POWER RANKING: TOP TEN BEST NASCAR MOMENTS OF MY LIFE SO FAR

TEN

Jimmie Johnson wins his seventh NASCAR championship in 2016 at Homestead-Miami. I don't love the playoff format, and Carl Edwards was robbed this year, but Jimmie earned his final NASCAR title and the torment he caused me growing up melted away.

NINE

This guy:

EIGHT

Ryan Newman nearly blows up the playoff format with an underdog runner-up championship finish in 2014. He didn't win a race, and almost won a title. So close...

SEVEN

Dale Earnhardt Jr. breaks his winless streak at Michigan in 2012. I was there that day, and it was an Event. The Batman car was a nice touch.

SIX

Ryan Newman walks out of the hospital with his daughters after a horrifying wreck in the 2020 Daytona 500. It was kind of an omen for a bad year to come, now that I think about it, but a heartwarming moment before the rest of the year happened.

FIVE

The 2008 Brickyard 400. I was also there (my first race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway). I had a good time, even if the race was monumentally and historically stupid. That's also why it's at number five, because it was monumentally and historically stupid.

FOUR

Tony Stewart snaps Jimmie Johnson's five-season championship streak by defeating Carl Edwards for the title on a wins tiebreaker at the final race of the 2011 NASCAR season.

THREE

Ryan Newman wins the Brickyard 400 in 2013. I am a Ryan Newman fan, even though he went to Purdue (go Hoosiers). The comedy of his triumph at the world's most famous racecourse being in the Smurfs 2 car will not wear off on me anytime soon.

TWO

Ryan Newman wins the 2008 Daytona 500. Could've swapped this and the Brickyard for Hoosier reasons, but you can't beat the 500 in stock car racing.

ONE

ROSS CHASTAIN WALL RIDING AROUND THE OUTSIDE AT MARTINSVILLE. NEVER IN MY LIFE WILL I EVER SEE ANYTHING LIKE THIS AGAIN. BASK IN IT.

I MEAN C'MON LOOK AT IT!

ROSS THE WATERMELON MAN CHASTAIN WITH THE HAIL MELON!

HE DIDN'T EVEN WIN THE RACE, WHO CARES?