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The awards have been handed out, the checks have been cashed, and the trophies have all been shipped back to the team’s shops in North Carolina via FedEx and/or UPS.

Folks, the 2009 season is officially over.

Not so fast!

Even though the Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Truck Series banquets have come and gone, we here at thespotterstand.com have some awards of our own we would like to give out. Contrary to what you might have read on Twitter or on Jayski’s, the rumors that we were going to rent out a Casino or a fancy ball room at a five-star hotel were just that…rumors. Instead we simply powered up our laptops, threw on our fancy tuxedo t-shirts, and took one last look at the craziness that was the 2009 season.

Without further ado, the winners are…..

*The “Sir, Do You Know How Fast You Were Going?” award goes to Juan Pablo Montoya for speeding on pit road during the Brickyard 400. The costly mistake killed his chances to win the race and ultimately make racing history.

*The “Fumes Must Have Gone To Your Brain” award goes to Jimmy Watts, gasman for Marcose Ambrose, and his decision to run out and grab a loose tire during the race at Atlanta.

*The “Leave My Momma Out Of This” award goes to Tony Stewart for calling Dale Earnhardt Jr. a “No Talent S.O.B.” during the Fall race at Phoenix.

*The “Should Have Gone To NAPA” award goes to the parts guy on the No.88 team. How many part failures did this team have again?

*The “You’re Fired” award goes out to Tony Eury Jr. for getting Donald Trumped by the powers that be at Hendrick Motorsports early on in the 2009 season.

*The “When You’re Hurt and You Can’t Work” award goes to Carl Edwards for playing the world’s most dangerous sport, Frisbee, and breaking his foot. Even though he didn’t actually miss a race, it must have been nice to know that Aflac had his back, err I mean foot.

*The “Ricky Bobby” award goes to Carl Edwards and his spectacular wreck during the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega. When flying up in to the stands isn’t enough, just hop on out of the race car and run on down to the finish line. It makes for great TV and even better pictures on Facebook.

*The “BFF (Best Friends Forever)” award goes out to Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski for their run-ins both on and off the track. You guys may act mad at each other, but we know the truth.

*The “Fastest Chicken In The South” award goes to Brian Vickers and the chicken car he drove around the infield at Talladega during the track’s Hallow-Dega weekend.

*The “Perfect Storm” award goes out to Talladega Superspeedway and their new date on Halloween weekend. Then again, every race weekend out there is Halloween.

*The “Groundhog Day” award goes out to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his entire 2009 season.

*The “Dirty Air” award goes to Jeremy Mayfield and his case against NASCAR. From allegedly failing drug tests to being kicked out of the track during the All-Star Race to a run-in with his step-mother, 2009 has been a year to forget for Mayfield and his entire family.

*The “Cowardly Lion” award goes out to all the Start and Park teams from all three series. If you are good enough to make the race you are good enough to finish the race. Simple as that.

*The “Take My Ball And Go Home” award goes to Kyle Busch and his antics towards the media after a race. Whether it was storming out of the track or ignoring reporters or those timely, sarcastic responses, Busch made post-race interviews feel more like talking to a 5th grader rather than the Nationwide Series champion.

*The “I Don’t Need Your Rocking Chair” award goes to Mark Martin for defying odds and contending for a championship at the ripe ol’ age of 50 years old.

*The “What Was I Thinking?” award goes out to Jeff Gordon and his decision to partner with Rick Hendrick years ago in bringing Jimmie Johnson up to the Cup level. Since Johnson’s debut in 2002 he has won more races than Jeff Gordon as well as tie him in number of championships. Jeff, what were you thinking?!

*The “We Might Need A New Ruler” award goes to Martin Truex Jr. and crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion for failing two post-race inspections (once for being too high; the other for being too low) during the 2009 season.

*The “Dude, Where’s My Manners” award goes to Kurt Busch for his temper tantrum when talking to spotter/car owner Roger Penske during a race earlier this year. Busch was so upset at how bad his car was running he proceeded to take it out on anyone willing to listen; including his boss.

*The “Michael McDowell” award for “Crash of the Year” goes out to both Joey Logano and Ryan Newman for their spectacular crashes at Dover and Talladega respectively.

*And finally, the “Catch Me If You Can” award goes to Jimmie Johnson and the entire 48 team. I think that award pretty much speaks for itself.

Ladies and Gentleman, that concludes our ceremony. We hoped you enjoyed the 2009 season as much as we did. It was a crazy and unpredictable season to say the least. But now that ‘09 is firmly in the rear view mirror, we now shift our attention towards 2010.

67 days and counting til the Daytona 500…..

 

 

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