Kasey Kahne did not race like a rookie, posting 13 top-five finishes in '04. Credit: Autostock

Top 10: Surprises

Kahne's rookie season, Martin's rebound highlights to remember

This is the fourth of our top 10 lists for 2004. Tuesday: Quotes.

Each year brings a new batch of storylines -- whether it be drivers riding under the radar, rookies making an unexpected splash or crew changes.

The 2004 season was no different.

Here are our picks for the top surprises of '04:

Kenseth wins two of the first three races

VIDEO UAW-DC 400 Kenseth makes it two in a row with Vegas victory.

Matt Kenseth won just once in 2003, leading to harsh criticism to the points system.

Kenseth then went out and won two of the first three races. He won at Rockingham in a thrilling last-lap duel with Kasey Kahne, then he went out and blew the field away at Las Vegas.

Jokes began to fly that Kenseth would win the title under any points system, but strangely, Kenseth went winless the rest of the year.

Fatback's firing

Michael McSwain was released by Joe Gibbs Racing in July. Credit: Autostock

Michael McSwain was abruptly fired as Bobby Labonte's crew chief in mid-July, even as Labonte sat sixth in the standings.

The team never explained why McSwain was fired, but unsubstantiated rumors abounded that McSwain's rough style clashed with the team.

McSwain said he was blindsided by the firing. After McSwain left, Labonte went 15 races without a top 10 finish.

McSwain was later hired by the Wood Brothers, where he helped Ricky Rudd score three top-10 finishes after Rudd had struggled without a top-10 run in the first half.

Elliott Sadler

	Credit: Autostock
	VIDEO Pop Secret 500 At California, Sadler edges Kahne for second 'W' of year.

Elliott Sadler entered 2004 with exactly one victory in five full seasons. He left it as a two-time winner and his first-ever top-10 points standing. In fact, he was in the top 10 the entire year.

But heading into 2004, Sadler had never even finished better than 20th in the standings. His 2003 season, his first with Robert Yates, was a flop.

But Sadler got veteran crew chief Todd Parrott for a full season in 2004, and Sadler also matured on the racetrack. Sadler had always been prone to accidents, but he stayed out of trouble in 2004. As a result, he finished nearly every lap he ran.

He ran up front immediately, winning a 125-mile race at Daytona and running seventh in the Daytona 500. It took him just seven races to find victory lane (at Texas) and he won at Fontana in September.

Sadler has always been solid on speedways, but his short track and road course skills improved greatly. His season ended on a sour note with five straight finishes out of the top 20, but the luster can't be buffed off his career year.

Mark Martin

	Credit: Autostock
	VIDEO MBNA 400 Martin ends a two-year skid with his victory at Dover.

Mark Martin was not listed as a Nextel Cup title contender for 2004, but that is exactly what he turned out to be. As it was, he finished a scant 107 points away from the title.

It was quite a far cry from the 2003 season, which was Martin's worst since joining Roush Racing nearly 20 years ago.

The veteran won at Dover in June, breaking a two-year losing streak, but that was one of the lone bright spots in the first half.

After finishing second at Pocono in July, Martin caught fire, scoring four top-fives in the next six races to earn a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

In the Chase, Martin continued to do well, as he got through the 10 races without a DNF. He ended the year fourth, a 13-point jump from 2003.

Martin will be listed as a strong title contender for 2005 after his unforeseen comeback in '04.

Jeremy Mayfield

VIDEO Chevy 400 Mayfield secures spot in the year-end Chase.

Mayfield's career was pretty much built around his epochal 1998 season, which was the only time he'd finished in the top 10 in his career.

Mayfield was inconsistent all year, but at times, he was brilliant. His dominant win at Richmond in the fall moved him into the Chase on the final day and served as one of the most clutch wins in NASCAR history.

After struggling in qualifying in 2003, Mayfield was one of the series' best qualifiers in '04.

Kurt Busch's Chase performance

VIDEO Champ chats Kurt Busch goes one-on-one with NASCAR.COM.

Busch was almost an afterthought when the Chase for the Nextel Cup started. But his startling consistency make him the inaugural Nextel Cup champion.

Busch had only four-top fives and 12 top-10s in the first 26 races, but he blazed through the final 10 races with nine finishes of sixth or better to beat Jimmie Johnson by a mere nine points.

Even though his record at higher-banked tracks was less than stellar, he was fifth in the season finale to clinch the title.

Jimmie Johnson's roller coaster season

VIDEO MBNA 500 JJ's win caps emotional week for Hendrick.

First off: Johnson won eight races, and he won them the hard way, in several cases, by rallying with pit work or strategy.

Johnson failed to finish at Talladega and Kansas during the middle of the Chase for the Nextel Cup, putting him a lowly ninth in the standings.

What happened next was incredible. Starting with Charlotte, Johnson won three in row, including Martinsville and Atlanta (both of which he had never won).

Equally surprising was Johnson's mysterious August collapse. Johnson owned a huge points lead heading into the Brickyard 400, but three consecutive mechanical failures erased that lead.

Hendrick officials maintained that the team was not experimenting with different engine combinations, but the evidence was overwhelming.

Kasey Kahne's success

	Credit: Autostock
	VIDEO Subway 400 Kahne reacts to his second-place finish at The Rock.

Everyone knew that Kahne had the talent and equipment to eventually run up front, but no one expected the 24-year-old to run up front right away.

But Kahne and crew chief Tommy Baldwin were on the same page on Day 1.

Kahne's engine failed at Daytona open the year, but he turned heads the next week when he qualified third at Rockingham. But he didn't stop there, as he nearly passed Matt Kenseth for the win on the final lap. Such a win would have tied Jamie McMurray's record for fastest

Kahne then won the Bud Pole at Las Vegas the next week - and he finished second again. He would go on to finish second five times and ended up with 13 top-five finishes, more than Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart or Ryan Newman.

Brian Vickers and Brendan Gaughan were expected to engage with Kahne in a three-way fight for the rookie title. Instead, Kahne had the title wrapped up at mid-season.

Points system change

VIDEO Pointed discussion Mike Helton talks about the new point system.

Everyone knew a points change was coming, but few realized the drastic move NASCAR made in January, when they moved to a playoff-style points system.

It was the first change NASCAR had made to the points system in nearly 30 years, and it came on the heels of Matt Kenseth's dominant performance in 2003.

NASCAR's move to the Chase for the Nextel Cup surprised many drivers, including Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kenseth, who all were wary of the changes.

DEI crew shakeup

VIDEO Shake it up, baby Junior talks about DEI's moves with NASCAR.COM.

Very few people saw this one coming. Immediately after the 2004 season ended, DEI reassigned his longtime crew chief and car chief -- Tony Eury Sr. and Tony Eury Jr.

Eury Jr. will work with Michael Waltrip next year, while Waltrip's crew chief, the relatively unknown Pete Rondeau, was assigned to head the most high-profile car in the sport.

It's a risky move, but DEI felt the changes were needed to strengthen Waltrip's team, which slumped in 2004.

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