DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Dec. 4, 2009) – The first Champion’s Week in Las Vegas culminated with the annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony Friday evening at the Wynn Las Vegas.

The week was a packed one for four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet), who started off the tour in his home state of California before coming to Las Vegas for the festivities that began with Wednesday’s landmark photo shoot.

Despite the numerous appointments, Johnson said he enjoyed them all, and said this Champion’s Week was completely different than his previous three that took place in New York City.

“I think it was much more relaxed,” Johnson said. “We didn’t have to commute across town, getting around was much easier. I had a blast. Everyone across the industry just had fun together. We were hanging out with people from different teams across the sport every night. It was a lot of fun. This has been a much better experience.”

SEE THE PHOTOS FROM CHAMPIONS WEEK

Johnson said his trip home to El Cajon, Calif., on Monday was his favorite part of the week. He visited his old elementary school, and the Jimmie Johnson Foundation donated a total of $922,000 in grants to schools in California, North Carolina and Oklahoma.

Continue reading “The 2009 NASCAR Awards Banquet”

Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

Juan Pablo Montoya is already talking when he walks through the door of Alsace 1, AKA the teleprompter room, at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning of Champion’s Week.

“I don’t want to read this stuff,” he says as he strides to the front of the room. “Can’t I just talk?”

The teleprompter room is the place where all those smooth, carefully worded speeches you will hear on Friday night at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series awards ceremony come together.

Long gone – and lamented, by some – are the days when celebrities would pull handwritten speeches out of their pockets at awards show when their names were announced, stumbling over the words and invariably forgetting to thank someone really important, who probably never let them live it down.

Continue reading “What Happens in Vegas: Speech Rehearsal”

KERNERSVILLE, N.C. (December 3, 2009) — Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) announced today that Rick Ren, crew chief of the No. 33 truck driven by four-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday, has left the organization to pursue management opportunities within the sport.

“Ron (Hornaday) and Rick (Ren) have been a powerful combination over the last few years in the Truck Series,” said KHI co-owner Kevin Harvick. “With success comes opportunity and we wish him well in the next step of his career.

“We have put together a solid foundation with our Truck Series program from top to bottom,” Harvick continued. “The guy behind the wheel is the catalyst of everything that has turned this into a championship-caliber team and I feel confident that our program will continue to be successful.”

Harvick said an announcement regarding Hornaday’s crew chief for 2010 could be expected as early as next week. Hornaday has won two out of the last three Truck Series championships and is the first four-time champion (2009, 2007, 1998, 1996) in Truck Series’ history.

Amanda’s Articles

By Amanda Vincent

On the surface, Kyle Busch’s run to the 2009 Nationwide Series championship may have looked easy, but Busch himself admits that staking his claim on the 2009 champion’s trophy was no easy task.

“It wasn’t a cake walk this year,” Busch said at the Camping World Truck Series/Nationwide Series awards banquet in Miami on Monday.

Sure, he accumulated 5682 points over the course of the 35 races that made up the 2009 campaign — the most ever earned by any driver in the series in a single season. But even on the strength of a season that included nine wins and 11 second-place finishes, the 2009 Nationwide Series title came down to the last race of the season.

“We went all the way to the last race before we won the championship, Busch said. “Just shows you how hard this is.”

Continue reading “According to Busch, 2009 title run didn't come easy”

Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and wife Chandra visit Johnson’s grammar school, Crest Elementary in El Cajon, Calif., and make grants of nearly $1 million to schools in California, North Carolina and Oklahoma.

Continue reading “The Jimmie Johnson Foundation Gives $1m to Education”