Five key moments that shaped NASCAR in 2008

They may have turned the tide in just one race, or for the season. They may have brought implications for years to come. Regardless, there were plenty of key moments in 2008. Our staff has chosen five.

(Editor's note: Five key moments is the second of a six-week installment to run on Mondays examining different elements of NASCAR.)

• First week: Five fantastic finishes of 2008
• Third week: Five breakout drivers for 2009
• Fourth week:Five drivers who could struggle in 2009
• Fifth week: Five who will break into win column in 2009
• Sixth week: Five who should be in first Hall of Fame class

Tire debacle at Indianapolis

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Goodyear's tires at Indianapolis made for a bad day of racing.

One could point to the slippery spring Atlanta race as the first red flag regarding Goodyear's tire selection with the new car, and how the process is much more delicate than in the past. Even so, in that event the issue was with cars sliding through the corner. At Indianapolis, it was a completely different problem -- the most excessive tire wear since a 2005 Charlotte meltdown, and ultimately NASCAR's biggest embarrassment of the season.

Josh Pate

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During the Brickyard 400, 52 laps (32 percent) were run under caution. There were 11 cautions total, six of which were officially called by NASCAR as competition cautions. The longest green-flag run during the entire 400-mile event was 13 laps. And in the end, Jimmie Johnson won -- not by being the fastest car on the track, but by winning the race off pit road and holding on to track position in the final six-lap, green-flag run.

Jeff Gordon said he had never seen anything like it. Matt Kenseth called it "pretty darn disappointing" and "embarrassing." Both are former champions and Midwesterners who fully understand the importance of Indianapolis Motor Speedway in racing's history. Their comments weren't isolated. "This wasn't a race," said Indiana native Ryan Newman. "I've got to stop and just apologize to the fans," added Brian Vickers.

Indianapolis was the competitive low point of the Sprint Cup Series season. If anything positive is to come out of it, it's that Goodyear and NASCAR both were forced to re-evaluate everything from tire testing procedures to driver feedback to the size of the tires on the Cup cars.

• Read: Indy colored black and yellow | Watch: Brickyard Sights and Sounds

Racing in the rain at Montreal

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NASCAR certainly made a splash in its second year in Montreal.

In NASCAR's long and storied history, one thing had remained constant: No one had ever dared run a race in the rain. That is, until the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in August. And even though opinions were varied as to the validity of the concept, the race had its share of entertaining and unusual moments.

Mark Aumann

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With a full house on hand, a radar screen full of rainclouds -- and no contingencies for rescheduling the event -- Nationwide Series director Joe Balash went ahead and made the call, having the field make a mandatory stop for treaded tires and windshield wipers. In the span of 30 minutes, the idea of stock cars racing in the rain went from a theoretical concept to reality. We all wondered, what exactly would happen when NASCAR threw the green flag?

What happened was surprisingly good racing, with side-by-side battles behind Marcos Ambrose, who prompty built up a big lead on the field, only to break the pit road speed limit and toss away any chance of victory. That gave the top spot to Canadian Ron Fellows, who survived what turned out to be a race-ending deluge under quickly deteriorating conditions to win, although the enduring image of the day was Carl Edwards reaching out the driver's side window with a Swiffer in a futile effort to clean his windshield during one caution.

And that was the biggest issue. Before the track was flooded, grip wasn't as much of a problem as visibility, and that led to several potentially dangerous incidents before the race was finally stopped 30 laps shy of its scheduled distance. The lesson learned? Even though racing in the rain is an alternative, it should only be undertaken when there are no other obvious solutions. And don't expect a Sprint Cup race on a rainy day in the near future.

• Read: Rain tires experiment magnifique | Watch: Racing in the rain

Bumps in the night at Bristol

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Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards put on an entertaining show at Bristol, but the encore was even better.

When Carl Edwards executed a classic bump-and-run maneuver on Kyle Busch during the August night race at Bristol Motor Speedway to take the lead with 31 laps left in a race that Busch had dominated, it set in motion a chain of events that proved key for a number of reasons.

Joe Menzer

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First of all, a little of the luster of the Bristol night race had been tarnished the previous summer when, well, the new car being pushed by NASCAR led to an incredibly dull night under the lights. Suddenly the bumping and grinding that had been so much a part of past Bristol lore appeared to be literally in the past. While the drivers lauded the ability to pass cleanly in the car on the BMS track, fans lamented the fact that it was hard for anyone to catch the leader once he got out front -- and wondered loudly if the new car had robbed BMS of that good ol' physical short-track feel that made it so famous in the first place.

Edwards gave 'em their answer. Busch had taken the lead on Lap 55 and held it until the moment Edwards not-so-gently moved him out of the way, and then Edwards drove off to victory. It marked the sixth consecutive time at Bristol where the driver who led the most laps wasn't the one celebrating in Victory Lane at the end.

Busch showed his lack of appreciation by ramming into Edwards on the cool-down lap, after which Edwards retaliated by turning his No. 99 Ford hard left into the right rear of Busch's No. 18 Toyota, sending it spinning.

These antics of yesteryear were followed up by some highly entertaining post-race posturing from both drivers and their camps, making another byproduct of the race a fervent hope that these two -- arguably two of the most talented guys out there (three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson has to be the other) -- might just be embarking on an honest-to-goodness, hard-core rivalry for years to come. The sport needs that, just like it needs the kind of race finishes at Bristol they produced this past August.

• Read: Sport needs this rivalry | Watch: Tempers flare post-race

Kyle Busch busts a heim joint

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Kyle Busch's season began to fall apart just as the Chase began.

The fulcrum on which the entire 2008 Sprint Cup season turned wasn't really a moment at all. It wasn't a race, it wasn't a driver, it wasn't a crash, it wasn't a victory. It was something that, had it happened to a driver other than the one who had been leading the standings for the previous 17 weeks, would barely have registered as a footnote. It was the instant that a small part familiar only to gear heads, a piece available for about $14, a rigidly articulating rod end used to precisely locate a wheel -- a heim joint -- came apart on the No. 18 car of Kyle Busch.

David Caraviello

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Nothing did more to completely rearrange the makeup of the Chase than that one part failure in the playoff opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, an event which sent reeling a driver who had dominated the first two-thirds of the season and opened the door for another to win a third consecutive championship.

Beforehand, Busch had been almost untouchable, winning eight times in the season's first 22 weeks and building a pre-Chase lead of more than 200 points. Afterward, he was out of it. The Johnson-mania of the past few weeks -- all of it completely deserved, by the way -- obscures the fact that for much of this season, Busch was the man to beat.

What other drivers couldn't do, a parts failure did. The broken joint sent Busch to a 34th-place finish at Loudon, knocking him out of the lead for the first time since April. He never recovered. His team lost all its steam and its mojo, suffering through two more weeks of equipment problems that buried Busch near the bottom of the Chase. He finished 10th, unbelievable for a driver who had been so good for long -- until the little heim joint intervened.

• Read: One race, one bigger hole | Watch: Busch struggles early

Jimmie Johnson wins at Kansas

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Jimmie Johnson's first career win at Kansas put the wheels in motion toward his third consecutive championship.

It was the best of stories. It was the worst of stories. Greg Biffle won the first two races of the Chase ... and still was not the points leader; he trailed teammate Carl Edwards, and was tied with two-time defending Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, 10 points behind. In a "playoff" scenario, what more could be expected out of the guy? Well, you can't win the Super Bowl with only two wins -- so the title was still there for the taking. And Johnson did what he does best at that time of year: He took control and choked out the competition.

Duane Cross

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Johnson knew his chance to (again) be king of the hill was at hand. After 267 laps on the 1.5-mile oval, he was. It was the perfect weekend for the No. 48; pole-sitter, led a lap, led the most laps -- a maximum 195-point weekend. That's not to say Edwards yielded the top spot without a fight. He also did as much as could be expected in leading a lap and finishing second, .280 seconds off the rear bumper of Johnson.

During the final two laps, Edwards whittled away at Johnson's 10-car-length lead and then dived beneath the No. 48 entering Turn 3 on the final lap. Edwards slid up in front of Johnson, banged the wall in the middle of the corner and watched as Johnson deftly regained the lead to the inside. "I planned on hitting the wall, but I didn't plan on the wall slowing me down that much," Edwards admitted. "That's as hard as I can go there at the end. ... Now I know it doesn't work the same as in video games."

Three races into the Chase and the mold was cast; Johnson, Edwards and Biffle would finish 1-2-3 in the final points, and Johnson's lead eventually would balloon to a whopping 183 points after Atlanta. However, in a race most remembered for Edwards' banzai move, the bottom line remained that Johnson ascended to the top of the point standings at Kansas and then fended off all charges during the final seven races. And he did it rather handily, too.

• Read: The chase within the Chase | Watch: Johnson holds on

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