This year for NASCAR was a special one with the sport celebrating its 75th year of existence. The landmark year had several memorable highlights throughout the season that captivated the fans and the general NASCAR community alike.
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Recently, while talking about the best and the most memorable moments of the years, former NASCAR drivers Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty shared their respective takes on the Motorsports on NBC Podcast.
Jarrett said, “It took us 75 years to have a street race in NASCAR and that Chicago Street Race turned out to be phenomenal. Yeah the weather didn’t co-operate on race day. But nothing disappointed about the weekend. They did a phenomenal job of preparing the streets of Chicago…”
He added, “It wasn’t something that we needed to have to make NASCAR noteworthy if you will. But to me it was an event that stood out and kind of separated itself from the rest of the things that happened during the year.”
Kyle Petty shares his take on the most memorable moment all season
Meanwhile, fellow analyst Kyle Petty chose the incident with Ryan Preece where his car violently flipped over several times before coming to rest. Thankfully, Preece emerged from the vehicle unharmed.
Petty stated, “I think there has been a lot said about this car over the last year and half to two years. We have seen drivers in accidents that seemingly were just a standard spin and back into the wall who have gone through concussion protocol. Who have had to end their careers because of it.”
“We see this accident in this car after NASCAR continued over the last 12 months, over the last 16 months to try to improve it as it was too stiff. They softened it, they did things and this wreck was just horrendous man. It was just so violent when you see it get up in the air…. But the next week Ryan Preece is back in the car racing again.”
Preece’s wreck was horrendous but his being able to get back in the race car just a week later was a testament to NASCAR’s unwavering determination toward safety.
Additionally, both Jarrett and Petty acknowledged how Chris Buescher and RFK Racing managed to turn their ship around and bring the challenge all the way into the playoffs. They both also spoke about the RFK comeback as well as Kevin Harvick’s final few races before the end of his career to be some of the other memorable instances for this year.
