2020 NASCAR Champion Chase Elliott

 

Chase Elliott had a excellent year and great run to the 2020 NASCAR Championship.  Elliott had to win the final race before the Phoenix race on Sunday just to get into the Championship Four.  He then beat out Brad Kesolowski, Joey Logano, and Denny Hamlin who finished second through fourth respectively in the final standings.  While the race itself wasn't the most exciting I was rooting for Chase and it was fun to watch him win his first championship at only 24 years of age.  He won five races this year only surpassed by Hamlin and Kevin Harvick.  He's had an amazing career in NASCAR's top series in which he has never finished below 10th in the standings.  He's definitely postured for a long successful career.  Congratulations Chase!

The other drivers I root for are Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace.  Busch struggled all year but still managed to take 8th place in the standings.  He also kept alive his streak of one win in each of his 16 years.  Bubba had a career best 22nd place finish in the final standings but even more exciting was the news he'll move to the new Michael Jordan race team, 23XI, in 2021.  You never know what will happen for a new team but this is definitely an exciting opportunity for Bubba.  We'll saw NASCAR great Jimmie Johnson and fan favorite Clint Bowyer race for the final time.

This was really a fun year.  NASCAR was the first sport back after Covid put a pause to the sports world as a whole. During that pause we got to watch drivers take a shot at virtual racing which was even entertaining.  NASCAR had to get creative with their schedule to get all their races in but it worked and it was fun.  Hats off to them for making it work with basically no Covid interruption once on track racing started back up.  Can't wait for 2021.

Joey Logano Wins the 2018 NASCAR Championship

Joey Logano won the 2018 NASCARChampionship yesterday beating out Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and KyleBusch.  Those four drivers had qualified to race for the championship Sunday by way of the playoffs.  Logano is a deserved champion.  This season Logano was in the top four of racers in wins (3), top 10 finishes (26), top 5 finishes (13) and average finish (10.7).  Sunday’s race played out as it should have – those contending for the title battling each other out.  I don’t think it has ever worked out that way before.  The four drivers going for the championship were at or near the top the entire race.  In the end those four finished 1 through 4 and battled it out down the stretch.  Logano had the better car and had no issues outdistancing Truex Jr. on the last restart having no real challenge in the final laps of the race.  Congratulations to Joey Logano on his first NASCAR Championship.

My favorite driver is Kyle Busch, who like Lagano, tends to be played as a villain, a moniker he earned as a younger driver.  He placed 4^th the race and standings this year and had a great year with eight wins, tied with Kevin Harvick.  While he was near the top all day he just didn’t have the car to win.  Busch does have one championship from 2015 and he has finished top five in the standings in six different seasons.  He is only 33 and seems poised to contend for years to come in the M&M’s #18 so I have nothing to complain about.  William “Bubba” Wallace Jr. is the rookie I was rooting for this year as he drove the #43 Air Force car.  He finished 28^th.  I still have hopes he’ll become a better driver in the near future.  This was a fun NASCAR season for me.  I followed along more than I had in the last few years and enjoyed calling my pop near the end of the races so we could talk during the final laps.    

Cards are from the 2017 Panini Donruss NASCAR Set