Similar Circles for Super Bowl, NASCAR

During a January preseason test session at Daytona International Speedway 15 years ago, I asked NASCAR Cup driver Mark Martin who he thought would win the Super Bowl, which was only a couple days away.

"Who's in the Super Bowl?'' was his reply.

And to be fair -- in those humble days well before NASCAR's growth spurt -- most NFL players probably couldn't name a race outside of NASCAR's Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 or a stock car driver other than Richard Petty.

But those times are long gone and it speaks as much to how far NASCAR has evolved as to how popular the Super Bowl has become.

NASCAR is no longer the forgotten Southern stepchild of professional sports. The redneck stereotype is outdated and short-sighted and some of stock car's best are sharing the weekend Super Bowl spotlight right alongside the biggest names in sports and entertainment.

Three-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champ Jimmie Johnson co-hosts a celebrity golf tournament with music star Nick Lachey on Saturday in Tampa. Former Cup Rookie of the Year, Kasey Kahne will be at A-list parties courtesy of his race team sponsor, Budweiser.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has appeared in a Super Bowl commercial. A few years ago Jeff Gordon got major television air time as cameras showed him catching the game from a luxury suite.

And then there's the ultimate gridiron transcender Joe Gibbs, who won three NASCAR championships as a team owner and three Super Bowl titles from his days leading the Washington Redskins.

The crossover works both ways.

In fact, NASCAR has amassed an elite and impressive club of former NFL players who have owned race teams including four NFL Hall of Fame quarterbacks -- Dan Marino, Roger Staubach Troy Aikman and Terry Bradshaw.

New England Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss currently fields a championship-caliber team in the Camping World Truck Series.

This week, some opportunistic NASCAR public relation managers offered up their drivers' Super Bowl picks.

They ranged from Denny Hamlin's predictable "The Steelers have a great D. ... but I would take the Cardinals and the points" to Australian Marcos Ambrose's, "I have to go for the Cardinals because of Ben Graham, their punter. He's Australian."

Two-time Daytona 500 champ Michael Waltrip has an honest take, "All my friends are Pittsburgh Steelers fans, so I hope the Cardinals win. Plus, I love Kurt Warner because he's old like me.''

And there's this pick from Matt Kenseth which seems interestingly self-reflective:

"I'm going with the Cardinals. ... they may not have gotten the respect, but they have the big wins to prove they belong there.''

At least the racers know who's playing.

And vice versa.