|| *Comments on the 2002 NAPA Auto Parts 500:* View the most recent comment <#35> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Jake posted: 11.26.2004 - 3:55 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This race was the turning point of Dale Jr's 2002 season. With 25 laps to go, Dale Jr. was racing w/ Kevin Harvick when Kevin said he had a flat tire. Harvick tried to make it to pit road but got into Dale Jr's right rear and slammed him driver's side into the wall. Junior slammed the wall @ 130 mph. It was one of the worst crashes I've ever seen. Since I am a Junior fan I was worried. At first he said he had a bruised ankle. But 5 months later, he admitted he had a mild concussion and didn't tell anyone about it. 2. Chicago posted: 06.02.2005 - 4:28 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) It wasn't a "mild" concussion -- it was a pretty serious one, if I remember right. It messed him up for most of the year, led to a lot of bad judgment calls on the track and seriously affected his performance. For all intents and purposes, he shouldn't have been in the car, just like he shouldn't have when he had serious burns from his Sonoma American Le Mans crash. But racing is about perseverance. 3. MASH_guy posted: 06.08.2005 - 3:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also notable about this race is that it was Greg Biffle's Cup debut. 4. brandon posted: 02.20.2006 - 12:55 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) i remember on inside winston cup the night after this race mike waltrip called dale jr on the air and asked him about the rumor that he had broken his foot and dale said "na, i just got a concussion". the uproar was i think a little late he didn't hide the concussion, he basically offered it as an excuse for a disapointing season. 5. Brian Showers posted: 03.03.2006 - 9:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This was also Jimmie Johnson's first career win in the then "Winston Cup" 6. Rusty posted: 07.28.2006 - 10:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmie Johnson gets his 1st career win at his home track. 7. biffle16 posted: 11.22.2006 - 12:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The start of an amazing career! 8. Brock posted: 01.18.2007 - 6:16 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Jimmie Johnson wins, two weeks later Jerry Nadeau's fired from Hendrick Motorsports. Still puts a sour taste in my mouth. 9. Shane posted: 08.10.2007 - 11:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) To add to the Johnson win....I think he may have been a little too excited...he admittingly broke the motor during his post-race celebration. 10. SK posted: 09.06.2007 - 1:38 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Steve Grissom cut a right-front tire down on the backstretch with about 6 laps to go, dropping a brake rotor a ways off the racing line yet not causing a caution. Though it was sufficiently out of the way of the groove, it's difficult to imagine NASCAR not throwing the yellow flag for something like that today. Busch Series frontrunner and ex-CTS champ Biffle's first Cup start was only given passing notice by the commentators, staying exactly one lap down for much of the event but driving a smart race. And when Jimmie made his pass for the win around Bill Elliott with 14 to go, Biffle made things interesting as he dove low in an attempt to get his lap back, running three-wide briefly before the #48 pulled away. 11. NASCAR 24/7 posted: 02.28.2010 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #48's first win of 49, and more to come! 12. RaceFanX posted: 01.01.2011 - 12:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Biffle's only Cup start for Jack Roush in 2002. The plan was for Biffle to do the rookie maximum seven races all for Roush's #16 Ford which had been inactive since losing its sponsor after the 2000 season. Biffle had DNQed at Daytona to set up this race as his debut but when he attempted races later in the season with the #16 he also didn't make the race and so Roush leased him out to get more experience in a substitute role for the injured Bobby Hamilton at Andy Petree Racing and as a late-season replacement for Jerry Nadeau at Petty Enterprises in their #44. 13. Talon64 posted: 08.17.2011 - 9:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Interesting that the guy who finished 2nd in Jimmie's first career win was Kurt Busch, given the rivalry they've had in recent years; this was the first time that Kurt had led over 100 laps in a race. Kurt just beat out Jimmie for the 2004 title thanks to the Chase but has made up for that and then some with rattling off 5 straight titles (to date). 14. RaceFanX posted: 04.20.2012 - 11:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors: #12 Ryan Newman- Alltel / Mobil 1 #10 Johnny Benson, Jr.- Eagle One / Valvoline #32 Ricky Craven- Tide / New Clean Breeze Scent (also run in the following race at Richmond) #40 Sterling Marlin- Coors Original (Also ran at Sonoma and Pocono in June during 2002) #16 Greg Biffle- RoushRacing.com / Volvo Trucks #55 Bobby Hamilton- Schneider Electric / Square D #31 Robby Gordon- Cingular Wireless / Spiderman (to promote the big budget 2002 movie) #44 Steve Grissom- Georgia-Pacific / Brawny 15. CBASS posted: 05.12.2012 - 11:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors #31 Spiderman/ Cingular Wireless #12 Mobil 1 Speedpass (Alltel was not on the hood, Mobil 1 was the primary sponsor this race) 16. Daniel posted: 05.25.2012 - 12:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) In using 43 fastest: #02 Hermie Sadler, #62 Brendan Gaughan, #74 Chad Little Out using 43 fastest: #9 Bill Elliott, #49 Shawna Robinson, #90 Rick Mast 17. schraderfan posted: 06.03.2012 - 4:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) it was pretty cool to see the rookie underdog win 18. Jeff posted: 08.23.2012 - 12:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) My 3rd Cup race. Funny that I cheered the Johnson win that day. Guess it was being a Cali dude and such, but it's always nice to see a guy get his 1st Cup win. Since then, I haven't cheered too many of Jimmie's wins, but I do respect he's a great driver. 19. JeffGordon#24 posted: 07.18.2013 - 11:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Burton Brothers LOL! 20. Jimmie48 posted: 12.07.2013 - 6:37 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) And so it begins... 21. awesomebillfan9 posted: 11.17.2014 - 10:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jr's accident in this race led to the mandatory ride to the infield care center after each crash, something that wasn't required prior. 22. mister83 posted: 07.10.2015 - 1:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Greg Biffle was sponsored by Volvo??? 23. mister83 posted: 07.10.2015 - 1:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor correction: #26-Joe Nemechek: Checker/ Schucks/ Kragen Auto Parts 24. HouseOfPenske posted: 07.10.2015 - 6:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @22 Yes Roush used Volvo haulers at the time as Ford was the owner of Volvo from 1999-2008. 25. Evan posted: 07.10.2015 - 7:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The start of a career that has been great, and at times contentious in where he stacks up in an era where a how we crown our champions is different as well. We might never know how Jimmie Johnson would have fared without a Chase championship which he owns 6 of. My guess is come hell or high water, Knaus and Johnson would have won a couple of Winston Cups as well. There will be plenty of wins, but there's only one first win. 26. JJ48stats posted: 10.09.2015 - 1:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In his 13th career start, (10th of the season) Jimmie Johnson scored his first career NASCAR victory at his home track. 2nd top 5 finish, 7th top 10 finish of the 2002 season for JJ. 27. Anonymous posted: 02.29.2016 - 1:14 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) So on Jimmies 76th win at Atlanta...tying Earnhardt on the list. The only other driver on this list who was in the Top 10 was...none other than Kurt Busch. In fact two of the guys in the top 10 now has sons racing and one of them even got a Top 10! 28. 95McDowellFan posted: 07.27.2017 - 8:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Never would've guessed he would of ended up being a 7 Time Champion when this race happened 29. luigistarted06 posted: 10.28.2017 - 3:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dave Blaney actually led this race for 27 laps a little past mid way. Pretty good for the team he was with, really he had a solid 2002 season 30. Not Sure posted: 05.25.2018 - 4:55 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Marlin's 143 point lead after this race was his biggest that season. At this point he had 2 wins, 4 top 5's, and 8 top 10's. The 19 races until his season-ending injury at Kansas is a different story: 0 wins, 4 top 5's, and 6 top 10's. That he remained in the points lead as long as he did is testament to how competitive early 2000s NASCAR was. 31. Wil posted: 12.19.2018 - 4:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lost in the hoopla of how hard Dale Jr's crash was in this race is that it was the result of a horrible mistake by Kevin Harvick, who's perhaps the least mistake prone driver in Nascar. Harvick did exactly what JJ Yeley did to Mark Martin at 2006 in Charlotte, only instead of being a joke like Yeley, Harvick was one of the rising stars of Nascar so he emerged with his rep intact. 32. Mile501 posted: 05.02.2020 - 8:02 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The first part of the 2002 season marked a major turning point in NASCAR, as veterans neared the end of their careers and the next generation of young guns began to take over. This race provided good symbolism of that. Rookie Jimmie Johnson and sophomore Kurt Busch finished 1-2. It was the first career win for Johnson, just 4 races after Busch's first win. 3 other races had been won by drivers in their third full-time season (Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr). Rookie Ryan Newman had consistently run up front as well, ranking 2nd in points after 5 races before encountering a series of engine problems. This was also the first career Winston Cup start for eventual 2002 Busch champion Greg Biffle, who finished a respectable 13th. Meanwhile, veterans occupied most of the remaining top 10 spots, but were quickly being pushed aside by those up-and-coming young guns. Point leader Sterling Marlin had already won 2 races in early 2002, but would never win again. Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett, and Rusty Wallace all finished in the top 10 in this race but these drivers (along with Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton) only had a combined 10 wins left in them and none would win again after 2005. If not for his incredible 2009 season, Mark Martin would join that group as well. 2001 had been an incredible season, filled with 19 different winners and 6 more near-winners. But most of them were veterans, and the first 10 races of 2002 demonstrated that big changes were on the way. In 2003, the young drivers listed above would win more than half the races and comprise most of the top 10 spots in the standings, while most of the veterans listed would struggle and finish outside the top 15 in points. 33. Mile501 posted: 05.02.2020 - 8:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^ The Labonte brothers should have also been included in the list of veterans in my previous comment. The championship-winning brothers only earned 3 more wins between them after this point and, despite a bit of a resurgence in 2003, would never again finish among the top 10 in points. 34. danny posted: 06.21.2020 - 6:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Remember Jimmie Johnson's first win well guess what FS1 is re-airing it for you, on July 1st. 35. JustAGamingNascarFan posted: 03.05.2021 - 4:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) So this is where it all started. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: