NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup championship begins this weekend in Loudon, NH.  The season thus far has been building up to this point.  Points are essentially reset for the top 12 drivers as of last Saturday’s race in Richmond.  The next 10 races are all about the Chase drivers.

The drivers contending for the 2009 championship are…

• Mark Martin
• Tony Stewart
• Jimmie Johnson
• Denny Hamlin
• Kasey Kahne
• Jeff Gordon
• Kurt Busch
• Brian Vickers
• Carl Edwards
• Ryan Newman
• Juan Pablo Montoya
• Greg Biffle

As you can see by the above list, Dale Earnhardt Jr didn’t make it in.  I really haven’t yet figured out who I think has the best chance to win the championship.  Although, my gut says Tony & Jimmie are very good early favorites to win it all.  It will boil down to whoever can have the most consistent (good consistency, that is) finishes for the remaining 10 races.  Who are you rooting for to win?

The drivers spent the past couple of days doing a whirlwind media tour in New York City.  Here is a clip of one of the appearances.

Every year, NASCAR and its many sponsors spend the off-season and downtime during the season making commercials with the drivers they sponsor.  Now that the 2008 season is over, I thought I would share my 5 favorites from 2008.  For me to like the commercial, it must entertain me.  Most of these are just hilarious to me.  I can also quote memorable lines from them.  One is memorable to me because it is a bittersweet goodbye to one of the veterans of this sport.  Here are my 5 favorites, in no particular order.

Kasey Kahne -- Allstate

Various Drivers -- Toyota

Jimmie Johnson -- Kobalt Tools

Various Drivers -- Tylenol

Various Drivers -- UPS

Ok, maybe the title is misleading.  I did sort of see him, though.  I was at the grocery store earlier and there he was peering through the window at me in the produce section.  He is advertising cherries.  See for yourself…

Kasey Kahne Racing is on the same road as JR Motorsports so we visited KKR while we were in the vicinity.  For those that may be reading my blog and not know, Kasey Kahne Racing is not a NASCAR team.  KKR is owned by NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne and builds/races USAC cars.  In the photos of our KKR visit, you’ll see one of the cars in the shop.

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Congratulations to Coach John McDonnell on his 84th conference championship and his 21st conference triple crown (winning the championship in indoor, cross country, and outdoor track).  The Razorbacks will be competing for their 43rd national championship next week.  After 35 years as the University of Arkansas head track coach, Coach McDonnell is retiring at the end of this season.    Good luck to the Hogs, and Good luck Coach McDonnell!

In other news:

-The 5th annual NASCAR Day was on Friday.  As of Sunday morning, $1.3 million had been donated.

-JR Motorsports (owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr) may be going Cup racing next year.  There seems to be a lot of speculation about drivers and such already.  However, Junior just talked about the possibility on Friday and didn’t really give any details.  It should be interesting to see how this plays out.

-Kasey Kahne won the NASCAR All-Star race Saturday night after getting voted into the race by the fans.  Kasey & crew made a gutsy call to not take any new tires on the final pit stop which, in my opinion, won him the race.

-The NWA Naturals are now 23-20 on the season after beating the Arkansas Travelers in NLR last night.

-Springdale native (and FLW Pro) Greg Bohannan came in 3rd this past weekend at the FLW Tour’s Wal-Mart Open here on Beaver Lake.