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Fast Fact
What: NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup Series Awards Ceremony.
Where: Grand
Ballroom, The Waldorf=Astoria Hotel, New York City.
When: 7-10:30
p.m. (ET). Friday, Dec. 2.
TV: TNT, 9 p.m.
(ET & PT); NBC,
Sunday at 2 p.m. (ET)
Radio: MRN/XM
Satellite.
Final NASCAR NEXTEL
Cup Series Top 10:
1. Jimmie Johnson 6,475. 2. Matt Kenseth 6,419. 3. Denny Hamlin 6,407.
4. Kevin Harvick 6,397. 5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 6,328. 6. Jeff Gordon
6,256. 7. Jeff Burton 6,228. 8. Kasey Kahne 6,183. 9. Mark Martin 6,168.
10. Kyle Busch 6,027.
11th-place
driver: Tony
Stewart.
Raybestos Rookie of the Year:
Denny Hamlin.
Musical
Entertainment: Jewel.
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NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES CHAMPIONS WEEK – DAY
4
* Special Award Winners Recognized: Earnhardt
Jr. wins fourth Most Popular Driver
Award
* NASCAR’s Jim Hunter receives Buddy Shuman
Award
* Champions commemorate the season at
Rockefeller Plaza’s Famous Christmas
Tree
 NEW YORK (Nov. 30, 2006) – On the eve of
the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Awards Ceremony in New York, over
$1 million
in special awards were presented at the NASCAR/National
Motorsports Press
Association (NMPA) Myers Brothers luncheon.
Headlining the list of award winners was
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 8 Budweiser
Chevrolet), who won the
Chex Cereals Most
Popular Driver Award for the fourth consecutive year, and
2006 Raybestos
Rookie of the Year Denny Hamlin
(No. 11
FedEx Chevrolet), who finished third in the Chase for the
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup
and received $50,000 as the series’ top rookie
racer.
Chevrolet received the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup
Series Manufacturers’
Championship for the 30th
time. Chevrolet teams won
23 races in 2006, while seven of the 10 Chase for the NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup drivers
drove Chevrolets.
During the presentation, Chevrolet made a
surprise presentation of its own – giving a
2007 Chevrolet
Corvette convertible to
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series champion
Jimmie Johnson’s wife,
Chani.
Other special award winners included:
NASCAR Vice President of Corporate
Communications Jim Hunter, who was honored with the
Buddy Shuman
Award, in recognition of his longtime role and impact in
the NASCAR community.
Benny Parsons, the 1973 NASCAR NEXTEL
Cup Series champion and NBC television commentator, who was
honored
with the Myers Brothers Award, for his contributions
to the growth of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing.
NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES CHAMPIONS WEEK
The No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet team
takes top honors on Friday evening, but also received
several awards on Thursday.
Johnson won the $105,000 Checker’s/Rally’s Double-Drive
Thru Pit Award, the Goodyear Award –
including a
scale replica of his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet made from gold
– and the $75,000 Sunoco Diamond Performance
Award; the Hendrick Motorsports engine department
won the $107,000 Clevite Engine Builder of the Year Award;
and crew chief Chad Knaus was recognized with the
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Championship Crew Chief Award.
Tony Stewart (No. 20 The Home Depot
Chevrolet) received three different awards for his
on-track performance – the
$135,000 Bank of America Card Services Mid-Race Leader
Award; the $100,000 USG Improving the Finish
Award and the $75,000 WIX Lap Leader Award.
Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW
Dodge) received $100,000 for winning the Budweiser
Pole Award
and $101,000 for winning the Commit Lozenges Commit to
Win Award. Kahne won six pole positions in 2006.
Mike Ford, crew chief for Denny
Hamlin, won the $102,400 DIRECTV Crew Chief of the
Year Award.
Matt Kenseth (No. 17 D EWALT
Power Tools Ford) won
the $75,000 Goodyear Gatorback Fastest Lap Award.
The No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
team of Jeff Burton received the $75,000 Mechanix
Wear Most Valuable
Pit Crew Award.
Kevin Harvick (No. 29 GM Goodwrench
Chevrolet) received the $100,000 Mobil 1 Command
Performance Award.
Allstate, the Official Insurance
Partner of NASCAR, was presented with the Marketing
Achievement Award.
NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES CHAMPIONS WEEK
Champions gather at Rockefeller Plaza …
An annual Champions Week tradition is the gathering of
champions from all of
NASCAR’s national, regional and local racing series, for a
commemorative photo opportunity. It is the only time during the
year that all of NASCAR’s champions from 12 different racing
series are together in one location. Since 2002, this exclusive
gathering has been held in New York as part of Champions Week.
On Thursday, the group – including Johnson,
NASCAR Busch Series champion Kevin Harvick, NASCAR
Craftsman Truck
Series champion Todd Bodine, NASCAR Grand National
Division, AutoZone West Series champion Eric Holmes,
NASCAR
Grand National Division, Busch East Series champion Mike
Olsen, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Mike Stefanik,
NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour champion Junior Miller,
NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Midwest Series champion
Tim Schendel, NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Northwest
Series champion Gary Lewis, NASCAR AutoZone Elite
Division, Southeast Series champion J.R. Norris, NASCAR
AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series champion Rip
Michels and NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series champion Philip
Morris – assembled at Rockefeller Plaza, near the city’s
famous
Christmas Tree, for their photo.
One day and counting … Champions
Week concludes Friday with a final day of activities for
Jimmie Johnson, the rest of the
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Top 10 drivers and 11th-place driver Tony
Stewart. Johnson and his team will pose for photos along
Park Avenue in Manhattan, before attending several pre-Awards
Ceremony receptions. The Awards Ceremony begins at 7 p.m.
in the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel’s Grand Ballroom. At 6 p.m. (ET),
SPEED will air a special one hour pre-show: "NASCAR Takes
Manhattan." TNT will televise the Awards Ceremony beginning at 9
p.m. (ET), featuring musical entertainment by
singer/songwriter Jewel and comedy performances by Jay
Mohr.
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