Best Final Season in NASCAR Cup Series History: Rusty Wallace 2005 скачать в хорошем качестве

Best Final Season in NASCAR Cup Series History: Rusty Wallace 2005

In NASCAR, we have had some exceptional drivers go out "close" to the top at the end of their careers. Although no one has won a championship in their final season (Ned Jarrett retired during his title defense in 1966), drivers such as Carl Edwards in 2016 and Jeff Gordon in 2015 have come close after strong seasons, but one driver stands above them all in how they performed in their last season. Rusty Wallace exploded onto the NASCAR scene in the 1980s, winning the championship in just his sixth full season in 1989 by just 12 points after losing the title by 24 points the previous season and continued his strong performance into the mid-1990s. After 1996 however, Rusty struggled to get consistent wins (with the exception of 2000) and it seemed like he was at the tail end of his career, finally going winless in 2002 for the first time since 1985. He got a win in 2004, but he was finishing lower and lower in the standings every year and finally announced retirement from racing after 2005. What would come to pass would be the strongest final season in Cup Series history. Rusty got consistent top 10s almost every other race and stayed inside the top 10 in points for the early portion, but got better somehow as the season went on. With 13 races before the Chase, Rusty racked up the top 5s and locked himself into the second-ever Chase before the cutoff race even came around! He ended the regular-season third in the standings! Rusty stormed through the first half of the Chase determined to get a second championship, going as high as second in the standings, just seven points behind the lead. Unfortunately, a horrible case of bad luck struck the former champion in the final six races, and he fell down to eighth in the standings. Having his best statistical season since 2002, Rusty also set a new personal best record by finishing all 36 races under power for the first time in his career and tied his record of lead lap finishes at 28. All of this was done at age 48, a top 10 in 17 of the 36 races, and although he didn't score a win, was as high as second in the championship. If bad luck didn't come to haunt him, could we have seen a different champion, one in their farewell season? Or maybe he would have postponed retirement. Alas, we will never know, but Rusty Wallace's final season in 2005 needs to be remembered. Video Credits: NASCAR Dillon Murway Michael McIntyre KingCuervo88 Dave W wfrncsu012 Phantom Speed Emerald Stone Racing Hamlinfan Retired History of NASCAR Winners The Iceberg Randy's Racing Place battalionfan888 jrfan07 VG03 Nascar Videos jinjabreadman46 Music by Bensound.com/free-music-for-videos Artist: Lunar Years License code: OUYSOG4TCVCXJA8G Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 2:58 - Beginning of 2005 4:07 - Falling as low as 14th 4:30 - Rebound back inside the top 10 5:07 - Final 13 regular season races 8:01 - First half of the Chase 10:42 - Chase collapse 12:30 - End of the season 13:06 - Season overview 15:36 - Outro