The 2021 NASCAR season has been over for just over a month, but all eyes are already onto 2022 as the potential of the Next Gen car comes closer into view.
Such is the nature of the industry – always moving forward, choosing to push ahead toward the next race instead of dwelling on the past.
But while 2022 will certainly bring another year of significant change to the sport, the 2021 campaign was equally notable for its schedule shifts and interesting storylines. From the return of a racing prodigy to attempted races at various new venues, NASCAR completed a successful campaign filled with variability and uncertainty in 2021.
Here’s a look at some of the key moments of the year – good, bad and ugly.
Good: Kyle Larson’s Historic Campaign
Any discussion of NASCAR in 2021 should begin with a nod to Kyle Larson.
The season Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team pieced together was nothing short of historic. In Larson’s first year with the organization, the Californian earned 10 points wins and an All-Star Race victory. He won three-consecutive races on two different occasions, led 2,581 laps — the most ever in the 36-race era — and earned the regular season championship.
And here’s the kicker – Larson did all of this while also having an unprecedented year in the dirt track world.
After earning team owner Rick Hendrick’s blessing, Larson contested a host of dirt events along with his NASCAR duties. He triumphed in many of them, including some of the biggest races in the discipline.
There was the Chili Bowl Nationals in January, dirt midget racing’s crown jewel. Then came marquee winged sprint car wins in the Knoxville Nationals and Kings Royal. As if that wasn’t enough, Larson also prevailed in the Prairie Dirt Classic, a signature race for dirt late models.
Filled with the pressure of proving himself worth giving a top-tier Cup ride after being offered a comeback from an inexcusable failure in 2020, when he lost his former ride at Chip Ganassi Racing after uttering a racial slur during a streamed iRacing event, Larson delivered in a major way to enter Phoenix Raceway as one of four championship contenders.
For most of the race it seemed like Larson would fall short of the big prize at year’s end. But a blazing pit stop from his No. 5 crew at the final time of asking put Larson in a position to win the race.
That chance was all he needed. Larson held off Martin Truex Jr. to cap off the comeback year with a Cup title, completing the sort of collective racing season that hasn’t been accomplished since the days of pastime greats like A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.
Bad: Stewart-Haas Racing
Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) is considered to be among the power programs in the NASCAR Cup Series, and 2021 figured to be no different.
Kevin Harvick is a perennial playoff contender and had won nine races in 2020. The other three teams are typically less consistent, but the trio had all made the playoffs behind Harvick and Aric Almirola was even a dark horse pick for the title heading into the playoffs.
It was a surprise, then, to see the group collectively struggle on the year.
Harvick suffered his first winless season since 2009, infamously coming up short to Kyle Larson in dirty air at Bristol Motor Speedway and ultimately getting the worse of a spat with Chase Elliott at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval to fall out of playoff contention.
Almirola spent the majority of the summer outside of the top-25 in points, though he later salvaged his season (we’ll get to that in a second). Cole Custer had a quiet sophomore year after his winning rookie campaign, while Chase Briscoe fell shy of the playoffs as well despite coming close to victory in his home state.
The organization collectively won just once in 2021, failed to move a team beyond the Round of 12 and really wasn’t a factor in the overall season’s story.
Down years happen to the best of organizations at times, and SHR proved no different. The group will get a chance at a fresh start with the launch of the Next Gen car in 2022.
Good: Aric Almirola’s Spirited New Hampshire Drive
Though SHR’s year was generally a flop, it did have one shining moment – though it was celebrated in near-darkness.
A rainy day at New Hampshire Motor Speedway proved to be the perfect combination for Aric Almirola.
In the midst of perhaps his worst Cup campaign ever, the Floridian entered New Hampshire 27th in the point standings. He had made the playoffs in each of the prior three seasons, but had been winless since 2018 and didn’t look remotely close to changing that narrative through the majority of the regular season, with only two top-10s on the year.
So it came as a great shock to the field when Almirola emerged as a genuine contender at the Magic Mile. In what was easily the signature drive of his career to date, Almirola marched his way to the front after an early red flag for rain and held the lead as darkness descended upon the east coast.
Saturday’s Xfinity Series winner, Christopher Bell, showed strong pace late and closed in on Almirola for the lead. But the Oklahoman ran out of time as the race was called with eight laps left in the scheduled distance. With just four races left in the regular season, Almirola punched his playoff ticket and ultimately forced Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick to battle for the final playoff spot on points.
It was a moment of reprieve for Almirola in the midst of a trying campaign, while also serving as proof that he can show up and win at tracks outside of the draft-focused Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, the site of his prior two Cup Series victories.
“We’ve been through so much, and I’ve just stood the test and kept the faith,” Almirola said. “The team, everybody’s been working so hard.
“All the guys that work on this car, they just keep fighting, they just keep digging, bringing the best race car they can bring every week,” he later continued. “And there is no doubt that we have struggled, but guess what? We’re going playoff racing.”
Ugly: Dirt Races Get Messy
Rain hasn’t been kind to NASCAR at times over the years, particularly when it comes to the spring race weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. That race has been impacted by rain in three of the past five years.
The 2021 season proved no different in that regard, throwing what was planned to be one of the season’s biggest race weekends into uncertainty.
NASCAR’s idea for a dirt race weekend at Bristol wasn’t quite unprecedented. The World of Outlaws had done similar at the track in the past, while NASCAR itself had featured dirt in the sport’s earlier eras and recently with the Camping World Truck Series at Eldora Speedway.
But the idea of throwing modern Cup cars onto a dirt track for a points race was a shocking one when it was first announced. Could they even contest a race at Cup Series lengths without significant issue? Would fans get behind the idea and give it the sort of turnout and ratings to justify such a move?
It’s still difficult to answer those questions after the first Bristol Dirt Race, because there were too many added variables at play.
Significant rains washed out the bulk of the race weekend, eliminating planned heat races and shifting both Cup and the preceding Truck Series race to Monday. That meant running many more laps on the dirt oval in one day than anyone had planned for, causing a tricky issue for the track crew to deal with.
The Truck race was mostly fine, won in surprising fashion (to even himself) by Martin Truex Jr. Afterward came the Cup race, which started off without too many issues.
But in the end there were a few complications. Significant dust caused limited visibility and forced a brief red flag for track prep prior to the final stage, leading NASCAR to make a surprising shift to single-file restarts in the middle of the race. Drivers also found it difficult to brake at times, colliding into each other in big crashes on more than one occasion.
“You can’t stop,” Almirola said after an early wreck. “You can’t see. That’s honestly the biggest problem.”
The Truck Series later ventured to another new dirt track in Knoxville Raceway, delivering a caution-filled affair that played out like a war of attrition at race’s end. Whether that was due to the track or a lack of respect among competitors is uncertain, but it led to a challenging race for all involved.
Both tracks are coming back in 2022, with potential to be signature races. The key on NASCAR’s side is to figure out what all went wrong this year, learn for the forthcoming second editions of each event and hope for some better weather when Bristol weekend comes around.
Good: Bubba’s Big Day
Bubba Wallace has been thrown into the public eye for the past two years, becoming a significant figure in the sporting and political worlds for his outspokenness on racial discrimination and attachment to the infamous noose incident at Talladega in 2020.
But beyond all of that, Wallace is a race car driver. At the end of the day, he wants to win races and be a true contender at NASCAR’s top level.
That drive has kept Wallace in the sport over the years, winning early on at Kyle Busch Motorsports and proving to be a points contender at Roush Fenway Racing in the Xfinity Series before securing an opportunity with Richard Petty Motorsports. His newfound fame helped garner the attention of sponsors in 2020, opening the door for Wallace to land a strong ride with the newly-formed 23XI Racing and Toyota in 2021.
The new ride stood as the best of Wallace’s Cup career, at least on paper. Running with a new organization figured to provide some struggles, but on their best day 23XI Racing figured to be a theoretical contender.
Inconsistencies were present. Wallace had more finishes outside of the top-30 (four) than he did inside of the top-five (three). But Wallace also reached the highest peak of his Cup career, securing his first series win at Talladega in the fall.
In doing so, Wallace became just the second Black driver to win a race in Cup Series history. He’ll have Kurt Busch as a teammate next year and hope for greater success, with 23XI Racing hoping to make the next step and become championship contenders.
All Three (Somehow): NASCAR’s First Road Course Race at the Brickyard
If the collective decision to change NASCAR’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway race from the historic oval race to the track’s infield road course was made to encourage more drama and exciting racing, all parties may have gotten more than they bargained for in the end.
NASCAR’s annual trip to the Brickyard had a mix of everything. The race itself was an exciting affair, seemingly set to be another key victory for eventual champion Kyle Larson until debris yielded a caution on Lap 74.
Then things fell apart – literally.
A broken curb caused a massive accident early in the ensuing run, eliminating drivers like William Byron and Joey Logano from contention. That resulted in a red flag of just under 20 minutes for track repairs in the midst of a lengthy 10-lap caution period.
Another multi-car incident followed, Larson was knocked out of contention on a restart and new leader Denny Hamlin found himself turned by eager rookie Chase Briscoe with two to go. The latter driver was out for a playoff-clinching win, but Briscoe was forced to stop his car on-track after being found to have short-cutted the track when he was pushed off-course in the opening corners of the restart.
The collective mess opened the door for AJ Allmendinger and part-time Cup entrants Kaulig Racing. The one-time Cup winner drove by the pair and beat Ryan Blaney to the line by just under a second to score Kaulig’s first Cup win.
At the start of Stage 3, Allmendinger had been at the tail for a speeding penalty. Prior the late calamity, he was running just inside of the top-20.
But at day’s end, Allmendinger found himself kissing the bricks after his second Cup victory. It was a feel-good ending to a confusing, chaotic race.
Bad: eNASCAR Efforts Fizzle Out
The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series was one of NASCAR’s crowning achievements of 2020, helping the sport find a way to continue on and provide some small sense of normalcy amid the initial shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the digital effort was put on the back burner when real-life racing resumed – and 2021 showed that was likely a smart move.
NASCAR and broadcast partners FOX Sports and NBC Sports brought the iRacing-based series back for what was meant to be a 10-race 2021 slate. The sanctioning body used the digital platform to provide an early look at the Next Gen car and Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track, while also showcasing a potential street circuit in Chicago that could someday become a real-life endeavor for the Cup Series.
But in the end the series proved to be short-lived, scuppered after FOX Sports’ portion of the schedule with little mention of the virtual tour over the months since its last race in June.
iRacing remains a strong platform for NASCAR and other tours looking to test the waters with different tracks or designs and offer a taste of their racing to eager sim racers. The Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 Team even recently brought its car to the service. But with no news shared for 2022 at this time, it appears the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series may be left as a memory of pandemic-era racing moving forward.
Good: Xfinity Series Shines
NASCAR’s top flight endured a year of mixed results with its new-look schedule, but the sport’s second tour rarely missed.
The Xfinity Series consistently delivered strong races and interesting storylines throughout its 33-race campaign, giving fans and industry members talking points for the entire length of the season.
There were first-time winners, from teenage wunderkind Ty Gibbs and beloved short track veteran Josh Berry to social media favorite Myatt Snider and Jeb Burton, who finally secured a strong full-time opportunity with Kaulig Racing. On the other end of the equation, Kyle Busch earned his 100th series win and added two more triumphs for good measure.
Defending champ Austin Cindric wasted no time inserting himself into the discussion with a season-opening win at Daytona. AJ Allmendinger rose up to challenge him atop the standings, with the two delivering a fierce battle for the regular season title that continued until its wild, wrecking conclusion at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Allmendinger won that race, slamming both walls but emerging from his car as a race winner and regular season champ. Cindric seemed poised to avenge that loss and score a second series title in Phoenix, but in the end it was Daniel Hemric that denied them both with a crucial first win.
For 32 races Hemric had flirted with victory, coming heartbreakingly close multiple times. On the tour’s grandest stage, Hemric bump-and-runned his way to what will likely be the statement victory of his entire NASCAR career.
It was a dramatic, memorable conclusion to one of the strongest seasons in the tour’s rich history.
Bad: Daytona Destruction
The Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s biggest race, but it’s been memorable primarily as the host of some of the sport’s worst crashes in the past two years.
This year’s edition of the Great American Race was a bizarre one, held largely in the late hours of the night amid threat of fog and additional rain after storms descended upon Daytona International Speedway on race day for the second-straight year. With midnight approaching, the bulk of the race played out in sleepy fashion. But at the end of the event, a battle between Team Penske stars Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski emerged at the front of the field.
That is, until they both wrecked. Horribly. Taking the majority of the remaining contenders with them.
One of the worst wrecks of the season ended the sport’s biggest race, calling safety into question again – a topic that would resurface when Logano suffered a flipping crash two months later at Talladega.
The race-ending crash yielded a positive moment for underdogs Front Row Motorsports and Michael McDowell, who scored a surprising victory in NASCAR’s crown jewel event. But for the third time in four years, the Daytona 500 had ended with a controversial crash at the front of the field that elicited mixed opinions from the fans watching at home.
Ugly: COTA’s Rainy Cup Debut
The premise of NASCAR Cup Series drivers racing in the rain was a tantalizing one entering May’s first series race at Circuit of the Americas.
But the series wasn’t prepared to compete in the downpour they were met with in Texas.
A mixture of consistent rain, standing water and the extreme spray generated by Cup cars made lack of visibility a significant concern by the middle stages of the race, resulting in massive crashes for Martin Truex Jr., Cole Custer, Bubba Wallace and others in high-speed sections of the circuit.
That led to a red flag and uproar that the sanctioning body had put its competitors in danger. The race was restarted a short while later, but was ultimately called before reaching the scheduled distance to give Chase Elliott his first win of 2021.
Before the rain, there had been a lot of buzz heading into NASCAR’s first race weekend at the site of Formula 1’s annual United States Grand Prix. Heavy moisture ultimately but a damper on that hype, but thankfully for the track and Texas race fans, Circuit of the Americas will get another go at hosting NASCAR in 2022.
Good: Road America’s Holiday Success
When NASCAR elected to shift its second trip to Daytona from its annual Independence Day weekend slot to make the race a last-chance regular season finale, the series was left with a big hole to fill on a key holiday weekend.
A 2020 run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was met with mixed results, but the sport may have found its new holiday home in Wisconsin.
For the first time in the modern era, NASCAR’s top flight ventured to the scenic Road America road course for Fourth of July festivities in 2021. What ensued was a weekend filled with enthusiastic fans throughout the 4.048-mile course’s 640 acres of land. A crowd estimated at over 100,000 people packed the grounds, cheering on fan-favorite Chase Elliott to his second win of the season.
When Elliott tried to roll through his victory lap, he was met with a wall of cheers from fans in Turn 5 hoping he’d treat them to a burnout. “Man, they were fired up,” he said afterward. “The amount of peer pressure I felt to do a burnout was, like, wow. I don’t know that I’ve ever had that much peer pressure in my life to do a burnout.”
The Georgian then drove to the public-accessible victory lane, where he climbed out of his car in the midst of a cluster of cheering onlookers. Those images of that celebration showcased the promise of NASCAR racing in the area, proving that the local populace would gladly support the Cup Series as it returned for the first time since 1956.
Was it Daytona? No. This wasn’t chaos and fireworks under the lights, it was a peaceful race day under the summer sun.
But it was a great weekend with potential to become a special date on the Cup Series calendar moving forward.
