NASCAR Drama on, off track made season sparkle

A fresh crop of kids made their presence known.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The season began with Sterling Marlin fixing his fender and Tony Stewart's engine going up in smoke.
It ended with doctors sidelining Marlin, and Stewart nearly self-destructing on the way to his first Winston Cup title.
In between, Jeff Gordon took a detour in his storybook life, and Ricky Rudd starred in chapter after chapter of his own thrilling drama.
A fresh crop of kids flexed their muscles on the track and in the advertising market, while some veterans struggled to find both Victory Lane and television time.
After surviving a near-fatal plane crash, Jack Roush won the battle to get his cars back up front -- then lost yet another fight with NASCAR.
And the sanctioning body showed both its power and a knack for making bad decisions.
Unlike last year, when Dale Earnhardt's death in the Daytona 500 cast a dark cloud on NASCAR, this year will be remembered for all the right reasons: The on-track action and the characters who make the sport.
Daytona 500
It all started in February at the Daytona 500, a race Stewart was favored to win.
But his motor blew on the second lap and he spent the rest of the day driving back to North Carolina, alone with his thoughts and the grim reality that he'd have to become the first driver to go from worst to first in one season.
Marlin, meanwhile, had a chance to win Daytona, but with a crumpled fender pressed against his tire, his team knew it was only a matter of time before it blew.
So he got out of his car during a red-flag and tried to pull away the sheet metal.
NASCAR said no, Marlin lost his shot at the win, and Ward Burton went on to the victory.
A week later, NASCAR showed its inconsistency by refusing to follow the Daytona precedent and not red-flagging the race at Rockingham -- denying Marlin a chance to run for the win.
The very next week, Marlin earned his first victory of the season in Las Vegas -- a win was aided by another NASCAR gaffe when Marlin was not penalized for speeding on pit road because of miscommunication with the officials.
Marlin settled into first in the points standings and stayed there for 25 consecutive weeks. But his season was derailed after a September wreck at Kansas left him with a broken vertebra in his neck and an order to stay out of his car.
"Yeah, we'd like to think we could have got the title this year," Marlin said.
"But it's not the way it played out. We'll just be back next year and give it another go."
Gordon's problems
One hauler over from Marlin's was the new Jeff Gordon.
The four-time Winston Cup champion announced in March he and his wife, Brooke, were divorcing seven years of a high profile marriage.
It led to a shakeup in personality for the image-conscience Gordon. He was suddenly fun, accessible -- a regular guy.
By the time he showed up at the season finale with five-days' growth of beard on his face, few even raised an eyebrow.
He also went a career-high 31 races without a victory, but rallied to win three races and finish fourth in the points.
"I'm pretty proud of the effort that was put out with all the circumstances like the pressure of not winning on us all year long, and with my personal issues," Gordon said.
Rudd's remarks
Meanwhile, Rudd kept the NASCAR world entertained all summer with an ongoing saga. He was the first of the veteran drivers to complain about TV attention being shifted away from the graybeards and onto the "Young Guns."
He was so irritated that he hinted he might retire.
Instead, he played a back-and-forth game with car owner Robert Yates full of accusations and allegations.
There even was a fistfight with crew chief Michael "Fatback" McSwain.
By the time an engine builder punched Rudd in the eye after a September race at Richmond, Rudd and Yates had already announced their split -- he was trading with Elliott Sadler and would drive for The Wood Brothers in 2003.
Oh, by the way, he also broke NASCAR's Iron Man record with 680 consecutive starts.
Perhaps Rudd's gripes about the Young Guns were true. After all, rookies Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson certainly proved the kids could race by combining for four victories and 11 poles.
They were both in contention for the championship at one point -- Johnson became the first rookie in history to lead the standings -- and had a stirring battle for Rookie of the Year.
Newman edged Johnson for that title, but Johnson beat him in the standings, finishing one spot ahead of Newman in fifth place.
Jamie McMurray, not even a NASCAR rookie yet, also set a Winston Cup record by winning in his second race as Marlin's replacement.