Tony Stewart, the 2002 Winston Cup Series champion.Mark Martin, driving the No. 6 car, came in second behind Stewart by 38 points.Kurt Busch, driving the No. 97 car, finished third in the championship.Ryan Newman, driving the No. 12 car, won Rookie of the year.
This was the final season for the non-common template bodies. The following season would require all manufacturers to use the same roofline. The most significant rule change for 2002 was the implementation of the one-engine rule for race weekends. At a race event, cars would now be required to practice, qualify, and race with the same engine. The rule banned separate "qualifying engines" (and "practice engines"). Unapproved engine changes during the weekend would be met with a grid penalty. Before the start of the race, cars that changed engines would be forced to move to the rear of the field before the green flag. The rule was an effort to reduce costs, and potentially save crews valuable time during the course of a race weekend.[2]
This race had a bizarre ending. As the field took the restart with 5 laps to go, a multi-car accident involving 5 cars took place at the start/finish line when a driver missed a gear, bringing out the caution flag once again. Headed down the front straightaway going into turn 1, Sterling Marlin went to the inside of Jeff Gordon battling for the lead and when they made contact, Gordon's car was sent spinning. This incident pushed the fender of Marlin's car into his tire. Sterling Marlin would beat Ward Burton back to the caution flag for the lead. As the red flag was thrown to give crews time to clean up the race track to try and ensure a green flag finish, NASCAR reviewed Marlin's move as it appeared he had gone below the yellow line on the inside to pass Jeff Gordon, which is now illegal on NASCAR restrictor-plate tracks. While under the red flag, Marlin got out of his race car and started pulling on his fender, in violation of NASCAR's rule of working on the car under the red flag. This penalty sent Marlin back to the end of the line for the restart, giving Ward Burton the race lead for when they went back to the green flag.
Ward Burton won this race in a Dodge, the first 500 win for the manufacturer since Richard Petty won in 1974.
On lap 148, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon made contact battling for position in turn 1, triggering an 18-car accident.
Even though he replaced Dale Earnhardt after his death and went on to win Rookie of the Year in 2001, this was Kevin Harvick's 1st career Daytona 500 start.
As of 2020, this is the only Daytona 500 in NASCAR History that 2 sets of 3 brothers all raced against each other: The Wallaces (Rusty, Mike, & Kenny), and The Bodines (Geoff, Brett, & Todd). The eldest brother of each set (Rusty and Geoff), finished ahead of the younger brothers. The Wallaces finished 18th (Rusty), 21st (Mike), & 30th (Kenny). The Bodines finished 3rd (Geoff), 16th (Brett), & 31st (Todd). All 6 drivers saw the checkered flag and finished the race. However, Geoff was the only one to finish on the lead lap.
This race would mark the final career start of longtime driver Dave Marcis. Marcis' run was shortened 79 laps into the race due to engine problems. This was also Marcis' 33rd and final Daytona 500 start. As of 2020, Marcis' 33 starts in the Daytona 500 is the most in NASCAR history. Richard Petty and Terry Labonte are tied for 2nd all-time with 32 Daytona 500 starts.
This was the first race where NASCAR mandated that all over-the-wall pit crew members must wear helmets and firesuits. This stemmed from a pit road accident at Homestead the previous November where Casey Atwood and Ward Burton made contact leaving pit road, resulting in Ward Burton's car veering into Ricky Rudd's pit stall, seriously injuring two of Rudd's crew members.
With about five laps to go, the caution was brought out for debris. Multiple teams were hoping the race would go back green, but NASCAR decided to end the race under caution, giving Matt Kenseth the victory.
Sterling Marlin would take over the points lead, and he would hold the top spot for 25 consecutive weeks. He would lose the lead at Loudon in mid-September. As of 2020, his streak of 25 straight weeks would be the longest in history for a driver to not win a NASCAR championship.
This would be Tony Stewart's first career 500 mile NASCAR win.
An incident in the previous race with a spin by Sterling Marlin led to a new rule change. After 11 years, NASCAR changed pit road speeding penalties; if a driver was caught speeding on the approach to the pit stall, the penalty was no longer 15 seconds; rather, the penalty was a pit pass-through, which also became the penalty for speeding on the pit exit, instead of a stop-and-go. The stop-and-go was used only for repeat violations.
Marlin had to start at the back after changing an engine in a happy hour. By the halfway point he was already in third place.
Tony Stewart was shaken up after a grinding 11-car crash late in the race.
This race also marked the return of Steve Park after his injuries suffered in a NASCAR Busch Series event at Darlington in September 2001. Park crashed early.
Tony Stewart started the race 13th and led 74 laps, but was replaced by Todd Bodine during a caution due to some pain sustained from the wreck in the Darlington Race the previous week. Todd was able to finish the race in 15th.
If only 43 teams (or fewer) attempted to qualify, NASCAR no longer charged provisional starts against teams since by rule, all cars would make the race. Provisionals would only be charged if more than 43 cars were entered.
This was the first Cup Series race for Haas CNC Racing, then a Hendrick Motorsports satellite team. As of 2025, the team is billed as Haas Factory Team.
This was Busch's first career victory and was the continuation (Spencer wrecked Busch in the 2001 Phoenix race) of what would later become a very heated rivalry between him and Spencer.
After the race, a heated incident occurred on pit road with Robby Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. from an incident earlier in the race when Earnhardt Jr. and Gordon, who was a lap down at the time, got together. At the end of the cool-down lap, Earnhardt Jr. ran into the side of Gordon's car entering pit road before Gordon retaliated by running into the back of him and turning him around in the middle of the pits.
Kevin Harvick was ejected due to reckless driving in the Advance Auto Parts 250Truck Series race the day before when he intentionally wrecked driver Coy Gibbs. Kenny Wallace drove the No. 29 in his place. Harvick was previously on probation for an incident at Bristol with Greg Biffle in the support race, leading to NASCAR's ejection.
This would be the last race without Kevin Harvick until his retirement at the end of the 2023 season.
This was Bobby Labonte's 1st and only short track win.
The "Big One" took out at least 24 cars on lap 164 when Kyle Petty got out of the draft and sent Tony Stewart in the wall and then mayhem erupted. Ironically, it was in the exact same spot where a 30 car pileup happened in the Busch Series race 24 hours earlier.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was involved in a hard crash when Kevin Harvick cut down a tire and hit Earnhardt's car, sending him head-on into the outside wall. He suffered a severe concussion, but kept the injury a secret for several months and did not miss any races. This is now prohibited because of Earnhardt's 2012 admission of concussions after a Talladega crash in the playoffs. Current rules require drivers to pass concussion protocol after incidents.
The win was Jimmie Johnson's first career Winston Cup victory.
Greg Biffle made his first NASCAR Winston Cup race, qualifying in an entry for Roush Racing. Greg finished in 13th
This was Mark Martin's first win in 73 races since Martinsville back in April 2000. Not only did Martin snap his winless drought, but he also won his first and only Winston No Bull 5 Million Dollar Bonus in his 9th attempt. He became eligible for this race after finishing in the Top 5 at Las Vegas two months prior. He is also the first and only driver not named Jeff or Dale to win the bonus.
This would be Roush Racing 4th consecutive win in the Coca-Cola 600, thus becoming the only team in NASCAR history to accomplish this feat.
In this race, Ricky Rudd would become NASCAR's new Iron Man by making his 656th consecutive start, passing Terry Labonte. Labonte held the Iron Man record with 655 consecutive starts, and his streak ended when he had to miss the 2000Brickyard 400 due to injury. Rudd would finish his Iron Man streak at the end of 2005 with 788 consecutive starts, and he would hold that record for exactly 10 years. In late 2015 at Loudon, Jeff Gordon would pass Rudd by making his 789th consecutive start. As of 2022, Jeff Gordon is currently NASCAR's Iron Man with 797 consecutive starts.
Jerry Nadeau nearly won the race when his rear-end gear failed, causing him to stop his No. 44 car with less than 3 laps to go. The lead changed to Ricky Rudd, who held on to win.
This was Ricky Rudd's first win at Sonoma since winning the inaugural race in 1989. He almost won the 1991 race but was black-flagged when he spun Davey Allison during the final lap to take the lead.
This would be Rudd's 6th career road course win, putting him in a 3 way tie for 4th all-time with Rusty Wallace and Bobby Allison. As of 2024 those three drivers are tied for 4th all-time with 6 victories along with Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott is in 3rd with 7 victories (with the most different circuits), Tony Stewart is in 2nd with 8 victories, and Jeff Gordon is the all-time winner with 9 victories.
It should be noted in the modern (post-1972) era from 1972 to 2020, only two road courses races were run in a season, except in 1986, 2018, and 2019, when three road course races were held in a season.
In 2021, seven of the 36 races in the Cup Series were held on road courses races, with Elliott and Larson winning combined five of the seven.
The number of road course races in the 2020's has fluctuated from five to seven in a year.
Since 2018, road courses races were added in Charlotte (fall race on road course since 2018), Daytona (road course race in 2020 and 2021 after pandemic restrictions in New York and California), Austin (since 2021), Indianapolis (2021-23), Elkhart Lake (2021-22), Chicago Grant Park (since 2023), and Ciudad de México (scheduled for 2025).
This was Rudd's last career Cup series victory.
Final victory for the legendary #28 Texaco/Havoline Yates Racing Ford. Also the last time a car #28 has won in NASCAR Cup Series Competition.
2nd career win for Michael Waltrip. With this race, Michael Waltrip won the 2nd straight race at Daytona on FOX with the support of broadcast analyst/older brother Darrell.
The Big One occurred with 25 laps remaining when Dale Jarrett got down low and spun back up into traffic, blocking the entire track and collecting 13 other cars. Joe Nemechek went head-on into the wall and Brett Bodine caught fire.
One lap after the restart with 70 laps to go, Kevin Harvick steered the car to the apron and made a good pass but he lost it when passing on the apron and spun out into the grass in turn 1 that caused three other cars to lose control and spin out including Jerry Nadeau, Elliott Sadler, and Jimmy Spencer. He took the lead just 46 laps later and had enough gas to win the race for the second straight year and end a 35-race winless streak.
With this win and the Daytona 500 win, 2002 was the only season in Ward Burton's career that he won multiple races in a season.
Matt Kenseth dominated the last part of the race, as well as leading the most laps (77), but ended up with a flat tire while leading with 10 laps to go, and unfortunately finished 33rd, the last car one lap down.
Brett Bodine led 1 lap. It was the last lap Bodine led in his Cup Series career.
Failed to qualify: none
Pennsylvania 500
The Pennsylvania 500 was held at Pocono Raceway on July 28. Bill Elliott swept both qualifying and the race. The race was shortened to 175 laps due to darkness, because of two lengthy red flags – one for rain and one for fence repairs after Steve Park (who barrel-rolled multiple times) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrecked on the first lap.
55th and last career pole for Bill Elliott. Final time in his career as well that Bill Elliott won a race from the pole.
With this win, Bill Elliott, at the time, became the first 5-time winner at Pocono Raceway. He would be the only driver to do so until Jeff Gordon accomplished that feat in 2011. Gordon however, would break out of the tie with Elliott one year later when he won a rain shortened race in August 2012, making him the only 6-time winner at Pocono. Until 2020 when Denny Hamlin won the 2nd Pocono race and became the second 6-time winner at the track.
First time since 1992 that Bill Elliott won back-to-back races. This would also be the first time in 2002 that a driver would win back-to-back races. Final time in his career as well that Bill Elliott would win back-to-back races.
Tony Stewart led the most laps with 34. Robby Gordon controlled the race early leading for 21 laps. On the final restart, Tony Stewart appeared to have restarted too early and despite this won the race. A cloud of controversy over the restart tainted the finish of the race. Ryan Newman's team owner Roger Penske protested, but Stewart's win was upheld by officials days later.
Scott Pruett picked up his career-best finish at that point in time, substituting for Jimmy Spencer, who DNQ'd in a third Chip Ganassi entry.
This race is remembered for Jeff Gordon using the "Bump and Run" to get underneath and past Rusty Wallace to end a winless drought that dated back to the end of 2001.
The race was also marred with on-track confrontations, including Ward Burton who threw heel pads at Dale Earnhardt Jr. after Earnhardt Jr. wrecked him on lap 405, which caused Burton to be summoned to the Big Red Truck. Robby Gordon was also penalized for two laps after spinning out Jimmie Johnson on a restart.
With this win, Jeff Gordon would tie Cale Yarborough as a 5-time winner of the Southern 500, the most of all drivers.
Jeff Gordon would become the 7th driver in NASCAR history to win 60+ NASCAR races.
After the 31 race winless streak that dates back to Kansas in September 2001, Jeff Gordon won the previous weekend at Bristol, and he would back it up in this race, sending a message to all the critics that he is back and on the hunt for yet another championship. This would be the 17th time in his career as well that he has pulled off back-to-back victories.
Jeff Gordon became the 2nd driver of 2002 to win back-to-back races, joining Bill Elliott.
The race was billed as the Looney Tunes Rematch, as 8 Chevrolet drivers drove special paint schemes of the Looney Tunes characters. The drivers were Jeff Green/Daffy Duck, Bobby Hamilton/Marvin the Martian, Jimmie Johnson/Sylvester the Cat and Tweety Bird, Mike Skinner/Yosemite Sam, Joe Nemechek/Speedy Gonzales, Terry Labonte/Wile E. Coyote and The Roadrunner, Kevin Harvick/Tasmanian Devil, and Robby Gordon/Pepe Le Pew. Jeff Gordon planned to run a Bugs Bunny paint scheme but he crashed the car in practice, leaving Gordon to bring out his back-up car.
To the rear, No. 24 Jeff Gordon (back-up car)
Greg Biffle drove in place of Bobby Hamilton who suffered injuries in the Craftsman Truck Series race held the Thursday before.
There was a charity golf cart race sponsored by Students Against Violence which teamed the drivers with their respective Looney Tunes character, Jeff Green won the race paired with Daffy Duck.[3] Jeff Gordon fell out of his golf cart and suffered a bruised hand but still participated in the race.
During the pre-race, the pace car blew an engine and laid oil down turns 3 and 4. On the first few laps, several drivers went sliding and Jeff Burton, Jimmy Spencer, and Sterling Marlin, the points leader and competing in the No Bull wrecked on lap 7. Marlin would suffer several injuries from that wreck but raced until Kansas when a more serious injury occurred.
As of 2020, this was the 30th and final race in NASCAR History that 2 sets of 3 brothers (Wallace's: Rusty, Mike, and Kenny & Bodine's: Geoff, Brett, and Todd), all competed against each other, with those 6 drivers being featured in all 30 races. The Wallace's finished 12th (Mike), 14th (Kenny) & 15th (Rusty). The Bodine's finished 5th (Todd), 20th (Brett), & 38th (Geoff). All drivers but Geoff saw the checkered flag and finished the race. Todd would be the only one to finish on the lead lap.
This was Ryan Newman's first career Cup Series points victory
Oddly enough, Newman was the second driver to first win the All-Star race before getting their first points race victory (Michael Waltrip was the first).
Sterling Marlin would lose the points lead for the first time after leading the standings for 25 consecutive weeks. As of 2020, his streak of 25 straight weeks would be the longest in history for a driver to not win a NASCAR championship.
The EA Sports 500 was held at Talladega Superspeedway on October 6. Qualifying was rained out, so points leader Jimmie Johnson started on the pole. The race was caution-free for the third time in five years at Talladega.
Season sweep and 3rd straight Talladega win for Dale Earnhardt Jr. With this win, he joins Buddy Baker as the only 2 drivers in NASCAR history to win 3 straight Talladega races.
In a bizarre event, during the pace laps, Mark Martin had a steering problem and crashed into Jimmie Johnson. Martin was black-flagged prior to the race start so NASCAR could verify his steering was working properly, while Johnson did not pit until the conclusion of the first green flag lap. Due to the caution free race, neither driver was able to recover from the incident.
Jamie McMurray began driving duties for Sterling Marlin in this race. This was his first career start. He finished in 26th
As of 2018, this would be the last time ever that a NASCAR race would go flag to flag green (or caution free). In 2017, NASCAR would make a 3 stages format for every race of the season, and at a certain lap at the end of each stage, they would throw the caution flag, thus making it that a race can no longer go flag to flag caution free (except on road courses when a predetermined lap is used for the stage break but no caution is thrown on that lap).
Rain caused the start of the race to be delayed over 3 hours. After the rain stopped, NASCAR decided to start the race under yellow for the first 5 laps as the track continued to dry.
The race went green at 3:45 pm Charlotte time (Eastern). Sunset time was 6:51 pm, the race was completed at 7:17, The late finish contributed to a large jump in ratings for the NBC telecast. NASCAR decided to move the fall race at Charlotte from Sunday afternoon to Saturday night for 2003.
Kurt Busch became the 1st driver since Rusty Wallace in 1986 to score his first 2 career wins on short tracks, and with an ironic twist, Rusty also got his first 2 career wins at Bristol and Martinsville.
The NAPA 500 was held at Atlanta Motor Speedway on October 27. Qualifying was rained out, so points leader Tony Stewart started on the pole. The race was shortened to 248 laps due to rain.
First time, and as of 2024, the only time in Kurt Busch's career that he would win back-to-back races. He became the 3rd and final driver of 2002 to win back-to-back races, joining Bill Elliott and Jeff Gordon.
This would be Johnny Benson's only Winston Cup Series win.
Mark Martin failed post-race inspection after an illegal left front spring was discovered. Martin was penalized 25 driver points, and Jack Roush was penalized 25 owner points.
Tony Stewart finished 8th and Mark Martin finished 4th. Stewart had to finish 22nd or better to clinch his first championship the following week at Homestead if Mark Martin led the most laps and won the race.
Mark Martin's appeal to regain the 25 points back from his penalty at Rockingham due to the left front spring infraction was denied during qualifying for the following race at Homestead, the season finale. Stewart would officially start the race at Homestead with an 89 point lead over Martin. If the penalty was withdrawn, it would have been a 64 point margin.
Tony Stewart clinches the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship after finishing in 18th place, the lowest for a driver to clinch the championship in the season finale since 1995 when Jeff Gordon finished 32nd.
Tony Stewart would be the last driver to win the championship in the season finale before the Playoffs Era.
2002 would be the last time in NASCAR history that a driver would win the title with less than 5,000 points to his total. 2002 would also be the only season in the 36 race era (2001-Present) that a driver won the title with less than 5,000 points.
As of 2021, Tony Stewart is the only driver in NASCAR history to win the championship after finishing dead last in the 1st race of the season (43rd in the Daytona 500).
Although Tony Stewart finished 18th, Mark Martin put up a strong battle for the championship by finishing in 4th place. Unfortunately, with Martin's 4th place run and Stewart's 18th place run, Martin would gain 51 points on Stewart's 89 point lead. He would officially finish 2nd in points for the 4th time in his career, and with that, he would break out of a tie with James Hylton for the most runner-up finishes for a driver to never win a championship. He lost to Stewart by 38 points. His appeal to regain the 25 points back from his penalty at Rockingham due to the left front spring infraction was denied during Friday's qualifying session for this race. Even if he did regain those 25 points back from Rockingham, it still wouldn't have been enough for him to win the title. He would have lost by just 13 points. As of 2021, Mark Martin is considered the greatest of all time to never win a NASCAR Cup Series championship.
First time, and as of 2020, the only time in his career, that Kurt Busch would win from the pole.
Kurt Busch became the 2nd driver in NASCAR history to win the highest number of races in his first ever winning season with 4. Billy Wade would accomplish it first in 1964, when he became the only driver in NASCAR history to win his first set of career wins back-to-back when he won 4 in a row. Carl Edwards would join Wade and Busch 3 years later in 2005.
After 16 straight seasons with at least one victory from 1986 to 2001, Rusty Wallace failed to keep his winning streak alive in 2002. His 16-season winning streak of at least one race came to a total of 54 wins. His best finish in the 2002 season was 2nd place 4 times (Pepsi 400, Brickyard 400, Sharpie 500, and Checker Auto Parts 500). 16 straight seasons with at least 1 win was a NASCAR Modern Era record, a record that was started by Ricky Rudd in 1998. Wallace joined Rudd in 2001, and future champion Jimmie Johnson joined in a 3-way tie in 2017. In 2021, another future champion, Kyle Busch, became the Modern Era record holder after winning in Kansas, marking his 17th consecutive year of winning at least 1 race. Not only is he the Modern Era Record leader with 17 straight seasons, Busch is currently tied for 2nd All-Time with David Pearson (1964-1980). 18 straight seasons is the All-Time Record, which is held by Richard Petty. Petty went on to win 185 races from 1960 to 1977.
10th consecutive Top 10 points finish for Rusty Wallace.
Last career Top 10 for Bobby Hamilton.
Last career Top 10 points finishes for Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd.
First career Top 5 points finish for Jimmie Johnson.
First career Top 10 points finish for Ryan Newman.
Kyle Petty competed in every race in 2002. This would be the first time he has done so since 1998. He would finish the season 22nd in points.
Because he had more wins, a teammate/mentor in Jeff Gordon, and the higher position in points, Jimmie Johnson was the favorite to win Rookie of the Year. But in the end, his rival Ryan Newman was named the victor. Newman's one win seemed mild to Johnson's record-tying three victories and even leading the championship standings at one point, but Newman broke the record for pole positions. The rookie points system is separate from the championship system, and only a driver's 15 best finishes counted towards the award. Newman's 15 best finishes were better than Johnson's, despite Johnson having the better run in championship points. Shawna Robinson and Carl Long, the only other racers who declared for the award, did not run enough races to remain eligible.
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