2012 NASCAR Picks and Predictions: Sprint Cup Series Awards: Another Sprint Cup Series season is in the books, and while Brad Keselowski celebrates his first Cup championship and the first Cup championship for team owner Roger Penske, it is time to hand out the awards for 2012. Chief among them is the Driver of the Year Award that has become quite controversial in recent years. Prior to the Chase, the driver that won the title was a lock to win the award because the championship was given to whichever driver scored the most points over the entire season. However, the 10-race playoff has changed that since a driver that was just good enough to crack the top 10 during the first 26 races can win a championship by stringing together a couple of strong months. With that in mind, here is my pick for the 2012 Driver of the Year Award, along with the other major Sprint Cup awards.
2012 NASCAR Picks and Predictions: Sprint Cup Series Awards
Driver of the Year: Jimmie Johnson
While a cut tire and a drive train malfunction in the final two races cost him the championship, Johnson’s numbers over the course of the year speak for themselves. His four poles and five wins were tied for the most in the series, and he led the series with 18 top-five finishes and 24 top-10s. If you want to dive even deeper, Johnson also led the series in average running position, number of fastest laps run, laps spent in the top 15, laps led and driver rating. In other words, he led in just about every category NASCAR uses to measure how a driver stacks up with the competition. The year didn’t end the way he wanted it to, but from start to finish, no driver was more impressive than Johnson.
Rookie of the Year: Stephen Leicht
Without a doubt, this year’s rookie class will go down as one of the worst in Cup Series history. Leicht gets the honor despite posting a dismal 35.6 average finish and failing to finish in 10 of his 15 starts. The only other driver eligible for the award was Josh Wise, and he failed to finish in 29 of his 30 starts. Sadly, guys like Jimmie Johnson and Bobby Labonte didn’t win Rookie of the Year because the competition was so stiff. Plain and simple, Leicht picked the right year to be a rookie in the Cup Series.
Comeback Driver of the Year: Denny Hamlin
After giving away the championship in the final race of the 2010 season, Hamlin fell apart last year. He managed just one win and five top-five finishes and a career-worst 16.0 average finish. Hamlin bounced back in a big way in 2012, tying for the series lead with five victories and improving his average finish to a solid 12.8. His 14 top-five finishes were the second-most in the series, and he was one of just three drivers to lead more than 1,000 laps on the year. If not for an ignition box failure at Martinsville, Hamlin might have been celebrating a championship this season. Instead, he will have to settle for being recognized for his impressive turnaround.
Crew Chief of the Year: Paul Wolfe
The crew chiefs tend to get lost in the shuffle when a driver is successful, but no crew chief had a better year from a strategy standpoint than Wolfe. Whether it was four tires, two tires or no tires, Wolfe made the right call at the right time to get Brad Keselowski track position in clean air. There were multiple races when Keselowski was mired in traffic and going nowhere until a little strategy on the part of Wolfe got his driver up front and changed the entire outlook of things. Sure, timely cautions played a role in some of his calls, but at the end of the day, every button Wolfe pushed in 2012 was the right one. He played as big of a role in bringing a championship to the No. 2 team as Keselowski did.
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