That’s Racin’s David Poole begins a two-part look back at the 10 biggest stories in NASCAR in 2006. Next week – the year’s five biggest stories.

No. 10: Teamed up on at Talladega

Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega on the final lap, driving his No. 8 Chevrolet off Turn 2 for the final time with Jimmie Johnson and Brian Vickers right behind him.

Johnson and Vickers both drove for Hendrick Motorsports, but Vickers was leaving the team at season’s end. He was still looking for his first career victory, and he was determined not to just sit still and finish third.

As the cars steamed toward Turn 3, Johnson made a move to the inside.

Vickers followed, rapping Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet on the rear in an attempt to help push them both past Earnhardt Jr. Then, in the time it takes to take a deep breath, Johnson’s car was sideways and turning into Earnhardt Jr.’s They skittered off the track into a patch of grass at the bottom of the entrance to Turn 3, kicking up a plume of dust.

Vickers kept going and took the checkered flag. “It is what it is,” he said later. “This is Talladega. If I would have not touched him we would have finished one-two-three, Junior, Jimmie and me.”

Earnhardt Jr. finished 23rd. Johnson finished 24th and languished in eighth in the Chase for the Nextel Cup standings, 156 points behind leader Jeff Burton.

Johnson tried hard not to savage Vickers through clenched teeth. If Earnhardt Jr. had climbed from his car steaming, he easily could have incited a riot. But Earnhardt Jr. played it cool.

No. 9: A hall of a deal for NASCAR

Right now, at least, the selection of Charlotte, N.C., as the host for a NASCAR hall of fame is a bigger story for the city than it is for NASCAR. Ground will be broken officially on the site early next year and it may be 2010 before the museum actually opens.

But the existence of an “official” shrine for NASCAR’s greatest drivers and memorable moments is important for the sport. It’s an opportunity for the sport to successfully do something it’s had tremendous difficulty doing in recent years, balancing its history with its desire to keep getting bigger.

No. 8: Hardships with Rays of hope

Kasey Kahne won six races in 2006, more than any other driver in the sport. Scott Riggs didn’t qualify for the Daytona 500, but bounced back and finished a respectable 20th in the final standings.

And then, there was Jeremy Mayfield.

It was an eventful year for Ray Evernham, the owner of those three Dodge teams. While Kahne was making the Chase for the Nextel Cup, giving Evernham a car in the Chase in each of its first three years, Mayfield’s team was blowing up.

Mayfield, frustrated by his team’s sagging performance, indirectly questioned Evernham’s focus on his Cup operations before qualifying at Chicagoland in July. Two days later, a news conference meant to allay rumors of tension did anything but that.

The end came after Mayfield completed just 82 laps and finished 41st at Indianapolis. Evernham announced that Bill Elliott would drive the No. 19 Dodge at Watkins Glen in Mayfield’s place, and Mayfield went to court to block that move.

In documents filed in the case, Mayfield alleged that his team’s performance had been hurt by Evernham’s relationship with Erin Crocker, the driver for an Evernham-owned team in the Truck Series. Evernham said his relationship with Crocker was nobody’s business, and hired Elliott Sadler from Robert Yates Racing to drive the No. 19 beginning the next weekend at Michigan.

Despite the turmoil, Kahne won at California and finished third at Richmond to squeeze into the Chase in the 10th and final spot, just 16 points ahead of Tony Stewart.

No. 7: The very thought of you

No Toyota has raced in a Nextel Cup event, but the manufacturer’s impending arrival in NASCAR’s top series still moved the needle.

Toyota’s Tundra dominated the Craftsman Truck Series, winning 12 races and sweeping the top six spots in the final standings with Todd Bodine winning the title. Meanwhile, the manufacturer assembled its roster for 2007, with Michael Waltrip, Bill Davis and Team Red Bull lining up seven teams to begin Cup competition.

Rival team owners accused Toyota of subsidizing these car owners, allowing them to offer exorbitant salaries to drivers, crew chiefs and mechanics to lure them to the new teams or to force existing teams to dramatically ramp up their pay scales. Toyota officials said they were simply helping their teams develop race cars and engines.

Dale Jarrett, a former Cup champion, will drive one of three cars owned by Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 champion who will drive a second himself and put David Reutimann in the third. Jeremy Mayfield joins Dave Blaney on Bill Davis’s team. Brian Vickers will team with A.J. Allmendinger at Team Red Bull.

No. 6: Open season on open wheel

Usually, the rumor goes the other way. Some NASCAR star, usually Jeff Gordon, is said to be toying with the idea of going to Formula One. But at Chicagoland Speedway in July, when Chip Ganassi announced that Juan Montoya would replace Casey Mears in the No. 42 Dodges in 2007, the racing world was stunned.

Montoya, who has won the Indianapolis 500 as well as in F1, had fallen out of favor with his team in the world’s most prestigious series. But his decision to turn to stock cars was a sharp body-blow to America’s open-wheel ranks, and it was not the last.

A.J. Allmendinger, the only American to win in the ChampCar World Series, later announced he was coming to Cup to drive Toyotas for Team Red Bull. Sam Hornish, who won the Indianapolis 500 this year, drove in Busch Series races late in the 2006 season and will run several more in 2007 with plans beyond that still to be determined.