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On Friday morning, Jimmie Johnson had barely settled into his seat in the Homestead-Miami Speedway's media center when he had already opened friendly fire toward Denny Hamlin, the man he'll chase Sunday afternoon for the NASCAR Sprint Cup title.

"I feel great," said Johnson, trailing Hamlin by 15 points. "I got a great night's sleep. I don't know if Denny did."

Fifteen minutes later Kevin Harvick, trailing by 46 points, was polite enough to point out "the 11 car has easily had more mechanical issues than either one of us [himself and Johnson]."

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Kevin Liles/US PresswireDenny Hamlin has been the easy target all week.

Ever since the two racers climbed from their cars at Phoenix one week ago they have taken verbal and mental jabs at the man they must catch for the Cup. They have commented on how being the chased is a disadvantage over being the chasers, about his visible nervousness during Thursday's contenders media conference, his lack of experience, and signs of stress that seem to be growing between Hamlin and his crew.

Hamlin's response? "If [Jimmie] keeps bringing up my name, then he's pretty much worried about me."

The spirited stanza of trash talk is a fitting way to close out a season packed with smack. And perhaps it is the final slamming of the door on the perception, fair or unfair, that NASCAR drivers of the so-called "young gun" era had become whitewashed corporate spokesperson clones.

"I think we really saw this start right here at this track one year ago," said three-time Homestead winner Greg Biffle, pointing back toward Turn 4. "It's funny now to think about who it started with."

It was a reference to last year's Nationwide Series race, when weeks of angry exchanges between two drivers culminated with one calling his shot and then spinning out his rival.

That was, of course, Denny Hamlin. (In case you forgot, watch this.

Two months later came the now-famous "Have at it boys" proclamation from Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's VP of competition. Since then we've had Jeff Gordon taking swings at Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch's middle finger, "Kyle Busch is an ass," "His wife wears the firesuit in the family," Twitter feuds, in-house feuds at RCR, Red Bull and Hendrick, Joey Logano's dad going nuts (again), and Carl Edwards vs. Brad Keselowski … twice.

Adds Jeff Burton: "I'm a racer but I am also a race fan. As a race fan, there's been some awesome stuff going on." Then he chuckled and shook his head. "But I would rather read about it and watch it than be in the middle of it. I've been in the middle of it a couple of times haven't I?"

But the kind of gamesmanship we've seen this week among the three Cup title contenders has been more subtle than all of the regular-season noise, more straight jabs than overhand rights. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to win a championship," Harvick said Friday as he wrapped up his morning media visit. "If someone gets their feelings hurt, then so be it."

While "Have it boys" may be new to current fans, the beauty of Muhammad Ali-like mind games is not, especially during NASCAR title bouts.

1990: Martin vs. The Intimidator

Entering the 1990 season finale at Atlanta, Mark Martin trailed Dale Earnhardt by a scant six points. The two teams participated in a test session prior to the Atlanta Journal 500. The scene in the Roush Racing garage was chaos. Anxious to win just its second driver's championship since 1969, Ford pulled out all the stops to help Martin and team owner Jack Roush.

They brought in Robert Yates, who brought some of Davey Allison's Texaco-Havoline Thunderbirds with him. Martin went from car to car, running laps and comparing notes. "It was a little crazy," admits his co-crew chief at the time, Robin Pemberton. "In retrospect we overthought it."

Perhaps that's because Earnhardt had set up shop in their heads. Sensing an air of desperation from his rivals, The Intimidator spent a good bit of the morning asleep in his car, snoozing in plain view of Martin's scrambling team. The legendary black Chevy ran a few laps and then the Flying Aces loaded up their racecar and left (not unlike Jimmie Johnson's approach to Friday's first practice session).

"Good luck guys," Earnhardt said as he left the track. "I'm going deer hunting."

The following weekend Earnhardt led 42 laps and finished third in the race. Martin never got a good feel for the Yates-built car that his team finally settled on, never leading a lap, finishing sixth and losing the championship by 26 points.

1985: Awesome Bill vs. Jaws

Most people think that Bill Elliott won the Winston Cup title in '85, and that's an honest mistake. It was, after all, the year of Awesome Bill from Dawsonville and his Winston Million bonus. He won 11 races, 10 poles and nearly two and a half million bucks, an astronomical sum in 1985.

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Manny Rubio/US PresswireBill Elliott got to the point in 1985 he didn't want to know what Darrell Waltrip was saying about him.

But it was Darrell Waltrip -- with three wins and four poles -- that took the title. How? The long answer is better consistency, more top-10 finishes, and more success on short tracks. However, anyone who was around that season knows that DW won the Cup with his tongue as much as his right foot.

Seeing Elliott's adverse reaction to the Winston Million media crush over Labor Day weekend at Darlington, the man whom Cale Yarborough pinned with the nickname Jaws ("Because his jaws never stop flapping") soon turned that media against Million Dollar Bill.

After Elliott's historic win in the Southern 500, he led Waltrip by 206 points with eight races to go. Like Johnson and Harvick have done to Hamlin, Waltrip launched into a weekly rant of "all the pressure is on those guys, not us" and "man, I bet they sure are losing a lot of sleep."

The regular media corps, much smaller then, would take those comments to Elliott for a reaction. He asked them to stop. They ran back and reported that to DW. When asked if he felt bad for playing mind games in the newspaper, he said: "Nah, everybody knows those boys from Dawsonville can't read."

In only four weeks Waltrip had not only eaten up Elliott's points lead, he'd opened up a 30-point advantage. Four weeks later Jaws won his third Cup in five years.

1979: Waltrip vs. The King

Before Waltrip mastered the art of smack, he got smacked by someone who refused to be dragged into his war of words, none other than His Royal Fastness.

The mouthy newcomer from Nashville officially became a title contender in '79, announcing his presence with authority with a stunning spring win at Darlington, swapping the lead with Richard Petty four times over the race's final lap. It was a dash that became emblematic of the season.

Emboldened by the daring victory, Waltrip torched his way through the summer, winning five of 10 races between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Holding a massive championship lead over Petty, DW unleashed a deluge of trash talk. He questioned Petty's manhood, joked about his advanced age, and reminded everyone that Petty hadn't won a single race in '78. He declared it as a changing of the NASCAR guard and he was volunteering to ascend to the throne.

The King responded with silence. Then he commenced to doing his talking on the track.

With seven races remaining, Waltrip's lead was 187 points. Six weeks later it had all but vanished. When the teams arrived at the Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway for the season-ending L.A. Times 500, the margin was down to just two points. Two hundred laps later, Petty topped Waltrip by three positions on the track and won his record-extending seventh Winston Cup championship by 11 points, the closest margin in NASCAR history and a mark that has been bested only twice in the three-plus decades since.

Afterward, the media fished for a parting shot from the aging King, a final exclamation point to put the newbie in his place.

It didn't happen.

Recalls Dale Inman, Petty's cousin and crew chief: "You know how college students like to just point to the score and say, 'scoreboard'? That's what we did. You can talk all you want. Scoreboard."

That's the best smack of all. And only one of our three Cup combatants will be able to use it this Sunday afternoon.

Sponsorship announcements, when done well, sure are a lot of fun, aren't they?

At Richard Childress Racing on Tuesday morning, the 2010 version of The Worst Kept Secret In NASCAR was officially unveiled. Budweiser will be the sponsor for Kevin Harvick's No. 29 Chevy in 2011.

The news conference was punctuated by Clydesdales and beer cans. And on every wall and every flat table space there were reminders of Budweiser's long, proud NASCAR legacy. There were old photos of Childress drinking Bud while working on stock cars in the 1960s. There were videos of RCR cars celebrating Bud Pole Awards and Busch Clash/Budweiser Shootout victories, from Dale Earnhardt to Mike Skinner to Harvick.

Now comes the hard part, living up to Anheuser-Busch's long, proud racing legacy, from Miss Budweiser winning hydroplane championships to Kenny Bernstein setting NHRA speed records. But even with its success in other racing disciplines, the King Of Beers has always been most recognized for its stock car success. Don't know what I'm talking about?

As always, we're here for you. And we now proudly present the Top 5 Budweiser NASCAR Seasons:

5. 2008: Kasey Kahne

Two wins, 14 top-10s, two poles, All-Star Race champion, 14th in points

Kahne's first season carrying the Bud colors was a roller coaster of inconsistency. After starting with four top-10s in the first five races, he skidded into spring with six straight double-digit finishes. Then he caught fire. He won the All-Star Race in Charlotte and followed it up one week later with a win in the Coca-Cola 600. Two weeks later, he won from the pole at Pocono, followed up by a second-place run at Michigan and a pole at Infineon.

A horrible August kept Kahne out of the Chase, but the pain was eased with all the trophies and cash won in May and June.

4. 2000: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Two wins, five top-10s, two poles, All-Star Race champion, 16th in points

Anyone at Tuesday's RCR announcement who was also around a decade ago (like me) probably felt a little déjà vu crawling up their spine. It was the spring of '99 at Dale Earnhardt Inc. when the familiar "When you say Budweiser" tune was piped into DEI's Garage Mahal and the red No. 8 Chevy of Dale Earnhardt Jr. was unveiled for the first time. The "Countdown to E Day" had begun. Once it arrived, the kid did not disappoint.

Junior won at Texas in April, the seventh race of the season and just the 12th of his Cup career. Four starts later he won again, this time at Richmond. The next event was the NASCAR All-Star Race, which he won with a stirring late dash to the front. He nearly won the Coca-Cola 600 the following weekend, leading 175 laps and finishing fourth.

From there, he started racing like the rookie that he was, slipping outside of the top 10 in points and actually losing Rookie of the Year to his old Busch Series rival, Matt Kenseth. But there's never been much question as to who had the more memorable season.

3. 2004: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Six wins, 21 top-10s, Daytona 500 champion, fifth in points

By 2004, Little E was the biggest star in NASCAR. He'd successfully taken on the challenge of carrying the emotional burden of those still grieving the 2001 death of his father and responded by winning. He'd averaged two wins a year over his first four seasons and finished a career-best third in points in '03.

But in '04 he officially blew up. The season started with a win in the Daytona 500, followed by victories at Atlanta and Richmond. He struggled through the summer, but rediscovered his stride by August, winning three more times over the final 13 races and making a late charge into the top five in points. However, the following year he would finish a disappointing 19th in points, beginning the slow decline that eventually led him to part ways with DEI and Budweiser in 2008.

2. 1992: Bill Elliott

Five wins, 17 top-10s, two poles, second in points

At the end of the '91 season, Elliott parted ways with Melling Racing and longtime sponsor Coors, with whom he'd won a championship and posted one of the greatest seasons in NASCAR history (more on that in a minute). Many speculated that the pairing of Awesome Bill from Dawsonville with Junior "The Last American Hero" Johnson would be a Dream Team. They were right.

Over the season's first five races the No. 11 Bud Thunderbird led 770 laps and tied a modern-era record with four straight wins. Unfortunately, they won only one more time. The lack of wins allowed a pack of would-be champs to reel in Elliott in autumn. By the time they reached Atlanta, Budweiser and Elliott had been caught by Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison.

That finale, the Hooters 500, was perhaps the greatest race in NASCAR history. Elliott won, but pitting one lap too early cost him the bonus points for leading the most laps, a bonus that Kulwicki took and used to win the championship by a scant 10 points.

1. 1985: Darrell Waltrip

Three wins, 21 top-10s, four poles, All-Star Race champion, NASCAR Winston Cup champion

Budweiser had first joined Junior Johnson and Associates eight years before Elliott drove the No. 11 car, sponsoring not one, but two JJ rides. The new No. 12 Chevy was driven by Neil Bonnett. But the real attraction for Bud was being on the No. 11 car, a vehicle that had won three championships with Cale Yarborough from 1976-78 and two titles with its current driver, Darrell Waltrip, from 1981-82.

DW and Bud actually had a better statistical season in their first year together, 1984 (seven wins, four poles), than the year we have listed here. But '85 wins out because, believe it or not, it is Budweiser's only NASCAR Cup Series championship. And it came at the expense of (we told you we'd get back to this) Bill Elliott.

Most NASCAR fans remember that Elliott won 11 races, 10 poles, and the Winston Million that season. What many forget is that he also blew a huge points lead and lost the title to Waltrip, who used short-track success and season-wide consistency to counter Elliott's streaky superspeedway dominance.

"You know the best part of having Budweiser as a sponsor?" Waltrip said during the title celebration in Riverside, Calif. "We don't have to buy beer tonight when we're celebrating!"

Kevin Harvick could've left him. But he didn't.

Last weekend, Kyle Busch carpooled with Harvick as the pair made the 2,000-mile round-trip between the NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Pocono Raceway and Saturday night's Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway.

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Walter G. Arce/Icon SMIKyle Busch got the last laugh on Kevin Harvick, winning the Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway as Harvick finished second.

On Saturday morning, the two finished Happy Hour practice, then jetted west to Iowa on Harvick's plane, using the magic of satellite radio to listen in on the Camping World Truck Series race back at Pocono while cruising at 35,000 feet. What should have been a relaxing time on Harvick's plane ended up being a smack-talk session, as Elliott Sadler, driving the Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevy, battled with Kasey Kahne, driving the Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, for the win.

As you already know, Sadler pulled away from Kahne during a frantic final lap to earn the win. What's more, KHI leapfrogged KBM for first place in the Truck series owners standings. Busch screamed in frustration, "Why can I never beat you guys?!"

Harvick simply smiled and said, "Finishing second sucks, doesn't it?"

That night at Iowa, Busch skunked the field, leading 209 of 250 laps and earning his sixth Nationwide win in seven tries. The runner-up? Harvick.

During his postrace TV interview, Harvick predicted that it would be a long flight back to Pennsylvania. He was right. After not-so-patiently sitting on his plane and waiting for Busch to finish all the race winner's obligations, from the hat dance to the media center, Harvick braced himself for Busch's arrival.

Some suggested that Harvick should have gone wheels up and left his rival high and dry. It's been done before. After Dale Earnhardt Jr. passed his father to win at Richmond in 2000, The Intimidator dispatched a messenger to Victory Lane. "Congratulations. You'll need to find a ride home." But Harvick, to his credit, elected to take the high road.

Sometime around midnight Busch finally climbed aboard the jet, still smelling like champagne. He chose his words carefully.

"Finishing second sucks, doesn't it?"