Kurt Busch’s win at Martinsville, his first victory since 2011 and his first with Stewart-Haas Racing.
Kevin Harvick winning in just his second career start with SHR.
Kyle Busch holding off rookie Kyle Larson at California.
Denny Hamlin outlasting the crowd at Talladega.
And Earnhardt taking advantage of Brad Keselowski’s snafu to win at Pocono.
But two races stand out above all the others — Earnhardt’s stirring triumph in the Daytona 500 and Carl Edwards holding off Jeff Gordon to win at Sonoma.
Those two races couldn’t have taken place at more different tracks — one a fast, high-banked trioval with restrictor plates, the other a winding road course.
Which one produced the best race?
Here’s the case for each:
Daytona
The Daytona 500 was halted after 46 laps for more than six hours. What is good about such a long rain delay? It has drivers antsy from the time they strap back into the car.
The drivers appeared to have a sense of urgency from the moment the race restarted under the lights at Daytona International Speedway. The prime-time race featured 42 lead changes. The most consecutive laps led by one driver was just 18.
There were, of course, big wrecks. There was a 13-car pileup with 55 laps to go, a nine-car wreck with 38 laps left, a seven-car wreck with six laps remaining and a six-car wreck with less than two laps left of the scheduled 200-lap distance. Those wrecks took out some good cars and created plenty of drama on restarts.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. held off the field on each of the final three restarts, including the green-white-checkered run to the finish as he led the final 18 laps, deftly blocking and keeping his momentum the entire way.
An Earnhardt win at Daytona is always big. When it comes in the Daytona 500, it’s huge, especially when it was the last time Earnhardt would compete in the Daytona 500 with crew chief Steve Letarte, who will move to NBC after the season.
Sonoma
Typical road-course races include a variety of pit strategies. Carl Edwards used a two-stop strategy that proved to be the right one.
At the end, Edwards was able to hold off Jeff Gordon, a five-time winner at Sonoma. Gordon misjudged a turn with about four laps remaining to kill his momentum and just couldn’t catch Edwards on the final lap.
The race was filled with mistakes that led to wrecks, including one where Earnhardt Jr. got into Matt Kenseth and another where Earnhardt and AJ Allmendinger collided. Allmendinger had led the most laps (35) of any driver in his attempt to pull off the upset.
There were 11 lead changes among nine drivers in the 110-lap race that featured plenty of beating and banging.
Verdict: Daytona.
The sport’s most popular driver wins the sport’s biggest race under the lights with plenty of sparks and drama, setting off an emotional celebration. What could be better than that?