* Frank Caliendo, Rascal Flatts Headline Awards Ceremony At Wynn Las Vegas
* Popular Victory Lap On Famous Vegas Strip Again Planned
* NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon To Be Showcased At Bellagio

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 24, 2010) – The champion is crowned, the celebration awaits.
What a party it promises to be.

The 2010 edition of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week in Las Vegas will fete Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson, who earned an unprecedented fifth consecutive series title following the Nov. 21 season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Just a few days away, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week is full of fan-friendly activities that showcase the nation’s No. 1 form of motorsports while honoring its top driver and its loyal fan base.

After a 28-year run in New York, the annual postseason celebration made its Las Vegas debut last year, capped, as always, by the champion’s Friday-night coronation. This year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony returns to one of the city’s premier resorts, Wynn Las Vegas, on Friday, Dec. 3.
SPEED will once again broadcast the event, live at 9 p.m. ET.

Comedian Frank Caliendo and country rockers Rascal Flatts will entertain during the awards ceremony. Joining them will be “Viva ELVIS by Cirque du Soleil,” a special performance of dance, acrobatics and music celebrating the King of Rock ‘n Roll, Elvis Presley.

The ceremony culminates several days of whirlwind activity involving not only the series champion, but also the other 11 drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – NASCAR’s “playoffs”. Those drivers, together with Johnson, comprise the top 12 in the series’ final standings.
“It’s just been an amazing experience, amazing for myself and the team,” Johnson said of his five-title run. “I think it’s been great for our sport to see the comparisons drawn to other sports that have been able to link together multiple championships. It’s been awesome, a ton of fun.”

For the second consecutive year, some of the thousands of fans who flock to catch a glimpse of stock car racing’s biggest stars will join drivers, team owners and industry leaders in celebrating Johnson at the awards ceremony. Approximately 300 tickets are available to fans, which are being distributed by tracks, NASCAR partners and teams through various promotions.

Fan tickets offer the following experiences:
· NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon seats
· Access to “NASCAR After The Lap, Made Possible By Coca-Cola and Ford”
· Fan reception & Red Carpet walk prior to the awards ceremony
· Awards ceremony seats
Following is a complete rundown of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week activities.

Wednesday, Dec. 1
· NASCAR Street Tour: Two tricked-out NASCAR interactive Ford vehicles are scheduled to appear all week throughout Las Vegas with dynamic street teams, interactive video games and free giveaways. (Detailed schedule TBD.)
· NASCAR Pit Stop Tour:The Pit Stop Tour program will run from Dec. 1-3, consisting of Official Partner show cars placed in iconic locations throughout the Las Vegas Strip. Brand ambassadors at each location (locations TBD) will be on site from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. for all three days, engaging the fans.
· Chasers for Charity Event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway: Gates open at 10 a.m. The Richard Petty Driving Experience will offer rides with a percentage of the proceeds being donated to charity. The speedway will offer tours of the facility. There will be interactive displays throughout the track’s “Neon Garage” and live music on the main stage from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. In addition, all 12 Chase drivers will participate in a Family Feud-style game show hosted by comedian Kevin Burke between 2-3:30 p.m. Admission to the Fanfest is free, and mass transportation will be available from the strip and downtown.

Thursday, Dec. 2
· NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon: This annual industry/media event begins at 11 a.m., in the Bellagio Ballroom at the Bellagio and includes presentations to the Champion Crew Chief, Champion Sponsor, Raybestos Rookie of the Year and Most Popular Driver. Fans have the opportunity to attend for the first time. It is co-hosted by NASCAR and the National Motor Sports Press Association.
· Victory Lap: Set for 3:30 p.m., the top-12 drivers will motor down the famed Las Vegas Strip in their respective race cars. Expect an authentic pit stop along the route and two burn-out sections for drivers. Victory Lap begins in front of Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino and ends at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Prior to Victory Lap at 3 p.m., Johnson will receive the Key to the City of Las Vegas from Mayor Oscar Goodman and Commissioner Tom Collins. Commissioner Collins also will present a Proclamation recognizing Champion’s Week and Johnson’s accomplishments.
· NASCAR After The Lap: This free fan event starts at 4:30 p.m., at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and features a question-and-answer session with drivers and an interactive Coca-Cola Fan Zone experience. Select fans will win NASCAR-themed prizes, including a 2011 Ford Taurus SHO. The Coca-Cola Fan Zone opens at noon, with doors to NASCAR After The Lap opening at 3 p.m. General admission seats are free, on a first-come, first-serve basis. Register for tickets at nascarafterthelap.com.

Friday, Dec. 3
· 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony: The big show starts at 6 p.m., crowning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion driver and owner and honoring the other drivers who finished in the top 10 in the final series standings.

Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

Anyone who still believes NASCAR has an off-season hasn’t been listening to the news.

Just three days after the organization won its fifth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship with driver Jimmie Johnson, Hurricane Hendrick flattened the racing community.

Hendrick Motorsports announced that three of its four Cup Series superstars would be working with new crew chiefs next year. Jeff Gordon will work with Alan Gustafson and the former No. 5 team, while Mark Martin will move over to the former No. 88 team to work with Lance McGrew. There will be no change for Jimmie Johnson, who will remain with Chad Knaus.

And Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s new home will be in the former No. 24 shop, as he is paired up with Steve Letarte in 2011.

The crew members, explained team owner Rick Hendrick in a press conference on Nov. 24, aren’t going anywhere. “We’re not shifting teams and putting guys in different buildings. We’ve got guys that are working together; they are still working together. We’re just changing the drivers and the teams,” he said.

The immediate response was also the most predictable: it’s all about Junior, who finished 21st in this year driver standings and hasn’t won a race since June 2008.

Now, Mr. Hendrick won’t come right out and admit Earnhardt’s disappointing season facilitated the change. In fact, he flatly denied it, saying, “This was not a move we made because of Dale or his situation. All those factors weighed into it, but I looked at the personalities, and the strong traits of each team and each crew chief and each engineer and then looked at the drivers and looked at starting to do something to make a change to pair up people that I thought would be better together.”

Still, the obvious conclusion is that Junior is NASCAR’s most popular driver by a country mile, and the sport becomes the beneficiary of fans’ largesse when he is winning, or at least threatening to win. They watch more, they spend more, and they care more.

But I have this little nagging voice in my ear, the same one that obsessively counts carbs and offers the opinion that a functioning smoke alarm is a better investment than a 27th pair of black shoes.

The voice is annoying, but it’s usually right, and right now it’s suggesting to me that perhaps this goes a little deeper than what is glaring at us from the surface. All the smoke is billowing around Junior, but maybe the hottest fire burns somewhere else.

Because Jeff Gordon hasn’t been looking all that happy lately.

Back in 2001, when he won his fourth Cup Series title, Gordon was seemingly unstoppable. He was the wonder boy, the young phenom who claimed his 50th career victory in fewer races than any other driver in history. He won four championships in seven years. Hendrick Motorsports may not be the “house that Gordon built” in the strictest sense, but he surely spruced the place up.

Legend has it that when Gordon approached Mr. Hendrick about putting a largely unproven NASCAR Nationwide Series driver into a Cup car in 2002, the response was something to that effect that Rick was amenable if Jeff was willing to “put your money where your mouth is.”

Gordon did indeed prove willing, and the investment has surpassed everyone’s expectations. Gordon’s viewpoint may well have shifted somewhat, and who could blame him? The view from the top looking down is much more scenic than the perspective from the opposite direction. Remember that old saying about the lead dog? Jeff Gordon has been staring at Jimmie Johnson’s happy tail-wagging routine for five straight years. That cannot be easy. Or fun.

Gordon has raced well, unless you equate good racing with winning. The wins have been scarce. As with Earnhardt nation, it has been drought season in Gordon country, which hasn’t seen a win since April 2009. That’s a very long time for the biggest of dogs.

Gordon’s long-time sponsor DuPont has left the building as the main primary sponsor on the No. 24 car, and he has watched his protégé become, for all intents and purposes, his successor. Just to add insult to injury, when Johnson’s prospects for that fifth title seemed in jeopardy due to substandard pit stops, why, he and Knaus just reached over and took Gordon’s entire crew, turning the phrase “take one for team” into a double entendre.

So it comes as no real surprise at all that in this dance of the crew chiefs, Gordon got a stellar partner. Gustafson guided Martin to a second place overall finish in 2009, and could well be exactly the right choice to inject new life into the No. 24 team and their driver, a not-so-old dog still more than capable of few new tricks.

Rolling over and playing dead would not be one of those tricks, by the way.

Junior wants to succeed, and will do whatever is necessary to make it happen. But while the rest of the world is intently watching him work so hard, jumping through the many hoops of all those high hopes for his racing future, keep your eye on Jeff Gordon. He could well prove to be the guy that ultimately gets the job done.

The opinions expressed in this articles are solely those of the author and not this website.

SHOW #137 – We wrap up the 2010 NASCAR season with a discussion about Jimmie Johnson’s place in history, Carl Edwards surges, Hendrick Motorsports swaps, plus Brad Daugherty joins us. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Paul Northrop

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CREDITS:
Hosts: Kerry Murphey & Paul Northrop
Production: Kerry Murphey
Music: Radium Sound
Voice Over: Thomas Moog

CONCORD, N.C. (Nov. 23, 2010) – Hendrick Motorsports has made personnel adjustments in preparation for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, with drivers Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. being teamed with new crew chiefs.

[poll id=”73″]

Below are the driver-crew chief pairings for each Hendrick Motorsports car, effective immediately:

No. 5 Chevrolet
Driver: Mark Martin
Crew Chief: Lance McGrew

No. 24 Chevrolet
Driver: Jeff Gordon
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson

No. 48 Chevrolet
Driver: Jimmie Johnson
Crew Chief: Chad Knaus

No. 88 Chevrolet
Driver: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Crew Chief: Steve Letarte

The cars of Martin and four-time Sprint Cup champion Gordon will be fielded out of the same facility, now known as the 5/24 shop. Earnhardt Jr.’s Chevrolets will be prepared out of the renamed 48/88 shop alongside those of five-time and defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

“This will improve us as an organization, across the board,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “We had a championship season (in 2010), but we weren’t where we wanted and needed to be with all four teams. We’ve made the right adjustments, and I’m excited to go racing with this lineup.”

FYI WIRZ: NASCAR’s top five finishers talk before and after the race
By Dwight Drum
Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com

The top five drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this week—Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola and A.J. Allmendinger—ran to the front to finish the 1.5-mile oval with 18-20 variable degree banking at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida.

The Ford 400, race 10 in the 10-race Chase to the Sprint Cup, is history and Jimmie Johnson became history when he snared an unprecedented fifth championship in a row.

The long NASCAR season went to the wire during the last 267 laps of the season, with Kevin Harvick in third place chasing Jimmie Johnson in second. Denny Hamlin watched his slim points lead evaporate and his hopes fade while securing a disappointing 14th spot at HMS.

For all NASCAR drivers, the slate is cleared and all look to the 2011 season with an equal points start. Perhaps only Edwards with his back-to-back wins and Johnson with his most recent championship carry a considerable edge into the next year.

Fans can take heart in the reality that favored drivers don’t always win, but winners always take the checkered flag. That’s why NASCAR runs every lap.

Driver’s thoughts before and after the big race follow.

Carl Edwards (No. 99 Ford)

Before:

“Ford Championship weekend has always been a huge weekend for me and Roush Fenway,” Edwards said. “We’ve got a ton of momentum right now. I feel like our 1.5-mile program is really strong, and our team is riding a huge wave from last weekend’s win in Phoenix. We’re just going to go for the win and hopefully finish top four in points. That would be huge.”

After:

“This is a great way to finish the season, Edwards said. “Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson—five championships in a row, that’s unreal. I think the way we’re going here? “It’s just these guys not giving up. We don’t give up. My guys are unreal and we just had an unbelievable run towards the end of this season.

“I can’t believe this. Two wins in a row is just really great. We are finishing the season like we need to. I am excited to go into next year and go into Daytona where hopefully we can be one of the people lining up to knock Jimmie off his throne. That would be nice.”

Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Chevrolet)

Before:

“If you look at points accumulated over the course of the Chase, I think that will speak volumes as to what type of Chase took place,” Johnson said. “I know we’ve been competitive, but not as dominant as we wanted to all year long. We’ve got to go down there and race for it; there’s no doubt about it. I continue to hear that the No. 48 hasn’t had to race for it before and we’ve raced for it all Chase long.

“When you go back through the season, look at little things, we’ve left points on the table. That’s unlike us from years past. That’s the part we’re fighting right now.”

After:

I’m so proud to be in this position and so thankful to have my great race team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports giving me great race cars,” Johnson said.

“I think this year we showed what this team is made. At times we didn’t have the most speed, but we proved it here at the end of the Chase and especially here today. I am just besides myself. Four was amazing. Now I have to figure out what the hell to say about winning five of these things because everybody is going to want to know what it means. I don’t know! It is pretty damn awesome I can tell you that.”

Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet)

Before:

“We have nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Harvick said. “There’s really nothing else that matters at this point. Just throw it all out there, and if it gets rough, it gets rough. If it doesn’t, then we just go race and see where it all falls in the end. It’s still a no pressure, no lose situation for us, and I like it.

“We’ve had great results over the past several years there. It’s a race track that kind of fits my driving style.”

After:

“We put ourselves in position to run up front, and we ran up front and you know, in the end, we just got beat there on that last restart and they just out ran us. All in all, we went downswing and that’s all you can ask for. They did a great job.”

Aric Almirola (No. 9 Ford)

Before:

“The coolest thing for me is that it was nearly 44 years ago my grandparents gave up everything they had to have a better life in America,” Almirola said. “They landed in Miami on the Freedom Flights with my dad and uncle Robert and now she gets to witness a product of her sacrifice; ironically in Miami. I’m privileged to do something that I love for my job.”

After:

“It felt like we had a car capable of winning. All in all it was a great day and I am proud of all my guys on this team to step in and let me fill in on this team has been fun. I have learned a lot and it has been awesome.”

A.J Allmendinger (No. 43 Ford)

Before:

“We haven’t been the strongest on the mile-and-a-half race tracks as a race team on the 43 side of it Allmendinger said. “But we did the test there and it is a completely different mile-and-a-half, so for that reason I’m looking forward to it.”

After:

“That was pretty wild. We got it raceable and we got a little lucky with that yellow to get us track position and a top five.”

FYI WIRZ is the swift presentation of pertinent motorsports topics compiled, condensed and often written by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com. Quotes provided by NASCAR and Sprint Cup team media.

Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com

The opinions expressed in this articles are solely those of the author and not this website.