W
WideOpenPhoto
Guest
By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
December 28, 2004
12:56 PM EST (17:56 GMT)
Every once in a while, you're sitting in your favorite easy chair watching NASCAR and someone says something that takes you all the way back to seventh grade, when one of your buddies got a particularly good dig on one of your other buddies.
There's nothing else to say but, "oooooooooh."
The 2004 NASCAR season produced many memorable one-liners. Here's our picks for the top 10:
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "It don't mean s--- right now. Daddy's won here 10 times."
Series: Nextel Cup
After garnering his fifth career Talladega victory in October, TNT/NBC pit reporter Matt Yocum asked Dale Earnhardt Jr. how it felt to win at Talladega five times. Junior's response -- the gem you see above -- sent shock waves through NASCAR.
Junior was fined $10,000, but more importantly, he was docked 25 championship points for the outburst. The penalty handed the point lead to Kurt Busch, a lead Busch didn't relinquish. Almost immediately, the NASCAR community seemed divided between those who believed the penalty was too excessive and those who thought the punishment was on the money.
2. Mike Helton: "In the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series alone we are modifying the format we use to determine the champion."
Series: Nextel Cup
After those words were spoken on January 10, NASCAR's top series was changed forever. The sanctioning body implemented the chase for the Nextel Cup, a 10-race playoff-like run to the finish that created the closest championship battle in the history of the sport.
It'll be tough to find a more historic comment in the future.
3. Tony Stewart: "I guess he forgets that with all the rule changes he wants NASCAR to make he forgets that if they changed the rules and took the champion's provisional away he wouldn't have been able to race the last two years."
Series: Nextel Cup
Stewart pointed this bazooka at Darrell Waltrip during the pre-race show leading up to the spring race at Richmond. Stewart had been the center of controversy for several weeks thanks to some rather questionable on-track incidents. Stewart responded by pointing the finger at the FOX broadcasting crew of Waltrip, Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds, contending the trio was blowing things out of proportion.
4. Carl Long: "We were racing along and someone must have got into me, because next thing I knew, I seen the people up there in the back straightaway in the bleachers up there eating chicken," Long said. "You can't pay $2 at the state fair to ride something like that."
Series: Nextel Cup
In the Subway 400 at Rockingham, Long was bumped from behind by Joe Nemechek on lap 263 and the contact sent him into the wall along the backstretch. His car turned on its side as it skidded along the track, then barrel-rolled several times before finally coming to a stop.
Long quickly emerged unhurt from the only race car he owns.
5. Rusty Wallace: "This Stewart guy, man, I'll tell ya I don't know what's going on there. He's coming down the back straightaway with his finger out the window and just giving me the bird all the way down the straightaway after he'd run me through the fence. I'd like to take that finger and jam it right up his rear end, I'll tell ya that..."
Wallace and Stewart had gotten together in the early laps of the Auto Club 500 at Fontana in April. Wallace was still in the midst of a long winless streak at the time and Fontana was the track where Wallace had gotten his most recent win in 2001.
While the incident with Stewart didn't take Wallace out of the race, it essentially took away his chance victory that day.
6. Sterling Marlin: "I got run over by the bug-eyed dummy, I guess."
Series: Nextel Cup
Marlin and Greg Biffle were in mid-pack early in the race at Watkins Glen when Biffle tried to get by Marlin, Marlin appeared to give Biffle some room, but Biffle when up into Marlin, spinning the No. 40 Dodge into the tire wall.
7. Greg Biffle: "That takes absolutely zero class to do that, to brake-check a guy in the middle of the corner and wreck us all. I hope NASCAR does something about it."
Series: Busch
Kyle Busch was trying to pass Ron Hornaday in the corner at Darlington. When Busch failed, it appeared that Hornaday brake-checked Busch, sending his No. 2 chevrolet reeling. Biffle was an innocent victim, and he unleashed this tirade on Hornaday.
After the race, Hornaday contended that his foot slipped off the gas pedal.
8. Jeremy Mayfield: "I don't know why they settle this stuff on the racetrack. I guess they're too scared to settle it outside the racetrack."
Series: Nextel Cup
In the first race of the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup, title contender Mayfield fell victims as Robby Gordon spun Greg Biffle in retaliation for an earlier incident. Mayfield had won the previous week's race at Richmond to get into the Chase and was hoping to carry the momentum into the 10-race Chase.
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "I'm Daytona 500 champion. I can't believe it."
Series: Nextel Cup
Earnhardt Jr. won his first Daytona 500 in his fifth try, four times quicker than his legendary father. Junior went on to win the rain-delayed Busch Series opener the next day. What's more, his victory in NASCAR's biggest race gave Earnhardt Jr. the lead in the Cup point standings for the first time in his career.
10. Dale Jarrett: "We looked like we weren't prepared for that. Run terrible. Just terrible."
Series: Nextel Cup
Dale Jarrett had a chance to make the chase for the Nextel Cup, but a 15th-place finish in race 26 at Richmond ended Jarrett's title hopes.
December 28, 2004
12:56 PM EST (17:56 GMT)
Every once in a while, you're sitting in your favorite easy chair watching NASCAR and someone says something that takes you all the way back to seventh grade, when one of your buddies got a particularly good dig on one of your other buddies.
There's nothing else to say but, "oooooooooh."
The 2004 NASCAR season produced many memorable one-liners. Here's our picks for the top 10:
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "It don't mean s--- right now. Daddy's won here 10 times."
Series: Nextel Cup
After garnering his fifth career Talladega victory in October, TNT/NBC pit reporter Matt Yocum asked Dale Earnhardt Jr. how it felt to win at Talladega five times. Junior's response -- the gem you see above -- sent shock waves through NASCAR.
Junior was fined $10,000, but more importantly, he was docked 25 championship points for the outburst. The penalty handed the point lead to Kurt Busch, a lead Busch didn't relinquish. Almost immediately, the NASCAR community seemed divided between those who believed the penalty was too excessive and those who thought the punishment was on the money.
2. Mike Helton: "In the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series alone we are modifying the format we use to determine the champion."
Series: Nextel Cup
After those words were spoken on January 10, NASCAR's top series was changed forever. The sanctioning body implemented the chase for the Nextel Cup, a 10-race playoff-like run to the finish that created the closest championship battle in the history of the sport.
It'll be tough to find a more historic comment in the future.
3. Tony Stewart: "I guess he forgets that with all the rule changes he wants NASCAR to make he forgets that if they changed the rules and took the champion's provisional away he wouldn't have been able to race the last two years."
Series: Nextel Cup
Stewart pointed this bazooka at Darrell Waltrip during the pre-race show leading up to the spring race at Richmond. Stewart had been the center of controversy for several weeks thanks to some rather questionable on-track incidents. Stewart responded by pointing the finger at the FOX broadcasting crew of Waltrip, Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds, contending the trio was blowing things out of proportion.
4. Carl Long: "We were racing along and someone must have got into me, because next thing I knew, I seen the people up there in the back straightaway in the bleachers up there eating chicken," Long said. "You can't pay $2 at the state fair to ride something like that."
Series: Nextel Cup
In the Subway 400 at Rockingham, Long was bumped from behind by Joe Nemechek on lap 263 and the contact sent him into the wall along the backstretch. His car turned on its side as it skidded along the track, then barrel-rolled several times before finally coming to a stop.
Long quickly emerged unhurt from the only race car he owns.
5. Rusty Wallace: "This Stewart guy, man, I'll tell ya I don't know what's going on there. He's coming down the back straightaway with his finger out the window and just giving me the bird all the way down the straightaway after he'd run me through the fence. I'd like to take that finger and jam it right up his rear end, I'll tell ya that..."
Wallace and Stewart had gotten together in the early laps of the Auto Club 500 at Fontana in April. Wallace was still in the midst of a long winless streak at the time and Fontana was the track where Wallace had gotten his most recent win in 2001.
While the incident with Stewart didn't take Wallace out of the race, it essentially took away his chance victory that day.
6. Sterling Marlin: "I got run over by the bug-eyed dummy, I guess."
Series: Nextel Cup
Marlin and Greg Biffle were in mid-pack early in the race at Watkins Glen when Biffle tried to get by Marlin, Marlin appeared to give Biffle some room, but Biffle when up into Marlin, spinning the No. 40 Dodge into the tire wall.
7. Greg Biffle: "That takes absolutely zero class to do that, to brake-check a guy in the middle of the corner and wreck us all. I hope NASCAR does something about it."
Series: Busch
Kyle Busch was trying to pass Ron Hornaday in the corner at Darlington. When Busch failed, it appeared that Hornaday brake-checked Busch, sending his No. 2 chevrolet reeling. Biffle was an innocent victim, and he unleashed this tirade on Hornaday.
After the race, Hornaday contended that his foot slipped off the gas pedal.
8. Jeremy Mayfield: "I don't know why they settle this stuff on the racetrack. I guess they're too scared to settle it outside the racetrack."
Series: Nextel Cup
In the first race of the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup, title contender Mayfield fell victims as Robby Gordon spun Greg Biffle in retaliation for an earlier incident. Mayfield had won the previous week's race at Richmond to get into the Chase and was hoping to carry the momentum into the 10-race Chase.
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "I'm Daytona 500 champion. I can't believe it."
Series: Nextel Cup
Earnhardt Jr. won his first Daytona 500 in his fifth try, four times quicker than his legendary father. Junior went on to win the rain-delayed Busch Series opener the next day. What's more, his victory in NASCAR's biggest race gave Earnhardt Jr. the lead in the Cup point standings for the first time in his career.
10. Dale Jarrett: "We looked like we weren't prepared for that. Run terrible. Just terrible."
Series: Nextel Cup
Dale Jarrett had a chance to make the chase for the Nextel Cup, but a 15th-place finish in race 26 at Richmond ended Jarrett's title hopes.