpose so he could slingshot back in front of Richard Petty right?
@@polycube868 yeah that's the one...Just listening to the broadcast call is amazing. It took balls to give up the lead on the last lap and have the confidence that the slingshot would work. I've always loved that finish.
NASCAR posted a very clean clip of it on their David Pearson's Greatest Moments video.
@@-BigMike- I'll have to check it out
What if Tony Stewart never broke his leg in that dirt race in 2013? Would the Kevin Ward incident still happen? Would Stewart still be racing today and contending for more wins and championships?
Even before he broke his leg, 2013 was kind of a slump year for stewart besides his dover win.
That was Wards own fault he got hit...
@Bable12 seen alot of guys get out of cars and do that without getting run over.
Stewart was a hot head and he's lucky thier wasn't enough incriminating evidence to show he had alot to do with that
What if Carl Edwards never threw a bad block on Logano in the 2016 Championship race?
What people forget is that Harvick's Daytona 500 win was exactly 6 years after Dale's death. In fact, it was on the day Dale passed just 6 years later.
What if Tim Richmond stayed healthy?
He would have definitely affected Earnhardt's legacy.
Tim Richmond was likely a multi-time champion if he had stayed healthy.
Tim Richmond was good
I kinda think Tim Richmond would have been the James Hunt of NASCAR, only gets 1 championship, eventually retired and gets into TV work.
@@polycube868 He definitely would have done TV. Probably would’ve been perfect for him.
He would’ve been the Jeff Gordon before Jeff Gordon. 2-4 championships and then he’d move onto television
Davey Allison is a tough one. He was clearly a fearless person so the multiple injuries he received seemed to not slow him down, but how long would that last. Not to mention had his head injuries possibly contributed to more risk taking behavior on and off the track, like trying to fly a helicopter when he wasn't quite experienced enough.
Brian Vickers at Red Bull was not a joke. Dude was building that team. Prime of his career Kasey Kahne came in and showed what the team was capable of, which wasn't much. I think if Kahne had always been there too, Vickers would look better by comparison
I wish that Joe Gibbs Racing had bought up the assets of the #83 Red Bull Racing team and taken on Brian Vickers as a driver in 2012.
What if Reddick stayed with JRM another year while Gragson went to JGR, maybe we would had way different champions in Cup and Xfinity!
What if MWR never caused spingate?
If ray evernham wouldn’t have left we would’ve had a battle for the ages between Gordon and Johnson. It would’ve been incredible.
He was going to leave regardless, so moot point
Gordon and Evernham staying together would have destroyed Johnson, unless in that timeline Ray is send to the 48.
You do make a good point on Mark Martin, even with the 500 win he probably wouldn't have gone full-time, now my thinking on the alternate timeline is if Martin gets the 500 trophy I feel the Hendrick deal wouldn't have happened
The biggest What-If in my opinion is easily the fact that Truex could be a 4-time Champion…
How's that?
@@aviserig 2018, 2019, 2021 runner up
Or maybe if Cole pern doesn't retire
Lol no
Im from Europe (Germany) so I did not grew up with nascar, rather F1 but we always new it existed as we were Kids in the 2000s and that americans absolutely LOVED it!
So I never had any contact with nascar directly, but this RUclips channel created interest in nascar for myself (thanks to the algorithm) and I plan to watch the 2022 series! Im hyped!
Personally, I think Danica would have been one of those drivers to move to cup without much success, but move back to xfinity and have a decent career.
I think there would've been more fatalities if Dale survived. NASCAR would've taken a much slower time of mandating the HANS device and other safety measures without the death of a big name driver.
Even then it wasn't until Blaise Alexander died did they mandate it after Dale was killed.
@@polycube868 yeah I’m still pissed at nascar over that
“Ray Evernham vs Chad Knaus”
Wow…. Just. I need this.
Gordon could've been 2002 champion if he had Ray
Could Imagine Alan Kulwicki Racing Against Jeff Gordon ☺ Rivalry
Or Allison vs. Gordon?
I think the moment that changed Danica's stock car career was the Montreal race where she hit a shoe. She was was bad fast and on track to win that race. The confidence and narrative change in the media off of that 'win', would've helped her and NASCAR immensely! One asshole threw a shoe, and I think that may have robbed NASCAR a boost at a difficult time in it's popularity.
What If Mark Martin Won The Championship in 1990 and What if he won the Daytona 500 in 2007
What if Mark Martin won any of his runner-up finishes?
Well as a Dale earnhardt fan I'm glad mark didn't. not that I have any thing against mark in fact I always respected him but I'm an Earnhardt fan
What if Alan Kulwicki never was tragically killed :/ Personally I don't think he would've gotten another championship, but a solid career of maybe 20-25 wins maybe? Retiring around in the late 2000s?
Also, relating to Kulwicki, what if Bill Elliott stood out...what would his legacy have been remembered as?
Black Flags Matter, in his Gone Too Soon video about Alan Kulwicki, talked about a potentially cool alternate scenario for him eventually stepping back to just being an owner and hiring fellow Wisconsinite (and in our timeline the last champion of the Winston Cup era) Matt Kenseth as a driver
What if Nascar wasn't insistent on running the 550hp package and went back to 800+ hp?
Stay tuned.
That might make Nascar great again!!
What if Trevor Bayne didn't block Carl Edwards, and Edwards won the 2011 Daytona 500? You got bonus points under the chase format in 2011 for winning races, meaning Edwards would not have been tied with Tony Stewart at years end and would have taken home the championship, changing the outlook of his career forever.
Video idea:
What if North Wilkesboro stayed open after 1996? What if North Wilkesboro stayed on the Cup schedule? Would Rockingham stay on the schedule hadn't if North Wilkesboro wasn't taken off the schedule after 1996? Would we have more short tracks on the schedule than 1.5 mile tracks? What would the schedule be like if we kept North Wilkesboro on the schedule after 1996?
That guy that asked the Mark Martin question was pretty smart I'd say 🤔🤣
Hold on…..racing conferences based on region? That would’ve been awesome!!!
- More tracks!
- Room to create more stars.
- More regional sponsors getting involved and being represented nationally with a playoff team.
I remember this and my pops talked about it. I thought it was a brilliant concept and actually would make playoffs more purposeful. Logistics though how'd it work out say if Hendrick or Gibbs wanted to have cars in both leagues, would that be allowed? I bet we'd have 30+ teams on both "conferences," and maybe low ball of 25.
I like idea and I think die hard race fans would love it. But I think a primary problem is that it would water down the series too much and not garner enough TV ratings to make the broadcast of each regional race viable nationwide. So it would relegate NASCAR to lower level cable networks mostly.
yoo i got in the video
Let's goooooooooo
What if Carl edwards won championships
Don't know if anyone said this.
What if Park never got hurt? Would he had another year, or 2, in the top 10 in points? Would DEI been around if Terresa let Dale Jr. take control?
Here are some what ifs for the best video
-What if NASCAR never adapted the playoff format
-What if NASCAR never left North Wilkesboro and Rockingham
-What if NASCAR never adapted stages
-What if EA kept making NASCAR games
-What if Jeff Gordon won his 5th cup title
-What if Sprint was still a sponsor
I guess the answer to the last one is, the series would now be called T-Mobile Cup. What if Sprint and T-Mobile hadn't merged? Then I'd still have cell service at my house right now. On phone company "what if's", what if Nextel and Sprint hadn't merged? Nextel is the company I miss.
Back to NASCAR, what if Nextel hadn't taken over for Winston in 2004? Would whatever other series title sponsor that came along have been better or worse for the sport? I think Nextel and Sprint both did a great job in many ways to support NASCAR and contribute to its growth (or slow its decline) as much as they could, so I think some other sponsor would've probably not been as good.
The ea games would have been bad but not ad bad as the heat games but not as good as the one in the early 2010s
If Dale Earnhardt was still alive, I think that most likely, he would've won an eighth championship and his son, Dale Jr. Would've won a championship in the Cup series.
What makes you think that?
What if Felix Sabates's team didn't fall off after 1993? Would Kyle Petty win more races?
I always wondered how many more wins Ernie Irvan could've captured if he never damn near gotten killed in that practice session. If I remember right he was leading the field in the championship up until that point.
Ernie is probably the only driver to finish top 10 in a race while wearing an eyepatch lol. I miss Ernie Irvan
Best NASCAR channel on YT. It’s not even close.
The first one that I thought of is simply, 'What if Carl Edwards won the 2016 title, instead of being crashed out at Homestead? Would he still be racing in the 19 car??'
What if the championship was awarded to the driver that won the most races every season? That is the biggest What If to me personally.
For the next video:
What if Jr signed with Gibbs in 08?
What if Kurt Busch signed to drive the 43 after Roush?
What if Tim Richmond wasn’t blackballed and then afterwards passed away?
What if Evernham Motorsports didn't collapse in 2007?
Probably Dodge would've stayed longer in the game
What if Kyle Busch doesn’t leave Hendrick and Dale Jr. goes to Joe Gibbs?
But what if I were to purchase fast food and disguise it as my own cooking?
I have a couple Tony Stewart ones here
-What if he won a Daytona 500. It could have happened many times
-What if he stayed at JGR
-What if he hadn't gotten hurt in 2013
-What if he had came to NASCAR sooner. He didn't start in NASCAR until he was like 28. I believe he would have won at least 5 championships
Man imagine a young Tony Stewart vs Jeff Gordon rivalry in the 90's...
@@polycube868 Damn!
This sport is full of what ifs. My favorite one question I question myself is “where would Larson be if he stayed at CGR? What if SHR got him instead of Hendricks? What if joe Gibbs got Larson? Granted Larson has always shown how great he really is.
Here's some DiBenedetto what ifs:
-What if he won the 2019 Bristol Night Race
-What if Wood Bros decided to keep him after 2021
-What if he never decided to take a chance on himself after 2018
-What if Matt stayed at Leavine
My dad and I will always contend that Earnhardt would have won the 2001 championship. Look how strong Harvick was all season as a rookie. DEI would still be around and Jr would have stayed in the 8 his whole career and would have had probably 2 or 3 titles. I think Mikey would have still created his own team, but Truex would have been at DEI longer and had more early career success. Brad K would have also been at DEI too.
What if Carl Edward's won the championship in 2011 or 2016? Or he doesn't retire so suddenly after 2016? Does he win the championship or make the final 4 in 2017? What if jeff gordon doesn't have a season collapse in 2005 is he championship contender till the end? What if Danica Patrick won the Daytona 500 or a championship or multiple races and made the playoffs/chase consecutive years? And lastly what if roush never diminishes from a 5 car team to a 2 car team and all the powerhouses like busch,Kenseth,Edward's,biffle,all stay? Would they have been a potential dynasty? It certainly had the makings of one.
Love the NASCAR ON CBS theme in the background with this video also!
I woke up middle of the night a few nights ago with this idea and I was about to send you a message about doing videos about “Almost Great Moments in NASCAR”. And..... here you are on top of it! I’ll follow you on Twitter and name a few
Here's another one: What if the IRL/Cart split had never happened? That is what enabled NASCAR to become the #1 motorsport in America.
I believe Adam Petty would have turned out a lot like Dale Jr. as a driver. Someone who spends lots of time towards the top of the point standings but never quite made it all the way. Then he’d become a great visionary after his retirement.
Iceberg, you should make a follow up video on this topic discussing other good "what if's" from these comments and whatever else you've received. Two of the first three that came to my mind didn't even make this video. I thought of Earnhardt's death first, and then...
2. What if Tim Richmond hadn't gotten sick and passed away so early in his career? It seems likely he'd have won at least one championship, but could his career with Hendrick have been just as good as Jeff Gordon's? Would the 25 car have been the flagship Hendrick car for a long time, instead of the 'runt of the litter' as it basically was for the rest of its time in the Hendrick stable?
3. What if Ricky Rudd had remained in the 3 car with Richard Childress? How much of the success Childress had with Dale would have been realized with Ricky? Would Ricky Rudd be a Cup champion? And how much less (or more?) successful would Earnhardt's career have been if he stayed with Bud Moore or went to someone else?
I'll add one more I thought of after watching this video, inspired by my previous two questions and also the current Cup champion:
4. What if Geoff Bodine had stayed in the 5 car for the duration of his career? Would Bodine have been more successful (Cup champion?), or would Hendrick have been less successful than he was with Ricky Rudd and Terry Labonte?
What if Michael McDowell won the 2021 championship. I know this is dumb and had almost no chance of happening but I can dream
I like McDowell. I believe he would be a top 10 driver on a good team. But it's not possible at FRM. They have so fewer resources than the bigger teams the BIGGEST difference is at FRM they have to reuse parts every chance they get. Notice at the start of the season, when everything on the chassis was fresh, he was in the Top 15 nearly every week. But as the season progressed, he lost speed. The high budget teams have he money to replace parts whenever they like, FRM has to use parts until they need to be replaced.
A big What If here: What if the Hendrick plane crash in October 2004 had never happened?
very articulate, and intelligent answers. i agreed with pretty much everything you said.
I do think, had Dale Sr. not passed away. I truly believe DEI would’ve lasted much longer than it did. And it may have been still going today.
Here are some ideas for another What If episode:
1. What if Ray Evernham never had an affair with Erin Crocker?
2A. What if Dale Earnhardt never married Teresa Houston?
2B. What if Dale Earnhardt divorced Teresa?
3. What if Teresa allowed Dale Jr. to run Dale Earnhardt, Inc.?
4. What if another tire company was allowed to join NASCAR after Hoosier's departure?
5. What if Tim Richmond did not die in 1989?
I always had a dream that John Force was gonna start a cup team... ever wander how that would of went?
What if Tony Stewart hadn't had all of his injuries and incidents towards the final years of his career? Would he have been in the discussion for becoming a 4+ time champion?
the biggest what if in the history of NASCAR is Tim Richmond hands down, others worth mentioning what if DW, Rudd, Bill Elliott had not tried to run their own team in the 90s, DW stay with Hendrick, would hendrick expanded to a 4th car for Gordon?same if Rudd stayed in the 5, Would he have put Terry Labonte in the 25 and Bill elliott to Yates? Yates not messed up when rudd left and had expanded to a 3 car team like ford wanted. What if drivers like Lake Speed, Joe Ruttman, and Johnny Benson had consistently good rides, Todd Bodines 35 Car not been run by a bunch of crooks. Richard Petty to Hendrick... almost happened? Drivers like Jack Ingram, Sam Ard and Tommy Houston gotten good cup rides?
As an outsider I have a doubt:
What if NASCAR decided to have races for the championship outside of the US during his peak? What if they took that decision instead of the chase/playoff introduction?
I know NASCAR has an European, a Canadian and even a Mexican series. Could that gamble work? Or would it be the start of the decline?
I got one. What if NASCAR called the 2012 Daytona 500 at the lap 160 mark where Dave Blaney was in the lead When they had the race under the red flag for the jet dryer incident. Like how would a 500 win change Dave’s entire racing career?
another big what if, what if Bobby Allison didnt get seriously injured at Pocono and forced to retire? how much longer would he have kept racing? i can see him retiring the same year as The King which is wild to think about, i mean imagine Jeff Gordon racing his first cup race with The King and Bobby Allison...
Ok.
What If NASCAR Brought Back The Original 2004-2006 Chase Format, Instead Of The Elimination Playoffs Format, And What If NASCAR Didn't Brought The Playoffs System/Elimination Playoffs Format For The Xfinity And Truck Series.
What if David Pearson ran the full schedule? Richard Petty would not have won 7 championships.
What if Ryan Newman won the 2014 Championship instead of Kevin Harvick
I got two more. What if NASCAR had never developed the COT? What if NASCAR had never adopted SAFER barriers?
4:18 *why is 1997 always forgotten??*
the thing I always think when it comes to "what if dale didn't die" is what the impact on the adoption of the HANS device and related safety stuff would be. I'm sure they would have eventually become compulsory in mosf series anyway, but would it have taken longer? or alternatively, if the accident had still happened but he'd been wearing a HANS and itcwas credited with wigh saving his life, would other drivers have started wearing them sooner, and would that have prevented any deaths?
Ernie Irvan would've never gone to the 28, which means perhaps no coma, which also means no Dale Jarrett in the 88, which could mean Dale Jarrett goes & starts his own team like originally planned to do, which unfortunately doesn't become champion in 1999. Kenny Irwin also doesn't drive the 28, which means he also never dies in 2000, also means Ricky Rudd doesn't run the 28 in 2000 & never has a career resurgence.
Rudd goes to the 32 in 2000-06
Sterling Marlin doesn’t win back to back Daytona 500s, at least not in the #4 as I would assume Irvan would have stayed there
What if Mark Martin hadn't got penalized in 2002 and not lost those points going into the final race....
WWE on wheels made me lol as an AEW fan that watches Nascar. I don't know if my impression of Nascar is WWE on wheels though, but the France family sure share a lot in common with the McMahons.
What if Bill Elliott wouldn't have wasted 7 years with his own team. I heard Ford wanted him with Yates or rousch
Bill Elliott in a Yates Ford would have been magic...so would have Mark Martin...if Mark Martin takes the 28 car he's definitely a NASCAR Cup Series champion... probably takes 1999 instead of Dale Jarrett.
Oh, here's one. What if Jack Roush had never taken on John Henry as a partner for his race team in 2007?
On the Brian France part, I feel like if he was thankfully NOT in charge of NASCAR and Jim France was, NASCAR would not decline as much when the superstar drivers like Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Jimmie Johnson retired.
Maybe we could’ve gotten the ORIGINAL 2004 championship format when a race winner gets a lot more points. Jesus Christ, so many What If’s
I don't think Jeff Gordon has his 2002 slump with Ray Evernham, he definitely takes wins and championships away from Jimmie Johnson.
I’m 41 and followed Adam Petty very closely you really need to go back and rewatch a lot of stuff because he could’ve easily been a multiple NASCAR championship winner.
It's more to do with PE as a team rather than Adam as a driver.
No one talks about this but what if for example 3 out of the 4 hendrick cars somehow make it in to the final 4. Let’s say Johnson does not go to the garage at Dover and actually runs top 5 in dover and makes it in(once again somehow). Junior wins dega, Johnson makes it into the round of 8 in points. Gordon wins martinsville and advances, Jimmay wins Texas and makes it in, and junebug makes it in due to him winning at Phoenix. Kyle Busch makes it in. Now unfortunately I can’t tell who would actually win. But I do mostly think Kyle Busch still wins in this scenario. But part of me wants to believe that jimmay would actually win the championship due to added momentum from the Texas win
I got one: What if NASCAR had listened to Smokey Yunick on his idea of "safer walls?"
What if Denny's crew didn't put a giant ass piece of tape on the car covering the grill in 2019 at Homestead?
When will we get Missing Rings: John Hunter Nemechek 2021 !?
I disagree about Adam Petty but love this video
If Ford had let Tony hire Larson, Larson wouldn't have moved. Ganassi took a risk on Larson when not many knew who he was. I remember reading somewhere that Larson talked to other teams, but they all wanted some form of collateral that Larson at the time couldn't provide, so he had an undisclosed contract with Ganassi that couldn't be broken unless something astronomical happened.
My biggest what-if is if Leavine Family Racing and Germain Racing stayed around in NASCAR
Would they have performed a bit better, would they have won at least one race?
i think a cool whatif would be if ginn racing actually was able to maintain sponsorship. They had a good roster, and it seemed they were semi-decent. I feel like had they gotten full sponsorship and not had the boneheaded leader they had, they probably couldve been around for a long time as an independent team. Maybe i changed too many variables to the situation but i think its something to think about
When it comes to Danica I fully agree
NASCAR What ifs are fun to speculate on.
What if spingate never happened. Is MWR still around? Does Bowyer go to SHR. What about MTJ?
What if Darrell Waltrip never left Hendrick? More wins? Another Championship?
What if Texas motor Speedway wouldn’t be happening right now could be north Wilkesboro all throughout The mid 90s into the 2020s
What if Jeff Burton had gotten an opportunity with Hedrick or even soon at RCR during the years Roush was blowing engines every week?
Mark martin finna dominate this video lmao
I got a couple. What if Stewart-Haas was still Chevy? What if Carl Edwards had won the 2016 title? PS: as a 48 fan I’m glad he didn’t but it is a big what if. Lol. Did that perhaps have a ripple effect on Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, and Furniture Row? What if Spingate didn’t happen? Would MWR still be here? Would Truex be where is now?