Since a lot of others have said their thoughts on what the future of NASCAR will be like, I thought I'd try a slightly different angle and go for a 'season review' up to the (completely imaginary) Championship finale. Since I'm not from the USA, I can't enter that competition thingy, but if anyone asks me (very nicely), I might be persuaded to let you use this...if you just take it, I will be highly annoyed and shall target you mercilessly until you confess to everyone on here about it.

Daytona; the final race in the 2037 season.

Forty-three drivers started the year at this very track, all wanting to be part of the Chase. The 500 was won by the series veteran, and three-time Champion, Denny Hamlin. Hamlin, driving for the Tony Stewart owned Team Smoke, and his #11 McDonalds Plymouth Prowler turned back the clock and managed to gain revenge on Ella Gordon for last years race, denying her (and Gordon Enterprises) a fourth straight Daytona 500 win. Ella, daughter of six-time Champion Jeff, looked to have the race won in her #24 Microsoft Chevrolet Impala when she came up on lapped traffic and got boxed in. Denny took advantage of Ella’s misfortune and slipped by before holding on to take the chequered flag by a scant 0.004 seconds.

This season has seen the eagerly awaited debut of the DeLorean DMC-19 run exclusively by Evernham Motorsports. Like the rest of the manufacturers (Chevy, Dodge, Ford, Plymouth and Pontiac…no foreign brands allowed anymore after the domination of Toyota in the 20’s), the DMC-19 uses the 3 litre hydro-water hybrid engine as NASCAR mandated five years ago while the onboard computer manages to recreate the sounds of the, now outlawed, V8 engines which made this sport what it is today. The engine produces around 700 horsepower which must be planted onto the track through the rear wheels only. All the cars are the same as the ones in the showroom apart from the roll cages and other safety features (eg; airbags) designed to assist the driver in the event of a crash.

New for 2037 is Goodyear, who, after a decade long tyre war with Firestone managed to reclaim their place as the sole supplier for NASCAR. Firestone opted to focus on their Formula One program in the end so this left those multicar teams already with Goodyear (Hendrick, Gordon, Smoke and RCR) with the upper hand at the start of the season. However, as the season wore on, the rest of the teams, led by JR (the most unlucky team in recent memory finishing runner-up in the last five seasons) and Fenway Racing caught up. Penske and Petty Enterprises have struggled compared to the other major players, but have come on strong in the last third of the season, winning six of the last seven races between them.

Richmond saw the final race before the Chase with eleven drivers battling for the final three spots. In the end, Kiara Wolff (Fenway), Thomas Wilson (Penske) and Kyle Busch (Evernham) managed to make the final 10 races while the other eight drivers (and teams) had to pack their bags as their season was over (and they can start setting their focus on 2038 as only the drivers in the Chase race these last ten races). Twenty drivers started the Chase, with Ella, Denny and Kiara the favourites having each won four races during the year but it was the upstart, Kyle Busch and his Evernham DeLorean that took the early honours, winning the opening two races and launching himself into Championship calculations. Alas, like so many races this year, the fragile nature of the DMC-19 proved his downfall and Kyle now finds himself last of the twenty drivers having failed to finish four of the next six races.

The surprise of the year has been KHI and Aaron Fike Jr. Consistant top 10’s (including a win at Rockingham) have seen the return of ‘Happy Harvick’ and it is Aaron who goes into this race as the Championship leader. Ella Gordon and Denny Hamlin are snapping at his heels with Thomas Wilson the only other driver capable of winning the title going into this final race.

Qualifying saw Kyle Busch once again prove the pace of that Evernham DeLorean as he scythed his way to his ninth pole position of the year with Fike Jr alongside him. Gordon had a terrible time of it and will start the race from the back having to undergo a gearbox change (this being the first year that Gordon Enterprises have used the seamless shift ‘box), but if there’s one thing Ella is great at, it’s storming her way through the field. Speaking of storming, rain is forecast some time during the race so the teams have had to gamble on whether to go with a dry or wet setup and most have gone with a compromise. Only Thomas Wilson has gone for a full wet setup so it will be interesting to see how much quicker he will be when the skies open up.

Daytona, like all the other oval tracks, underwent a facelift a few years ago and now has a road course inside the oval. This will be used once he race officials deem the oval too wet to race on and will throw the red flag so the marshals can put up the temporary fencing required to run the road track in the rain. No adjustments to the number of laps are necessary since both tracks are the same length (another law imposed by NASCAR).

The engines have fired up and the pace car is going out to lead the cars around for their formation laps. Will the veteran, Denny Hamlin take his fourth title? Will Ella win her second crown? Or will it be a first time Champion in Aaron Fike Jr or Thomas Wilson?

We’re about to find out…in thirty years time.