Who knows what the next decade will bring
I can’t believe this decade is almost over. I still haven’t even learned how to refer to it: The Double Zeros? Double Ohs? The Oughts? The Preteen Years?
Anyway, looking back, it seems just like yesterday that the new decade was beginning. As the year 2000 dawned, Dale Jarrett was the defending Winston Cup champion. There was no Chase, no “car of tomorrow,” no “lucky dog.”
A young rookie, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was hoping to find success in NASCAR’s Cup series (wait a minute - that sounds familiar).
Kansas Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway had yet to be added to the NASCAR schedule. North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham still had two race dates, as did Darlington Raceway, including its cherished Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend. Bill France Jr. was still at the sport’s helm.
Who could have ever dreamed so much could change, so quickly?
And who would dare predict what unexpected developments the next 10 years will bring. Hydrogen-powered cars? Cup races in Mexico and/or Canada? How about splitting NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series into two separate conferences, the Earnhardt Conference and the Petty Conference, with the top drivers from each conference during the regular season meeting in the Chase playoffs.
Those are not my ideas, mind you, but they’ve all been mentioned as possibilities at some point in NASCAR’s future. Yes, they sound somewhat bizarre. Well, so would the concept of the Chase For The Sprint Cup, if someone had mentioned it back in 2000.
Tune in next February, as NASCAR takes its next step into the future.
