Nascar and Racing Nascar Fans

For Blake Bobbitt, 187 laps of last Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway were pretty much the same as the rest of the 142,000 fans on hand -- fast and exciting. Then, on the lap 188, Carl Edwards' No. 99 flew into the catch fence in front of her, ripping apart and spewing a chunk of metal into her face and shattering her jaw.

Talk about a bad experience at your first NASCAR race.

The cars are in motion, and Geoffrey Miller is in Daytona, following all of the action of the Daytona 500.

You might not be getting the full live experience, the roar of the engines, the drama in the air, but you can follow Geoffrey's updates live from the race with FanHouse's Twitter (after the jump) and be closer to the track than anywhere else on the Internet. Lead changes, wrecks, weird sights in the stands -- none of it is off-limits for Geoffrey.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA.-- NASCAR on FOX is making no bones about it: Digger's a money-making tool.

Digger, an animated gopher that made his first appearance on the network's Sprint Cup broadcasts in 2008, is hitting the prime time starting with this weekend's season-opening Daytona 500 with a slew of new co-conspirators and a host of available merchandise items.

FOX announced the move and how they plan to make a few dollars off it during a press conference Thursday at Daytona International Speedway.

It's been a darn good week to be a NASCAR FanHouser.

Joey Logano talked about his possible life as a garbage collector, Kyle Busch chatted us up and then two NASCAR Sprint Cup champions (do the names Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart ring a bell?) spent time answering your questions during a pair of live chats on Wednesday.

And now, your co-hosts of this little portion of the internet blogosphere -- motorsports veteran Holly Cain and myself -- are now both trackside for NASCAR's season-opening Daytona 500.

"Winner, winner chicken dinner!" might be what you're thinking, but wait! There's more!

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- On the heels of the Jeff Gordon chat, Tony Stewart hung out with FanHouse for a live chat from Florida on Wednesday. "Smoke" answered your questions about everything from being buds with Junior to missing the old Dairy Queen in Columbus, Ind. Read the full transcript below.

Tony Stewart: Hi everyone. Thanks for waiting. Let's go. ...

Linda: Do you have any hobbies that have nothing to do with car racing??

Tony Stewart: Fishing and hunting.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Jeff Gordon was kind enough to sit down with FanHouse Wednesday for a live chat from Florida. The following is the full transcript of what Jeff had to say about everything from new paint schemes to a recent trip to Disney with his family. Enjoy. (And don't forget about the Tony Stewart chat taking place at 7:30 PM ET today.)

Jeff Gordon: Hey everybody thanks for all the questions. Just finished up with practice; we have a great Dupont Chevrolet for tomorrow's race. Let's get started.

LC: Jeff, which race win would mean more to you a 5th Daytona or your first win at Texas Motor Speedway?

Jeff Gordon: First of all, it would be a 4th Daytona 500. Daytona is biggest race we have, even as special as Texas would be since I've never won there -- Daytona is the ultimate and I'd have to go with Daytona.

We're looking forward to a big 2009 covering motorsports here at FanHouse, so how about this for introducing the new year in grand fashion? With drivers, crews, and fans gearing up for Daytona, we're excited to bring you two of the biggest names in NASCAR -- and sports in general.

On Wednesday, February 11, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart will be gracing our pages to chat with race fans and answer questions on the upcoming race, what they expect from 2009, hot topics on the track, and anything else that may come to mind.

Remember to stop by and read what the two megastars have to say. We'll be talking with Jeff Gordon at 4:30PM ET and Tony Stewart at 7:30PM ET.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Ironically, in the week one of America's great Olympic champions is embroiled in a drug controversy, another of its favorite pasttimes is conducting its first large scale drug testing.

NASCAR finished its first round of mandatory drug tests and will continue to conduct random tests throughout the season. It's a big step for the series, which has only tested with probable suspicion for the previous 59 years of its history.

But in this sport, being under the influence of a drug could mean death for you or another – there's no gray area at 200 mph.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- I went to the race track Thursday and an economic forum broke out. NASCAR Chairman Brian France addressed reporters during the annual season-opening Media Day at Daytona International Speedway and reiterated his concern that his sport be "sensitive'' to the tough economic times.

Drivers were talking about testing restrictions, marketing cutbacks, team layoffs and the future of Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge and Toyota – before getting to the usual nuts and bolts of championship favorites and drafting Daytona -- site of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- They stood in line for an hour in the toasty Florida sun, cameras ready, pens in hand. For at least one diehard race fan there was no choice in the matter.

"I'm here waiting like this for Patrick Dempsey's autograph because he does a great job racing,'' one man explained from his place in line in the Daytona International Speedway infield.

Then he came clean.