Definitely some of the most "heart healing" races came in 2001. Steve Park winning at Rockingham, Kevin Harvick at Atlanta. But most of all Dale Jr. at Daytona. The car he had that night was bad fast, and I had the pleasure of being in attendance for that race. It was an incredible night, that I will definitely never forget.
One of the more obvious, completely overplayed, but totally deserving of every bit of recognition it recieves, will always be 2003 at Darlington. Not only the Cup race, but all three races that weekend. The most mindblowing and unexpected finishes happened during that race weekend. The truck race with Bobby Hamilton and Ted Musgrave battling in the closing laps. In the Busch race where it came down to Todd Bodine and Jamie McMurray pretty much wrecking each other across the line. And then of course the big race, one of, if not the most unforgettable finish in all of NASCAR history. Not just that last lap, but the entire closing sequence of that race, Kurt Busch and Ricky Craven fighting tooth and nail, using every single ounce of strength and driving skills that they could muster. Running into the walls, running into each other, throwing everything they could into trying to win that race. Seemingly doing everything possible to wreck each other, yet managing to keep going.
All of this continuing to the very last lap, they come off of turn four, just beating and slamming the hell out of each other, where Craven got the last edge, and pushed that Pontiac Grand Prix ahead of Kurt Busch. To top it all off, Kurt Busch comes into victory lane, and they both shake hands. It was simply and incredible show of heads down, elbows up racing, and still to this day my most favorite finish of all time.
