The envelope please ...
My '05 award winners, from top race to breakout star
Posted: Friday December 2, 2005 11:42AM; Updated: Friday December 2, 2005 1:36PM
As the 2005 NASCAR season fades in the rearview mirror, here are my end of the year awards:
Best Driver
Tony Stewart. This is a no-brainer. By finishing in the top 10 in 19 of the last 22 races, Stewart had perhaps the most consistent final five months of a season in the sport's history. The most deserving driver won't always win the title under the Chase for the Championship format, but Stewart did.
Best Race
The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. For future reference, when Tony Stewart is being hailed in 2050 as the greatest NASCAR driver of the early 21st century, look back to this late-summer race as the moment when Stewart ascended into the strata of megastardom.
Best Interview (Owner)
Rick Hendrick. In the fall I hung out with Hendrick for a morning to discuss all that he had lost in the Hendrick Motorsports plane crash that had occurred about a year earlier. I'll never forget the way in which Hendrick conducted himself on that day; he was thoughtful, deep, surprisingly candid and, most of all, plain nice. That's the thing about Hendrick: he's probably the kindest man in motorsports.
Best Interview (Driver)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. His first year on the Cup circuit -- 2000 -- happened to be mine as well. I did a year-long diary with him back then, and he was always as funny and honest as anyone in NASCAR. When I chatted with Junior late this season in Phoenix, the boy was on a roll again, telling insightful stories about why Stewart was one of his best friends in racing. It's become obvious to me over the past five years that there is much more to Dale Jr. than just his last name, which is why he has sustaining star power.
Breakout Driver
Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards (tie). Biffle emerged from relative obscurity to win a series-high six races this season, while Edwards, in his first full year on the Cup circuit, was a serious title contender all the way to the final lap at Homestead. These two Roush drivers should be in the Chase again next year and will give Roush an excellent shot at winning his third championship in four years.
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