Categorizing Nascar Eras by Champions

jaqua19

jaqua19

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This is something I have been thinking about, in terms of titling this current era of NASCAR and it's champions.

Overall, to this point we have had the Richard Petty era, the Dale Earnhardt era the Jeff Gordon era and the Jimmie Johnson era.

That said, these drivers weren't exclusive. It seemed like there was always a #2 overall of sorts. For Petty's it was Petty and Cale Yarborough (Silver Fox as well)

The next era bled into Dale Earnhardt Sr and Darrell Waltrip.

The following Era turned into Jeff Gordon and Dale Sr, in my opinion.

Then came the Jimmie Johnson era. This one is a bit harder to catagorize with this format though. My initial thoughts are,

Jimmie Johnson, with Tony Stewart as that next guy. But then where does Kyle Busch come in? Are we now in the Kyle Busch era? Kyle Busch more or less would have raced atleast 15 years against Johnson and won his first title before Johnson's last which concluded a 2 out of 4. Would Busch have enough time to have his "own" era? Or is he the David Pearson to Johnson's Petty and Stewart's Yarborough?

Furthermore, are we still IN the Jimmie Johnson era, or has the next era already begun and Johnson has happened to win titles in it?

The Kyle Larson era and William Byron era?

Thoughts guys? This is super fun but I think the challenge is the level of compition.
 
The Kyle Busch single championship is "the lack of participation trophy" era.
 
The Gordon era should have been longer ( sniffle)........ IMO the Jimme era started when the Chase started in 2004, utter dominance from then until he hangs up the helmet.
 
Mark Martin was Jeff Gordon's #2 in his era.

By the time Gordon came into form, Earnhardt was done. Mark had comparable top 5s and 10s.

IMO, Kyle doesn't really have an era thanks to Jimmie. He's SOL.
 
Reck said:
Mark Martin was Jeff Gordon's #2 in his era.

By the time Gordon came into form, Earnhardt was done. Mark had comparable top 5s and 10s.

IMO, Kyle doesn't really have an era thanks to Jimmie. He's SOL.
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Wasn't sure about Martin. Thanks
 
Very cool thread...

First, anyone who doesn't think JJ was/is the dominant driver from 2002-present is just wrong...but as for "second fiddle" you could make a case for quite a few drivers.

For Tony... In the past 15 year...JJ and Tony combined for 10 of the championships....and Tony was relevant week-week from when he started his career through 2012 when he started to fade and then of course he faced insurmountable challenged in 2013 and 2014 that no driver would be expected to fully recover from.

For Gordon...yes he was relevant up through the end of his career. But 2 and 3 win seasons aren't what we think of when we think of Jeff Gordon dominance...because of that the 90s will always be his decade.

For Kyle...people quickly forget this kid was a total flop at Hendrick...4 wins in 3 years??? That's nothing compared to the numbers he's been putting up at JGR. So from 2008 onwards, you could argue he was the second-most dominant driver but JJ had already been dominant for 5 years by then.

For Harvick...he showed shades of greatness but didn't come into his prime until joining SHR...like Kyle, too late to be considered part of all of JJ's era.


All this said, I'd have to go with Tony Stewart as second-fiddle to Jimmie. Maybe not now, but there's always going to be this fact- Tony Stewart bookend's Jimmie's incredible 5-straight championships. And those 5 years, 2006-2010, are what JJ will be most famous for...unless he get's 8...
 
Speedbowl14 said:
Very cool thread...

First, anyone who doesn't think JJ was/is the dominant driver from 2002-present is just wrong...but as for "second fiddle" you could make a case for quite a few drivers.

For Tony... In the past 15 year...JJ and Tony combined for 10 of the championships....and Tony was relevant week-week from when he started his career through 2012 when he started to fade and then of course he faced insurmountable challenged in 2013 and 2014 that no driver would be expected to fully recover from.

For Gordon...yes he was relevant up through the end of his career. But 2 and 3 win seasons aren't what we think of when we think of Jeff Gordon dominance...because of that the 90s will always be his decade.

For Kyle...people quickly forget this kid was a total flop at Hendrick...4 wins in 3 years??? That's nothing compared to the numbers he's been putting up at JGR. So from 2008 onwards, you could argue he was the second-most dominant driver but JJ had already been dominant for 5 years by then.

For Harvick...he showed shades of greatness but didn't come into his prime until joining SHR...like Kyle, too late to be considered part of all of JJ's era.


All this said, I'd have to go with Tony Stewart as second-fiddle to Jimmie. Maybe not now, but there's always going to be this fact- Tony Stewart bookend's Jimmie's incredible 5-straight championships. And those 5 years, 2006-2010, are what JJ will be most famous for...unless he get's 8...
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Very good take. I agree.
 
The first era was the beginning of Nascar and the whiskey runners. No particular driver, just a type of driven men some more successful than others.
First driver era was Richard Petty.
Second driver era was Dale Earnhard
Third driver era was Jimmy Johnson
During these eras were some very successful men who left their mark on the series and will go into the hall of fame. Two of those are Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.

We are now in the lottery era. This means that any driver can win a championship if Nascar
bends the rules and allows them to compete in the Chase or Playoffs.
There are a few drivers who have become Season Champions under this format. Under any other format that Nascar has run would one has won a championship and that of course is JJ and his 6 championships. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Bush have won under this format and neither have been able to mount a championship run except for this format.
Until Nascar returns to a format that crowns a champion for the year long season, we will remain in the "Lottery Championship" era.
 
Team Penske said:
The first era was the beginning of Nascar and the whiskey runners. No particular driver, just a type of driven men some more successful than others.
First driver era was Richard Petty.
Second driver era was Dale Earnhard
Third driver era was Jimmy Johnson
During these eras were some very successful men who left their mark on the series and will go into the hall of fame. Two of those are Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.

We are now in the lottery era. This means that any driver can win a championship if Nascar
bends the rules and allows them to compete in the Chase or Playoffs.
There are a few drivers who have become Season Champions under this format. Under any other format that Nascar has run would one has won a championship and that of course is JJ and his 6 championships. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Bush have won under this format and neither have been able to mount a championship run except for this format.
Until Nascar returns to a format that crowns a champion for the year long season, we will remain in the "Lottery Championship" era.
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So the 90s was left in a vacuum? LOL

I know you hate Jeff...perhaps for the same reason you're leaving him off the decade he dominated but dont fool yourself.

Talent is talent.
 
Reck said:
So the 90s was left in a vacuum? LOL

I know you hate Jeff...perhaps for the same reason you're leaving him off the decade he dominated but dont fool yourself.

Talent is talent.
Click to expand...
I agree with everything Team Penske said..... but..... you are correct..... Jeff Gordon HAS to be included....... no denying......
 
Might be just me, but I look at NASCAR in these four different eras, as the season structure and/or the method for determining a champ was distinctly different in each:

Pre-1972
1972-2003
2004-2013
2014-present
 
jaqua19 said:
This is something I have been thinking about, in terms of titling this current era of NASCAR and it's champions.

Overall, to this point we have had the Richard Petty era, the Dale Earnhardt era the Jeff Gordon era and the Jimmie Johnson era.

That said, these drivers weren't exclusive. It seemed like there was always a #2 overall of sorts. For Petty's it was Petty and Cale Yarborough (Silver Fox as well)

The next era bled into Dale Earnhardt Sr and Darrell Waltrip.

The following Era turned into Jeff Gordon and Dale Sr, in my opinion.

Then came the Jimmie Johnson era. This one is a bit harder to catagorize with this format though. My initial thoughts are,

Jimmie Johnson, with Tony Stewart as that next guy. But then where does Kyle Busch come in? Are we now in the Kyle Busch era? Kyle Busch more or less would have raced atleast 15 years against Johnson and won his first title before Johnson's last which concluded a 2 out of 4. Would Busch have enough time to have his "own" era? Or is he the David Pearson to Johnson's Petty and Stewart's Yarborough?

Furthermore, are we still IN the Jimmie Johnson era, or has the next era already begun and Johnson has happened to win titles in it?

The Kyle Larson era and William Byron era?

Thoughts guys? This is super fun but I think the challenge is the level of compition.
Click to expand...
Did this stem from the post you made in the other thread? If not, that's fine. Either way, this is really cool.
You're pretty accurate.
Lee Petty and The Flocks would take the first era.
Richard Petty is obvious choice to come next, with Pearson.
Dale Sr. and DW come next.
Then it's Dale Sr. and Jeff Gordon.
Arguably, the current era is the Jimmie Johnson era STILL. He continues to win races, and he continues to prowl around for Cup trophies. ;) Determining who is second is like a game of musical chairs. First was Tony and Jeff, then KB, then Harvick, now... MTJ?
 
Reck said:
So the 90s was left in a vacuum? LOL

I know you hate Jeff...perhaps for the same reason you're leaving him off the decade he dominated but dont fool yourself.

Talent is talent.
Click to expand...
I'm not belittling Jeff. I know his total wins puts him up there above most other drivers all time.
However, he didn't dominate an era as a champion. The bench mark is 6 and above championships. Jeff got his three just as Nascar started to clap down on experimenting by CC's. Tony got 3 as well but over a longer time frame. So they didn't dominate the championships like the other 3 I mentioned.
 
Team Penske said:
I'm not belittling Jeff. I know his total wins puts him up there above most other drivers all time.
However, he didn't dominate an era as a champion. The bench mark is 6 and above championships. Jeff got his three just as Nascar started to clap down on experimenting by CC's. Tony got 3 as well but over a longer time frame. So they didn't dominate the championships like the other 3 I mentioned.
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I'm sorry but what? Didn't dominate?

When you think of NASCAR in the 90s you immediately think of Jeff Gordon. He absolutely dominated.

Outside of Jimmie Johnson, no other driver had won back to back to back to back to back championships ever.

This argument that you need 6 or more championships is artificially made up. You might as well never see an era then because the chances of one particular driver winning 6 or more championships under these rules and format are in the bottom half rather than top side.

Gordon won a championship 3 out of 4 years in a very short stint. That's dominance.
 
Team Penske said:
I'm not belittling Jeff. I know his total wins puts him up there above most other drivers all time.
However, he didn't dominate an era as a champion. The bench mark is 6 and above championships. Jeff got his three just as Nascar started to clap down on experimenting by CC's. Tony got 3 as well but over a longer time frame. So they didn't dominate the championships like the other 3 I mentioned.
Click to expand...
Gordon won 56 races in 7 seasons from 1995 to 2001. That alone put him 9th all time on the win list.
 
Good thread.

While the eras might be named for a driver I also think about their team because every good driver needs a good car. When I think of Petty I also associate him with STP or Earnhard with Childress and Goodwrench. With the advent of multi car teams the next eras might be identified by the team (I probably won't associate a sponsor with a driver unless M&Ms stays with Kyle for his entire career). I see the Gordon era and the Johnson era as part of an Hendrick era. Plus mixed into a driver's era are shorter dominance years such as Harvick and Truex in recent years.
 
Truex_rox said:
Did this stem from the post you made in the other thread? If not, that's fine. Either way, this is really cool.
You're pretty accurate.
Lee Petty and The Flocks would take the first era.
Richard Petty is obvious choice to come next, with Pearson.
Dale Sr. and DW come next.
Then it's Dale Sr. and Jeff Gordon.
Arguably, the current era is the Jimmie Johnson era STILL. He continues to win races, and he continues to prowl around for Cup trophies. ;) Determining who is second is like a game of musical chairs. First was Tony and Jeff, then KB, then Harvick, now... MTJ?
Click to expand...


I dont remember haha. It stemmed from me trying to figure out if Tony or Kyle is Jimmie's #2. Kyle will have more wins, and maybe as much titles.. but the timeline is vague, seeing has his career will be extraordinarily long, like Gordon.

Overall, for second though, we are using the format of a 1 and 2. Someone's post won me over. JJ's prime was 2002-2010. He and Stewart won 10 of the 15 titles from 2002-2017. That is an excellent point. You can look at Harvick Busch and Keselowski as perhaps the Bill Elliots, Rusty Wallaces and Truex and the Terry Labonte's of this era.

Thanks for the compliments of the thread. I think this is a blast to do.
 
Reck said:
I'm sorry but what? Didn't dominate?

When you think of NASCAR in the 90s you immediately think of Jeff Gordon. He absolutely dominated.

Outside of Jimmie Johnson, no other driver had won back to back to back to back to back championships ever.

This argument that you need 6 or more championships is artificially made up. You might as well never see an era then because the chances of one particular driver winning 6 or more championships under these rules and format are in the bottom half rather than top side.

Gordon won a championship 3 out of 4 years in a very short stint. That's dominance.
Click to expand...

Cale won 3 strait
 
Reck said:
I'm sorry but what? Didn't dominate?

When you think of NASCAR in the 90s you immediately think of Jeff Gordon. He absolutely dominated.

Outside of Jimmie Johnson, no other driver had won back to back to back to back to back championships ever.

This argument that you need 6 or more championships is artificially made up. You might as well never see an era then because the chances of one particular driver winning 6 or more championships under these rules and format are in the bottom half rather than top side.

Gordon won a championship 3 out of 4 years in a very short stint. That's dominance.
Click to expand...
Short term dominance, long term success.
 
I was never a Jeff Gordon fan........ but..... as the years stretched on....... It was really hard to deny that he was a great driver and deserved respect. As much respect as any of the other drivers before him that had won almost 100 races and won multiple Championships..... It was hard for me accept Gordon because he was the very first driver that stepped into a primo ride at such an early age..... (it's the norm now)..... I had always been used to seeing drivers have to go thru the normal channels of driving for lesser teams to ''earn'' a good ride..... a good part of them started driving for Junie...... it was called paying dues...... not that way now..... they ''pay their dues'' when they are 12 or 13...... bankrolled by their parents....... I can't say it's all bad....... just different........
 
kymartin6 said:
I was never a Jeff Gordon fan........ but..... as the years stretched on....... It was really hard to deny that he was a great driver and deserved respect. As much respect as any of the other drivers before him that had won almost 100 races and won multiple Championships..... It was hard for me accept Gordon because he was the very first driver that stepped into a primo ride at such an early age..... (it's the norm now)..... I had always been used to seeing drivers have to go thru the normal channels of driving for lesser teams to ''earn'' a good ride..... a good part of them started driving for Junie...... it was called paying dues...... not that way now..... they ''pay their dues'' when they are 12 or 13...... bankrolled by their parents....... I can't say it's all bad....... just different........
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All it proves is that drivers dont have to "pay dues" to be successful. Why stifle talent in the name of dated tradition?
 
ChexOrWrex said:
All it proves is that drivers dont have to "pay dues" to be successful. Why stifle talent in the name of dated tradition?
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Yep......... I'm over it now........ I have about lost all the scruples of tradition that I ever had...........;)


As much as I was upset when they moved the Labor Day race from Darlington....... I really don't give a damn anymore if they moved it back or even cancelled the whole flam damned thing.....


I follow racing anymore with about as much enthusiasm as I have for synchronized swimming....... (*which ain't much)
 
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