NASCAR Drivers That Were ALMOST Great

[@UNCYBUBBA]

Honestly, what people don’t remember is that Ryan Newman was supposed to be the real deal. His second season he won 8 races, and only had 10 other wins in his career before he retired 18 years later.

[@phoebeeileenbrooks110]

It was actually 8 wins in his second season, but yeah… I remember that. Similar fate to Kahne. Decline after a concussion or two… 😢

[@timpowell1429]

*8

[@TheDuck632]

​@@phoebeeileenbrooks110 plus Newman was a bit too honest for the higher ups at NASCAR and a bit hardheaded. But he's still my second favorite driver of all time.

[@cmoore185]

Ryan had a big problem. Rusty Wallace hated him and he is known for being difficult. He is brilliant with a degree from Purdue in mechanical engineering and it makes it hard for him to always get along. He was forced out at Penske and did well at the onset of SHR, but after that, it became impossible to get in good cars.

[@adam6072]

Yeah but a lot of his wins were fuel mileage wins, which don't really count.

[@SoldiesBC]

The 18 car at the time of Yeley's appearance was effectively today's 4th Hendrick car. That should be taken into account.

[@HattieJosh]

Yeley was also given a trial by fire by Joe Gibbs as he only had around 2 years of experience in a stock car before entering the Cup Series

[@isaiahmarker407]

Bobby actually asked to be let out of his contract at JGR due to 2004 and 2005's struggles. So Yeley got rushed to Cup before he was ready and put with a team that had been struggling for two years before he got there. Not a good combination. JGR actually gives Kyle Busch credit for being the one to rebuild and turn around that 18 team in 2008

[@baxatakbaxatak2014]

He won his first pole at Michigan, and lost the lead before the end of lap 1. That should tell you everything about how ready he was.

[@RacingFan48_]

You should talk about James buescher who IMO is the greatest driver in nascar who never made a cup series start

[@tylerpuszczewicz2535]

You can do every young talent in the 2nd half of the 2000's. Reed Sorenson, David Stremme, Jon Wood, Danny O'Quinn Jr, Todd Kluever, Burney Lamar, Brent Sherman, Kyle Krisiloff, Brad Coleman, Boston Reid, Erik Darnell, Joey Clanton, Scott Speed, and Chase Miller.

[@RBMapleLeaf]

3:28 "Sliced bread turned into burnt toast" Missed opportunity to say the "sliced bread was turning stale"

[@nathanmiddaugh6986]

Atwood was my favorite back in the day. Certainly didn’t get a fair shake Kasey fell far short of expectations when you consider his rookie season. Another one that fits the Jones/Kahne category is Jamie McMurray. He had one of the strangest careers. Wins in his second start. In one of the early chase years that he narrowly missed, he was hot in the post season. Like would have finished top 5 if he were in the chase and would have been in the hunt for the championship late. Leaves CGR and if I remember right he finally gets win #2 at Roush. Eventually returns to CGR when Roush has to scale back to four drivers. And wins two Crown Jewels in his first season back. I hope I remember those details right.

[@RBMapleLeaf]

In some ways, I felt like he should've won more than just 18 wins. But more often than not. He seems to always be plagued by bad luck. It seems to have also stuck around with him throughout his tenure. - Kasey Kahne is who I was referring to if you didn't get it.

[@firemedic6509]

Casey Atwood should have spent more time in Busch series before moving up to Winston Cup.

[@THEDonnyB]

I was a kid when Atwood started his career. Between him and Scott Wimmer I saw two guys touted to be huge prospects as a kid do nothing of note. My first exposure to busts.

[@DerrickLong87]

The thing aout Yeley was that in 2006 he had some really good busch results and showed promise, If Gibbs waited 1-2 seasons Yeley would've been pretty good

[@Tribout25]

Personally think Kasey Kahne lost his love for racing once he had a kid. He mentioned it in an interview with Jamie Little late in his career. Dylan K got overhyped by that online mini series “Flat out”. That documentary lead to his downfall

[@NASCARFAN93100]

JJ Yeley will forever be a NASCAR Legend Even though He Is a Bust from a statistical standpoint

[@isaiahmarker407]

He got rushed to Cup before he was ready and put with an already struggling 18 team. Sadly, after JGR dropped him he never got an opportunity in a good ride ever again

[@lionelnextelstudios0.282]

Imagine jj yeley doesn't retire until he gets a win

[@christiankallio8586]

Surprised Casey Mears wasnt in this video

[@TheDuck632]

Who? No I'm joking and you're right he should have been on here

[@racingmach1]

Or Danica Patrick

[@driver8703]

@@racingmach1anyone with any knowledge knew she was all media hype from the beginning and not much real talent lol

[@joshb6692]

This should become a running series of videos on the channel 🙂

[@EnclaveXForever]

Technically Gordan did win the Gatorade 125 at Daytona is ‘93 and was up there with the leaders in the ‘93 Daytona 500

[@redneckgamers897]

Modern JJ could win in todays nascar idc what anyone says one of the best underdogs still out there

[@NASCARFAN93100]

Joey Logano's 2018 Martinsville Win & Championship will forever be The Overall Conclusion of The Jeff Gordon/Clint Bowyer Saga in 2012 & The Matt Kenseth/Joey Logano Saga in 2015 because Logano was The Driver wiped out in Gordon's retaliation against Bowyer in The Infamous Phoenix Race which Foreshadowed Kenseth kamikazing Logano into the Turn 1 Wall at Martinsville (The Very Same Track & Very Same Corner that sparked The Gordon/Bowyer Saga resulting in The Infamous Phoenix Race 7 Months Later) as retaliation for The Kansas Race (Resulting in Kenseth's Elimination from Championship Contention) 2 Weeks prior resulting in Gordon's 93rd and Final Career Win as well as Logano's Elimination from Championship Contention.

[@tgs2141]

Busts: Scott Whimmer Scott Speed Tyler Walker Erin Crocker Natalie Decker (safe to say it’s over) Angela Ruch Danica Patrick (kinda) Not busts but not lived up expectations: Brian Vickers Aric Almirola (kinda) Juan Poblo Montoya David Regan Todd Bodine Jimmy Spencer

[@MikeKalasnik]

Some of these were not busts in Busch/Xfinity, but busts in Cup. Jimmy Spencer was damn fast in that 41Target car later in his career. Crazy to think he was mostly floundering in the 90s.

[@MikeKalasnik]

Both JJ & Logano were rushed to Cup. Logano got a 2nd chance and JJ didn't. Don't forget Kasey Kahne was not a standout in the Busch series. His 1st season was abysmal. But he certainly hit his stride in cup.

[@CameronGreenwoodCramp]

Great video.

[@LukeVaughn-dp7qz]

Your opening dialogue about Joey Lugano and Ty Gibbs. It’s funny Ty just finished his second year in cup and he has not won yet so I don’t know if he’s earned that place quite yet.

[@timpowell1429]

Kyle Busch you could say was in the Logano situation bc he would win 1-2 races a year for Hendrick while Johnson and Gordon were winning 5-6 races a year, then he goes too JGR and we all know how that went Busch: HMS - JGR Logano: JGR - Penske

[@thegreattreon0177]

Ken Schrader, Kyle Petty, Brian Vickers, Michael Waltrip, Trevor Bayne, Mike Skinner, Danica Patrick, Bubba Wallace, Ricky Craven, Ricky Stenhouse, Ted Musgrave, Robert Pressly, Elliott Sadler, Aric Amirola, Paul Menard, Ward Burton, Jamie McMurray, Juan Montoya had all the hype and money behind them and they all failed to deliver results

[@royalsman85]

I think we should just go back to an all year format or a Chase format preferably an all year Winston Cup type format.

[@RetroCarsForever]

Hailey Deegan! Now that's totally left NASCAR.

[@titanicgaming1148]

I think Jamie McMurray is a good example of a good prospect just not given the right equipment. He a good driver was consistant as shit at times but he constantly had the one issue of his equipment just failed him a lot. Not to mention his rookie season was constantly overshadowed by the fact he won in his second cup start driving Sterling Marlins car which should NOT have been a reason to put him into impossible demands. I think he could of pulled off way more wins than he did but him switching teams up so early in his carrier really did not help him out.

[@nascarf1fan7721A]

Jimmie Johnson Yeley😭

[@luiseduardoribeiro164]

Off the top of my head, here are some drivers that you could stretch to make this list: Jammie McMurray Brian Vickers David Ragan Trevor Bayne Aric Almirola Casey Mears Austin Dillon Dale jr (to an extend) Pre-2017 Martin Truex Jr

[@BraydenBunch58]

Connor Zilisch. He was a phenomenal driver in everything he was in around the Early 2020’s, And he was winning left and right in the Xfinity series and even won the 2025 series championship, And then 2026 happened….

[@NASCARBOI_OFFICAL]

Errm sir what year are you typing this in?

[@BraydenBunch58]

@@NASCARBOI_OFFICAL 2030, Why?

[@DiscoCupSeries]

YO WHAT

[@coreyoberlin5921]

What do you mean? Zilisch did disappoint 5 years ago. You can't deny it

[@DiscoCupSeries]

@@coreyoberlin5921 in 2019 he was literally 13 so how did he disappoint

[@retrobeans24]

You don’t understand how badly I want the Eric car, but I live in Australia and it doesn’t ship here and I don’t want to spend a ton of money to buy it from a scalper on eBay.

[@SinisterCarnyCarousel]

Nobody wants to say the obvious in the room but Dale Jr has to be mentioned. started out decent with DEI, but was with 2 strong teams in an 18 season career, with 26 wins and 10 of those being daytona/talladega, including 9 wins over his last 10 years with Hendrick and only cracking the top 10 three times with Hendrick in points. This coming after back to back xfinity championships. not a slouch career but not near what people thought he would be. Should also do a series on drivers who had amazing success in a certain series but not in other series like Jack Sprague, Ron Hornaday, Matt Crafton

[@codystrainsnjazz]

Great video. Love stuff like this. I think you could add Rick Wilson to a list like this.

[@JimmieEditz]

Can you do a video about Carson hocevar or Corey heim? Thanks if you do. Amazing video btw!❤

[@kharnthebetrayer1575]

JJ Yeley drove for Tony’s dirt team and tied his record in USAC . That’s how he got the 18 ride .

[@chloe-stephlis6281]

I saw on Dale Jr Download that Casey Atwood said that he had signed a 3 year contract with Ray and Ray told him to take his time developing. That he didn’t expect much from him until year 3. Casey also said he got an Xfinity offer from RCR but declined it to stay in Cup. Wonder if he should have gone to RCRs Xfinity team instead of Ulteqs 7.

[@evanwilliams6406]

S""t, I would have taken that RCR Busch Series ride. To get in the car that Harvick drove or the Rockwell car, he would have done pretty well and maybe would have gotten one of the RCR Cup seats.

[@gregrowe1168]

Steven Wallace. Guy was expected to be a star but just had a famous name and nothing else.

[@SilverThunder710]

I really think Atwood could have been about as good as Ryan Newman or Ty Gibbs if he was given the time. Also 4:11 cracked me up

[@STICKGUYMB]

Finally, some Jones recognition

[@ryanoflaherty5225]

Ray Evernham grossly mishandling something on his team in the mid 2000s? Color me shocked

[@johnbrown3947]

Kasey Kayne was the top driver with all the other teams and 4th in line at hendrick. That was the difference

[@cba_2442]

Atleast Yeley got to become the 2009 F1 champion.

[@lilr117nascar]

Bruh that FOX mistake was so funny

[@TheDuck632]

Atwood has said many times he got in his own way in NASCAR. He didn't put the work in to be a better driver. Which sucks because he's in my top list of personal favorite drivers

[@nascarfan03Offical]

pov: the nascar content thats actually watchable and fun unlike the iceberg eric “estep” Bfm idea for old footage try to ai upscale to hd

[@noviranger88]

Normalize Regigigas-style starts.

[@Lubbock_Kid1959]

Atwood wasn’t entirely a victim of evernham’s mismanagement, Atwood made a massive misstep in choosing not the move to North Carolina to stay close to the teams shop to get more closly invested with his team. He’s admitted to not putting in effort to get ready for his rookie campaign. The next Jeff Gordon didn’t even win rookie of the year, and even if Harvick didn’t race that year, he still would’ve lost it to Kurt Busch. That being said, Evernham definitely jumped the gun when he cut Atwood after 01, but at the same time Yates cut Kenny Irwin jr. (who was also dubbed “The Next Jeff Gordon”) after 2 seasons, so it wasn’t too out of left field.

[@MarcoEvens]

Anyone else notice he misspelled Kasey Kahne’s name in the chapters? 😬

[@alexviveiros]

imo dillon issue was he wrecked cars plus the ownership issues

[@Staysick17]

Jermey mayfield

[@DizzyIzzy-ze6hh]

Kevin Conway a Patrick Carpentier

[@gregrowe1168]

JJ Yeley might not be very good but he’s managed to hang on for a long time. Still getting paid.

[@thomasgreen8894]

Sounds like Atwood wasn't givin a fair chance. They gave him a half start n park team & you know Mayfield got the better equipment

[@ScuffedSiemReaper-mm3zp]

Now do an opposite video of drivers who overachieved from a mediocre start

[@csxtrainfan319]

I can’t think of any driver to mention that isn’t an obvious one

[@timeslayer555]

4:12 LMFAOOO🤣🤣🤣

[@Down-Hill-Dicast-Championship]

Ryan Preece

[@lionelnextelstudios0.282]

Scott speed Reed sorenson Ricky stenhouse jr Austin dillon

[@HattieJosh]

Is Austin Dillion really a prospect if he was guaranteed the ride from the start by his granddaddy?

[@lionelnextelstudios0.282]

@HattieJosh Well ya, but he was good in the lower level winning the truck and xfinity championships and while he had some success in the cup series, it was not even close to the high expectations that people were expecting, and this is coming from a dillon fan.

[@xavierjuno4572]

​@@lionelnextelstudios0.282True people forget that he showed great potential in the lower divisions, but sadly that potential hasn't been realized in cup at all

[@Vibewitkeezy_]

Daniel Suarez

[@Vegetaa4242]

Corey Lajoie

[@stickfigdude7037]

This video is the NASCAR equivalent of dudes naming random NFL players from their childhood

[@nighticek1970]

....sure 4 year old sure....

[@EndlessFlameout4]

This comment makes no sense

[@RAID3R63]

Ty Gibbs ain't done shit

[@meisJ420]

Brandon Jones

[@Colombiaballnr2055]

NASCAR driver there were not good for me I will say Jeffrey Earnhardt you already know why

[@HattieJosh]

Jeffrey could of had a shot at winning at Bristol in Xfinity a couple of weeks ago if his car hadn't of died. He was running top 15 on average and even qualified 3rd

[@Colombiaballnr2055]

​@@HattieJoshand what about Talladega 2022

[@HattieJosh]

@@Colombiaballnr2055 I usually tend to exclude drafting tracks, they're like lotteries for NASCAR

[@tonystone1016]

Nobody is a dud buddy. Some careers are better than others but no one is a dud. Except Danica Patrick. 😊