Just in case you missed Friday night's NASCAR Nextel Cup Awards Ceremony, or if you're looking for a refresher, here's a recap of the goings on from the Waldorf Astoria Grand Ballroom in New York City. Jimmie Johnson is your $15 million man -- Johnson took the stage last Friday night in New York, but walked off with the most. Contributing to his $7,996,421 in 2007 race winnings was a check of $7,317,499 from the point fund for his first-place finish in the Nextel Cup standings. Together, Johnson's 2007 winnings totaled $15,313,920.
Jeff Gordon, in second, took home $10.9 million for the year. Tony Stewart Courting Greg Zipadelli? -- Before each driver that finished in the Top-10 had their chance on stage, ESPN ran video with each having a conversation with their wife. That was the streak, at least, until Tony Stewart was introduced.
"I'm really look forward to my tenth year with everyone at Joe Gibbs racing with my crew chief Greg Zipadelli, who I guess since I'm not married, you kind of had to fill the wife role in the video for everyone tonight," said Stewart. "Sorry, babe."
NASCAR fans don't care about wins, poles, or championships for their favorite drivers.
Performance on the track? Well, it's kind of important, but not nearly as important as having multiple television commercials, a pretty-darned famous last name, and a down-home attitude and look.
For those reasons, Dale Earnhardt Jr. just won his fifth-straight NMPA Chex Most Popular Driver award Thursday in New York City. Junior gave his obligatory remarks on winning his 5th-straight popularity contest that came as a surprise to -- well -- no one.
"When I became a Cup driver in 1999, I never would've imagined that we'd be talking about five consecutive Most Popular Driver awards. I have a special place at JR Motorsports where I put the MPD trophies, so I'm honored to add another one to the collection," said Junior.
"I don't want it to sound like a cliché, but this award really does mean a lot to me after all we have been through this year. This year has marked a significant transition in my life and career [...]"
You do kind of have to feel sorry for the folks at the NMPA because of the absolute domination that Junior holds on the contest. According to this article, of nearly 3.8 million votes cast online for each of the top 50 drivers in NASCAR, Dale Jr. managed to pull in 1.4 million of those -- nearly a third of the votes cast.
In other words? Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to have to start building a new room onto JR Motorsports to house the trophies from the popularity contest he is bound to continue winning for a long time.
This victory, of course, comes during the year when Dale Jr. was the single-most talked about driver on the planet because of his departing of Dale Earnhardt Inc. for greener pastures at Hendrick Motorsports in 2008 -- a move that precipitated over several months.
The move, Earnhardt hopes, will take him from his zero-win 16th-place 2007 series finish to contending for wins and championships.
The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season-ending week-long award-giving gala has officially taken control of New York City.
Wednesday morning, Times Square and Broadway hosted the "NASCAR Victory Lap", which involved all Top 10 drivers driving in their cars, a police escort, plenty of barricades, from many accounts a decent fan base, and definitely a lot of PO'ed New Yorkers.
The highlight of the event (which you can kinda see on the video) was Kyle Busch bumping into Matt Kenseth's bumper during the parade.
The week culminates on Friday with the Nextel Cup Series awards banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria Grand Ballroom, where Jimmie Johnson will be toasted as the champ and countless gaffes will be made by NASCAR personalities who aren't the best with public speaking will mis-read the teleprompter.
No worries, though, as ESPN has managed to make sure it isn't that big of a deal by hosting the awards show on ESPN Classic. You've got to believe NASCAR just loves that exposure.
Dr. Jerry Punch, the ESPN play-by-play commentator will serve as Master of Ceremonies while entertainment will be provided by David Spade. NASCAR's token B-list star, Kelly Clarkson, will be on hand for musical entertainment.
Until that point, make sure to keep an eye out for NASCAR personalities all over the tube -- from Good Morning America to Rachel Ray's cooking show -- during the media blitz.
One casuality of the current writer's strike? We won't get another appearance by the Top 10 guys on David Lettermen's show, which was definitely one of my favorite parts of the week.
Welcome to the NASCAR FanHouse FanVote 2007. This is a chance for you, the fan, to tell the world what you think about the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series in 2007.
Today, the questions at hand are concerning driver performance on track this year during the 36 events of the Cup series schedule.
Be sure to check back each day this week for more questions and more topics. All of the results will be compiled at the end of the week and we'll reveal the results according to the vote from you, the fans!
Once you've voted, let everyone else who is getting ready to vote know what your opinion is by leaving a comment below.
It's definitely been a while since we've rolled out the power rankings at the 'House because of the revolving door at No. 1 between Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.
Let's face it, down the stretch, that's all we could do!
Anyways, seeing as today is Thanksgiving and all, it's only right to tell the world what the NASCAR FanHouse is thankful for. Agree? Disagree? Leave us some love on what your take is on what we should be thankful for in the NASCAR world, and don't forget to pass the turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
1) Fighting Without a Fine - Kevin Harvick and Juan Pablo Montoya got into a bit of a skirmish at Watkins Glen in August that involved some pushing and shoving. Harvick said he wanted to kick Montoya's ass, and Montoya didn't think he was to blame. Regardless, NASCAR actually enjoyed the fracas, with Cup Series director John Darby being quoted later as saying he thought the whole incident was "cool as hell".
Baby steps, right?
2) FOX Sports - If you've ever set foot in the FanHouse before, you know that we aren't the biggest fans of ESPN on ABC. With that, we are extremely thankful for the entire NASCAR cast of FOX Sports including Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds, Steve Byrnes, Dick Berggren, and Matt Yocum.
Complain about DW all you want, but you know deep inside that he his infinitely better than Rusty Wallace. Thank you for being rockin' awesome with NASCAR, FOX!
Juan Pablo Montoya's open-wheel-killing first NASCAR Nextel Cup Season has earned the former Colombian Formula One star a title held by many of the sport's greats in the past.
Rookie of the Year.
Montoya's rookie campaign brought his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge his first career win at Infineon Raceway in June his first Top-5 at Atlanta in March. His final stat tally included 3 Top-5's, 6 Top-10's, and race winnings of over $4.8 million.
Most importantly, though, was the fact that Montoya was able to keep the No. 42 within the top 35 positions of the point standings, guaranteeing a spot in each race. Sure, he started the season with points accumulated from Casey Mears in 2006, but after five races, that guarantee is out the window.
Juan Pablo finished in the season standings a respectable 20th.
The season definitely didn't come without any excitement for Juan Pablo. Most noticeably, Juan sent a message to the NASCAR world that he wasn't about to back down simply because he was the new guy in town after wrecking Tony Stewart at Texas in April. That flared up again at Watkins Glen with Kevin Harvick.
Without a doubt, Montoya has also kicked the door open into NASCAR for guys like Patrick Carpentier, Sam Hornish Jr., and Jacques Villeneuve -- with many more to come.
Love him or hate him, I say, it's fun having a guy like Montoya around in the Cup series.
The season is really over. But the bore, snore, roar ... however you wanna look at it ... of NASCAR's 2007 season finale lives on in the Fanhouse Ford 500 Live Blog which was initially viewed by 299 readers and has been replayed 412 times. Trust me when I tell you ... it wasn't that interesting ... kind of like the race. But it was A LOT of fun and there have been a lot of requests to bring back reader-interactive live blogging in the Fanhouse next season. Count on it.
Thought for the day: Matt Kenseth is the new Greg Biffle
If a driver wins at Homestead-Miami does anyone remember? How about if they finish the season in the top 5. Is it is just me, or is Matt Kenseth the best, most-ignored driver in NASCAR? I know I'm guilty of it.
The #17 DeWalt team deserves a huge round of applause. Kenseth's 4th place finish is his sixth consecutive top 10 in his eight Nextel Cup seasons. Things could be different for Kenseth next year with a new crew chief, but at least Robby Reiser's not going far. Can Keseth continue the streak next season? I do believe he can.
It's been quite a year for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, and with that comes a nice collection of crash clips splashed across the ends of the internet.
NASCAR rolled out the Car of Tomorrow for part-time use in 2007 in anticipation of full-time use in 2008 with safety as a top priority. That was indeed a good idea because even though the now-defunct body style was a mostly safe model and the tracks keep adding SAFER barriers, one thing is still the same.
The drivers are still crashing, and crashing hard.
From the last-lap pile-up during the season-opening Daytona 500 to the Chase-changing crash at Dover in the fall, here's a look back at the biggest hits from the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Season.
Jeff Gordon said it best last week when he said Jimmie Johnson "has flat killed everyone" in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
That didn't change Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Jimmie Johnson finished seventh in the Ford 400 to wrap up his second NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship in a row by 77 points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate and co-team owner, Jeff Gordon. Johnson is the first Cup series repeat champion since Gordon did it in 1997-98.
Johnson, who was going for his 5th win in a row, led only the first lap of the race after starting from the pole and was a steady Top-10 fixture for the rest of the race. Gordon managed to earn 9 points in the final tally on Johnson by finishing fourth, but it wouldn't be enough for the four-time champion who also had a season to remember by recording his 30th Top-10 of the season, a new NASCAR record.
Oh Yeah, Matt Kenseth Won, Too
Also celebrating Sunday night at Homestead was the Roush-Fenway Racing team after Matt Kenseth won his second race of the year.
I can't remember the last year that I was so uninspired by NASCAR's finale race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. I know I'm not alone ... so I thought we could chat about it while we sort of half watching the race today. We can discuss all the ways in which the 2007 NASCAR season and its media coverage sucked and yet ... we've already begun counting down the days 'til we can start it all over again in February.
Want to join us? Meet back here in about an hour for pre-race!
Just in case you missed Friday night's NASCAR Nextel Cup Awards Ceremony, or if you're looking for a refresher, here's a recap of the goings on from the Waldorf Astoria Grand Ballroom in New York City.
NASCAR fans don't care about wins, poles, or championships for their favorite drivers.
Welcome to the NASCAR FanHouse FanVote 2007. This is a chance for you, the fan, to tell the world what you think about the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series in 2007.
It's definitely been a while since we've rolled out the power rankings at the 'House because of the revolving door at No. 1 between Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. 
Juan Pablo Montoya's open-wheel-killing first NASCAR Nextel Cup Season has earned the former Colombian Formula One star a title held by many of the sport's greats in the past.
State of Mind: Astonishment.
It's been quite a year for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, and with that comes a nice collection of crash clips splashed across the ends of the internet.
Jeff Gordon said it best last week when he said Jimmie Johnson "has flat killed everyone" in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
