Category archive: AutoRacing
Jeremy Brevard/US PresswireDanica Patrick and actress Brooklyn Decker pitched their products at Charlotte Motor Speedway.CONCORD, N.C. -- The Indianapolis 500 was drawing to an end on Sunday and Danica Patrick was standing in Victory Lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway with supermodel/actress Brooklyn Decker.
If Patrick's mind was on the IndyCar Series she left after last season to focus full time on NASCAR, it didn't show.
Patrick was explaining to Decker the intricate details of how to handle a gas can and a jack as the two revisited their days of posing in swimsuits for Sports Illustrated in 2009. Patrick also had a little shoe envy as Decker donned a pair of bright yellow patent shoes.
"They're really cute," said Patrick, words you seldom if ever hear from a NASCAR driver. "I wish I would have had something so stylish. Instead I just have tennis shoes on. Gosh, I just can't compete."
Decker, a native of nearby Matthews, N.C., was at CMS for the first time to promote her movie "Battleship" for Coke Zero. Patrick, here to make her Sprint Cup debut in the Coca-Cola 600, was leery two weeks ago of appearing next to the woman who has appeared on the cover of SI's Swimsuit Issue.
"Unfortunately, I'm going to look terrible compared to her," Patrick said then when introduced as the newest member of the Coca-Cola Racing Family. "You know, the short brunette and the tall blonde."
Patrick's trepidation continued on Sunday as she referred to Decker as a "smoking hot model." That started this exchange between driver and actress:
"She can do my job, she can do her job," Decker said.
Replied Patrick, "The only thing is I have to diet for four to six weeks straight, hard-core, to get in shape for it. She's just like, 'Tomorrow? I'll be there.' "
Said Decker, "That's hardly the case. Not only is she obviously beautiful, she's a strong girl. She's cool. She's good at what she does. She's a really good example for women out there."
Patrick and Decker met at a Swimsuit Issue launch party a few years ago. They were introduced by tennis star Andy Roddick, who went on to marry Decker.
"I remember him telling me at the bar while we were standing there. ... He was like, 'I really like this girl. I think I'm going to marry her,' " Patrick said of a story she'd yet to share with Decker.
If Patrick's mind was on the Indy 500, a race she'd run since 2005 before today, she didn't show it. She seemed more interested in the good sport Decker was for playing gasman and jackman for photographers.
"I know I wouldn't want to pick up the gas cans," Patrick said. "I just like turning left."
Said Decker, "You're really good at turning left. … I can't keep up with her. She's so skilled and talented. If I can hold your gas can, I'm honored."
And so it went.
By the way, Patrick did clear her schedule to watch the last 10 laps of the 500.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- I'm pretty sure Indianapolis 500 pole winner Ryan Briscoe said I was a great writer. I'm pretty sure Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger said I was a combination of Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
You be the judge. Here's what they said when asked what they took away from Monday's media go-kart challenge in which the Penske Racing drivers were team captains for five hapless scribes and one IndyCar rep:
AP Photo/LAT/Michael L. LevittTwo days after celebrating winning the pole for the Indianapolis 500, Ryan Briscoe was racing go-karts with the media in Charlotte."That maybe journalists can stick to journalism and drivers can stick to driving," Briscoe told me after I finished fourth out of six karts at Victory Lane Karting.
"That you've just got to get to a gym more," said Allmendinger after I complained that winner Nate Ryan of USA Today was 50 pounds lighter. "My dad does that to me, too. He says, 'Well, you're lighter.' Well, work out more. You can fix that yourself."
OK, after considering more carefully, I'm pretty sure they weren't trying to get on my good side.
And I think by that "dad" reference Dinger called me old, too.
It is true that I'm like Stewart in that I may need to lose some weight and that I don't get to the gym much more than NASCAR's most popular driver. It's also true that my writing skills outweigh my driving skills, although Kyle Busch might disagree judging by his "this is trash" comment earlier this season.
But the more important question: What did I get out of this test of man versus machine? A test, by the way, that was won by Team Briscoe despite my derriere, which fit tighter in the kart seat than most, thanks to a super-fast and super-light teammate in Ryan -- as in Nate, not Briscoe.
The top 10 things I learned:
• That it's more prestigious to win the pole for the Indianapolis 500 than for the Showdown for the Sprint All-Star weekend. Sorry, Dinger, not even close.
• That Allmendinger apparently doesn't want me to write good things about him. On the first restart -- which became necessary because Jenna Fryer of The Associated Press took off waaay before the green dropped -- Dinger told Jeff Gluck of SB Nation to pass me quickly because my kart would take off slow due to excess weight. And did I mention he's ruthless? He made Briscoe's wife, ESPN's Nicole Briscoe, his first selection of the media draft. "I think I'm in Briscoe's head a little bit," Dinger said.
• That the Australian-born Briscoe does a pretty bad Southern accent imitation, at least the one where he mocked NASCAR drivers and their terminology while Dinger was coaching his team with constructive criticism.
• That clean air and downforce don't matter in go-karts, particularly when you have another kart beating the heck out of your back bumper.
• That Nicole Briscoe looks better in Ryan's helmet than he does. Still waiting to see if Ryan looks better in Nicole's 6-inch stilettos she wore to the White House.
• That even in karts sometimes you have to go slower to go faster. Never quite figured out how to handle a couple of those hairpin turns, losing way too much speed sliding my fat rear end around.
• That wrecking really is more entertaining than long green-flag runs. Most fun I had all day was sending Fryer into the wall during practice.
• That restarts really are the craziest part of the race. There were more people trying to be Kyle Busch on the first three turns than the rest of the 10-lap race.
• That I have worse helmet hair than Kurt Busch.
• That Roger Penske probably won't be calling if he decides to add another Sprint Cup or IndyCar team to his stable, and that journalists really should stick to journalism and drivers to driving.
Tony Stewart: Driver, Owner, Promoter
CONCORD, N.C. -- Here's what was learned at Tony Stewart's news conference Tuesday to promote the eighth annual Prelude to the Dream charity race on June 6 at Eldora Speedway:
• Stewart wants to keep Ryan Newman, whose contract is up at Stewart-Haas Racing after this season, in 2013. It all hinges on sponsorship, but if that can be found SHR will have Stewart, Newman and Danica Patrick next season.
This came on the heels of a report that Newman was given permission to look for options if sponsorship isn't found.
"Obviously, we're working on the sponsorship to make sure we have the funding to keep that going," Stewart said of Newman's No. 39 team. "I have every intention of keeping him for next year. I like him as a teammate. He's been somebody from day one that believes in what we're doing.
"He can still win a lot of races. I think he can still win a championship with us. I have every intention of hiring him back for next year."
• Stewart and Darrell Waltrip called Danica Patrick's 31st-place showing in the Sprint Cup race and 12th-place finish in the Nationwide race one of the best first-time attempts they've seen at Darlington Raceway.
"She showed maturity that a lot of drivers don't show the first time at Darlington," Stewart said. "It's hard to not make a mistake at Darlington. She ran about 600 laps and only had a couple of places where she got herself in trouble. I thought she showed her worth there, and I think she showed her talent level."
• As successful at Stewart's charity event has been -- this year it benefits the Feed the Children program -- the three-time Cup champion would do anything to have Dale Earnhardt Jr. participate.
"If he called in the next 30 minutes, I'd have him a car in the next 35," Stewart said.
Earnhardt's standing reason for not participating is he doesn't like to compete on dirt. But if Patrick can give it a whirl, you'd think NASCAR's most popular driver could.
"The Prelude has always been an example of showing people why these drivers got to the level they are, because they really do pick it up real quick," Stewart said.
• Remember when Stewart went on his sarcastic tirade about not wrecking enough cars at Talladega? Well, he really doesn't like wrecking cars, particularly at Eldora.
Apparently, there is a $2,000 crash clause he has to pay to cover the expenses of each car damaged. That could reach more than $50,000 if the entire field crashed.
"You can't expect guys to bring nice race cars like that and not do something," said Stewart, who had to pay $10,000 one year. "I don't usually think about it until after the race. Then I cringe."
• Drivers scheduled to compete in the Prelude include Stewart, Patrick, Newman, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Steve Kinser, Donny Schatz, Cruz Pedregon, Ron Capps and Tony Kanaan.
In case you aren't aware, Feed the Children is a U.S.-based charity that has helped more than 365,000 families since 2009 through its Americans Feeding Americans Caravan.
CONCORD, N.C. -- There's a certain aura, a rock star quality, around Danica Patrick. You can see it in the way she carries herself around the racetrack, and you can hear it in the way she speaks with great confidence -- even when it's about things she's not confident about, such as her debut at Darlington Raceway.
Sometimes you can even feel it.
Such was the case on Thursday as Patrick was introduced as the first female member of the Coca-Cola Racing Family.
Never mind that she hasn't won a race during her short time in NASCAR. Never mind that she's not even a full-time driver in the top series. Fans are drawn to her in much the same way they are to Dale Earnhardt Jr. because she represents something that goes beyond trips to Victory Lane.
Naturally, sponsors such as Coca-Cola are drawn, too.
"With all of our celebrity talent, with all of our athletes, we have a plethora of criteria," said Sharon Byers, Coca-Cola's senior vice president of sports and entertainment. "We don't just sign up for winners. We sign for the personalities on the track, off the track, what they represent as an individual."
Patrick represents what NASCAR needs more of: diversity and sex appeal. She climbed out of a race car on Thursday wearing six-inch stilettos and a tight black outfit with a plunging neckline. Ryan Newman, the other member of the Coca-Cola family here, wore blue jeans and a red shirt.
Newman doesn't do stilettos.
Or tight clothing.
Thank you for both.
Those things help create that aura around Patrick. She generates as much interest over what her 10th race will be -- likely Homestead or another Chase race over Indianapolis -- as Newman does talking about how team owner Tony Stewart got away with not being fined for his sarcastic comments at Talladega.
How long Patrick can get away with being a marketing machine without competing for wins will be the interesting twist. Maybe that won't matter. Earnhardt hasn't won since 2008, he's never won a Cup title, and his fan base remains the largest in the sport.
And bottom line, it's way too early to judge Patrick on what she can do in a stock car. This is only her first full season in NASCAR without IndyCar racing hanging over her head.
It may be two or three years before we truly know whether she can be a top-level driver.
But the good news, as we saw again on Thursday: Everything she represents is solid enough that she has the sponsorship and backing to hang around to find out whether she can succeed, to find out whether she can be a true member of the Cup racing family and not just a member of the Coca-Cola Racing Family.
"I don't know if anyone can put as much pressure on me to do well as I do for myself," Patrick said as she prepared for her second Cup race on Saturday at Darlington Raceway. "I of course want to do well for [sponsors]. I understand they're there because of everything I represent at this point."
But in the end, Patrick wants to represent the sport as a winner, not a media darling.
She wants to earn respect as a driver almost as much as she wants to earn her first Darlington stripe.
Meanwhile, she sure can sell herself and her sponsors. When Charlotte Motor Speedway president Marcus Smith mentioned that sales were up 30 percent at a track concession stand since Danica's Fit Fuel menu was added a year ago, Patrick was ready with the suggestion that they add Coke Zero to the menu.
"No calories," she said. "All the taste with no guilt. Promise."
CONCORD, N.C. -- Speedway Motorsports, Inc. chairman Bruton Smith and ex-employee associate H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler are at war again.
When Charlotte Motor Speedway sent out a press release on Tuesday promoting the 20th anniversary of the first race under the lights at a superspeedway and called it Smith's idea, his former president and general manager of CMS responded strongly.
Wheeler said the idea to install lights at CMS for the 1992 All-Star race was his idea and his alone.
"I usually let Bruton spiel on, but this one got me," Wheeler said. "He would take credit for the sun and moon if he could!"
In fairness to Smith, he didn't write the press release or suggest that he be given credit in it. But when asked who came up with the idea for lights at CMS and what he thought of Wheeler's comments, he didn't smooth the waters.
"I'm not going to comment on anything about him at all," Smith said. "I don't pay attention to what [Wheeler] thinks. He's a former employee. I can't possibly think about anything about him, period."
Wheeler and Smith have been at odds since Wheeler claimed Smith pushed him out of his job earlier than he wanted in 2008 after a 33-year relationship.
Wheeler said the hastily called press conference to announce his resignation was not his idea. Smith said Wheeler was offered a consultant's position.
He said, he said. That's been the relationship of the two men -- who once were the dynamic duo of NASCAR -- ever since.
It's a shame.
And sad.
Considered one of NASCAR's greatest race promoters, Wheeler has since formed a marketing/consulting company.
Wheeler had remained relatively quiet about his strained relationship with Smith, with whom he helped make CMS a model for other big tracks with lights, condominiums and a speedway club, until Tuesday's press release.
"Twenty years after Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Chairman Bruton Smith floated the idea of installing a first-of-its-kind lighting system at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the seemingly impossible notion of racing at night has become the norm, with some of NASCAR's biggest events, including the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, now running in prime time," the release began.
On Wednesday, Wheeler fired back with a 13-paragraph email with the title, "SMITH WRONG IN SUGGESTING LIGHTS WERE HIS IDEA."
"The release sent out by Charlotte Motor Speedway suggesting that the lights at the track were Bruton Smith's idea is not true," Smith wrote. "I will not stand by and see history rewritten."
Smith said he made the suggestion to install lights and run the Sprint All-Star Race at night during a 1991 visit with T. Wayne Roberton, the director of RJ Reynolds Sports Marketing, to keep the race at CMS.
Wheeler said he was worried that RJR might move the race, which has been at CMS every year but one since 1985 -- it was in Atlanta in 1986 -- to Richmond. He made a presentation with five ideas, he said, "and [Robertson's] group didn't like any of them."
"I thought we were going to lose the race," Wheeler wrote. "Right before the meeting ended I said, 'OK, I have another idea … let's run it on Saturday night.' Wayne looked at me like I was crazy and so did my associate Jim Duncan.
"Wayne thought it was a great idea and said, 'If you can do it and NASCAR approves, then let's do it.'"
Wheeler said the idea "just came out of my head."
"We got back to Charlotte and at some point I told Bruton Smith that was what I wanted to do," Wheeler wrote. "He said, 'OK.'"
After the race, Wheeler said Robertson presented him with a bottle of champagne and a note that said, "Great idea.'' The bottle and note were sent to the Hall of Fame to be placed on display.
"I am proud of my idea," Wheeler said. "Bruton and I did a lot of great things together. We helped to change NASCAR in some way.
"A lot of the things we did in Charlotte were mutual ideas. The lights were not one of them."
Sadly, they can't enjoy their accomplishments together.
RICHMOND, Va. -- Seventy-three laps into his Nationwide Series debut Friday night at Richmond International Raceway, running under caution after a better-than-average pit stop, Travis Pastrana asked where he was on the leaderboard.
"You can't see the pace car, so that's all that matters," crew chief Scott Zipadelli said, trying to keep things real.
Replied Pastrana, then in 24th, "Good point."
Yes, the X Games star was a bit overanxious to get to the front, where he's been on every level prior to this transition into NASCAR. But if his 22nd-place finish was an indication of how he'll progress -- it could have been 17th if not for a pit-road speeding penalty -- it won't take him long to get there.
Travis Pastrana: Through The Years
Travis Pastrana had his Nationwide debut on Friday, but that's not all he's been up to these past 15 years. Gallery 
Short of finishing on the lead lap and beating the two female drivers -- Danica Patrick (21st) and Johanna Long (20th) -- Pastrana met most of his goals.
And he had a lot of fun.
"Dang, Danica," Pastrana said as he sat in his car on pit road.
Pastrana had a bet with a friend that if he didn't beat Patrick and Long, he would donate money to a charity. The speeding penalty on his first green-flag pit stop of his NASCAR career cost him that and a chance to finish on the lead lap.
Until then, Pastrana was sailing, at one point passing former Nationwide Series champion Brad Keselowski.
"You were fabulous," shouted his wife, Lyn-Z, as she approached the car.
Pastrana looked at the infield scoreboard, realizing he was two laps down, and replied, "I got beat by both girls."
Said Lyn-Z, who is starting to like this NASCAR thing, "Maybe if it wasn't for the mullet you could have beat them."
In case you missed it, five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson gave Pastrana a mullet with a pair of metal cutting sheers as part of a spoof video on what it takes to be a champion.
Listening to Pastrana communicate with Zipadelli, using all the correct terminology -- loose in, tight off -- and watching him at times drive the same speed as cars in the top 10 made you believe he can be a champion one day.
"I don't know where he got all that from," Zipadelli said of the terminology. "He told me exactly what his issues were."
Pastrana got the attention of Patrick, who like Pastrana is converting from one form of motorsports to another.
"Travis did a really great job," Patrick said. "I was really impressed."
Speeding penalty aside, it was hard not to be impressed. Pastrana handled the turns for the most part with the accuracy it takes to perform a flip on a motorcycle.
He believes he can contend for top-20s in his remaining six races this season, maybe even a few top-10s, and contend for wins sometime next year or early the year after. Those around him believe he can do it. There were thoughts of him doing it on this night.
On Lap 123, Zipadelli said, "You can almost see the pace car now."
"Exactly," Pastrana said, adding, "I'm ahead of both the girls in the race."
Then came the speeding penalty for exiting too fast with just less than 50 laps to go.
"I just got excited," Pastrana said.
You hardly can blame him. He comes from the extreme sports arena, where adrenaline flows hard, where there are no brakes on going fast.
But one mistake aside, this was an overwhelming success.
And Pastrana knew it.
"Helluva ride," he said. "Helluva ride. Sorry it wasn't the best finish, but, man, that was a lot of fun."
Oh, in case you were wondering, Kurt Busch beat Denny Hamlin in a thrilling side-by-side race to the finish.
Brandon Wade/Getty ImagesSprint Cup points leader Greg Biffle had reason to smile Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway.MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Greg Biffle flashed a winning smile on Tuesday as he addressed a group of youngsters at Lake Norman Elementary School.
Not because the Roush Fenway Racing driver was still riding high after Saturday night's victory at Texas Motor Speedway -- although he is still riding high.
Not because he extended his points lead to 19 over teammate Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But because he can.
In case you missed it when Biffle posed in Victory Lane, he's not wearing braces anymore. He had them removed about this time a year ago, but because he didn't make the 2011 Chase or win a race there weren't many opportunities for him to be photographed with a smile.
Nor were there many reasons for him to smile with the way his team struggled.
But with a win and five top-10s in seven races, Biffle finds himself smiling all the time.
So what does this have to do with Tuesday's appearance? Everything.
Biffle was there to promote the American Dental Association's "Give Kids A Smile" program in conjunction with Henry Schein Inc. and his primary sponsor, 3M, which made the braces that gave him his winning smile.
His No. 16 car will feature the "Give Kids A Smile" paint scheme for the April 28 Richmond race, and there will be free dental health screening and education for selected children who can't afford it.
So, yes, this is personal for The Biff.
"There are over 16 million kids that live with dental disease," Biffle said. "There are so many things you probably don't know about, that once you start learning and get educated about it you're amazed."
How Biffle, 42, wound up with braces at an age when most are getting them for their kids also is a good lesson. He opted not to get them as a teenager because he wrestled and didn't want to go through the discomfort while in competition.
Next thing you know he was racing and there wasn't time.
So when his teeth started "moving all over the place" after having impacted molars removed a few years ago, braces became a necessity. He had them put on at the time of the 2009 spring race at Texas and scheduled orthodontist trips around race weekends at Indianapolis, Dover and a few other places near specialists.
"I would have been way happier with wrestling with braces on than driving a car," said Biffle, who still wears a permanent retainer. "To have that helmet squeezing your cheeks, then my mouth's sore ... it was a lot."
But at least now Biffle has a winning smile to go along with his winning car.
In case you're wondering whether Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson will bring the infamous C-post Daytona 500 car to Talladega Superspeedway next month, let me help.
No.
Team owner Rick Hendrick told me on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway the No. 48 car that NASCAR deemed illegal, the one that cost him 30 days of "hell'' fighting the penalties, will be laid to rest in the woods surrounding Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s property in Cleveland County, N.C.
It'll be in Junior's car graveyard with the mangled No. 42 that Juan Pablo Montoya drove into a jet dryer to cause a two-hour delay in the Daytona 500 and more than 50 other cars Earnhardt calls "yard ornaments."
So is this an admission that the car was illegal, even though chief appellate officer John Middlebrook overturned the 25-point deduction for Johnson and six-week suspensions to crew chief Knaus and car chief Ron Malec?
You know, the car that Johnson said was "completely legal'' when the appeals process was over?
No. Hendrick's just not willing to test the governing body and possibly create another 30 days of turmoil.
Smart move. Sprint Cup Series director John Darby told me that if the 48 car with the same C-posts goes to Talladega, it will be confiscated again and the same penalties will be applied.
Remember, Middlebrook didn't remove the $100,000 fine on Knaus, an indication he felt something was wrong.
And as Hendrick noted, one of the big issues he fought during the appeals process was that NASCAR didn't give Johnson's team a chance to fix the C-posts after they were discovered in initial tech inspection. Several other teams got that chance without penalty.
So the infamous C-post car -- or at least the legal version that was wrecked on the second lap of the 500 -- is in a proper place. It is in a place with other cars that, if they could speak, could tell great stories.
And that's the end of this story.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- NASCAR finally has entered the wacky world of college football.
There could be a split champion in the Sprint Cup Series.
For the first time since the sport went to a playoff format in 2004, there is the opportunity for a different driver and owner champion. What's next? A BCS poll to determine who makes the Chase?
Here's how this scenario -- that few if any in NASCAR ever imagined when making the guidelines -- would work. Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 55 driven by Mark Martin, Brian Vickers and Waltrip is eighth in owner points. If it is in the top 10 after 26 races the car's points will be reset just like the driver's points and it is eligible for the owner's championship.
Jonathan Ferrey/Getty ImagesIs Mark Martin going to be the key to a split Sprint Cup title?If the car has the most points after the 10 Chase races, it wins the title, not the owner of the car for the driver who wins the title, as has been the case so far.
That means there would be two tables on the stage for the banquet in Las Vegas, one for the driver's champion and one for the owner's champion.
If you really want to get crazy, try this scenario: MWR's Clint Bowyer or Martin Truex Jr. wins the driver title and the 55 has the most owner points. Where does owner Michael Waltrip sit in Vegas?
"On cloud nine," Waltrip joked.
But trust me, the split title is a possibility. It's on Page 36 of the NASCAR rulebook under Section 17-3-B. And you thought the only rule that existed was Section 12-4-A, aka "actions detrimental to stock car racing."
Here's what the rulebook says, "After the completion of the first 26 Events of the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship season, the top 10 drivers in the driver championship point standings and the top 10 car owners in the car owner championship point standings will each have their accumulated aggregate total adjusted to $2,000 points."
"It's always been there," Series director John Darby said.
Darby said the odds of that happening are long. The 55 could fall out of the top 10 on Sunday if Brian Vickers has another run here like he had in October.
Darby also admits that anything is possible when you have Martin driving a majority of the races.
Wouldn't that be crazy?
CONCORD, N.C. -- A reader recently suggested that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the Tim Tebow of NASCAR. The reader suggested that Earnhardt is just as overrated in a stock car as the new New York Jets quarterback is on a football field.
So I asked Earnhardt what he thought about the comparison.
"I haven't really thought about that one," NASCAR's most popular driver said Wednesday after a two-hour drifting session for a Degree Men video shoot at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "Do I need to work on my throwing motion? Is my throwing motion OK with everyone?
"No, I'm right-handed. I don't know."
Some would be offended, but not Earnhardt. He's been compared to too many people during his career to get sensitive. So he played along with the line of questioning that many would have avoided, another reason fans like him so much.
"That guy is under too much damn pressure," Earnhardt continued on Tebow. "I like him and think he's a good guy, but Jesus, man. I think he lives under twice the microscope I ever did.
"He's incredible. He doesn't really … fan the flames on that stuff. He just does his own thing. But [I] don't know. I guess that ain't a bad guy to get compared to."
He's right, although a comparison to Peyton Manning by the reader would have been more flattering. But since the comparison was with Tebow, let's have fun with it.
Differences
• Earnhardt doesn't get down on his knees and pray after a great pass. Not that he could even if he wanted to since his passes take place at high speeds in a race car.
• Tebow has Tebowing, but there are no nicknames for any of Earnhardt's mannerisms. He likes to TiVo, not Tebow.
• Earnhardt curses frequently and once was fined $10,000 for saying "s---" on live television; Tebow occasionally says darn.
• Earnhardt owns several bars named Whisky River. Tebow owned Denver last season, but no bars.
• Earnhardt lives in the country on a ranch called "Dirty Mo Acres." Tebow is looking for an apartment in New York City and his idea of dirty, according to an ESPN New York story, is not returning a cereal bowl to the sink.
• Tebow doesn't smoke or drink alcohol; Earnhardt has been known to do both, and once drove for a beer sponsor.
• Tebow won eight times in 2011; Earnhardt hasn't won since 2008.
Similarities
• Each leads his sport in merchandise sales, popularity and criticism.
• Earnhardt won two Nationwide Series titles in NASCAR's second-tier series; Tebow was part of two national championship teams in college, second tier to the NFL.
• One of Earnhardt's bars is in Jacksonville, Fla. Tebow is from Jacksonville, and rumor has it his brother occasionally goes to Junior's place.
• Both have rules named after them: "The Tebow Rule" banning messages on eye paint in college football and "The Junior Rule" that NASCAR calls a caution whenever Earnhardt is in danger of going a lap down. OK, the latter is more myth than rule.
• Both are single and apparently like blondes; Earnhardt dates one and Tebow is a big fan of Jennifer Aniston.
• Earnhardt has a life-size Forrest Gump manikin sitting on a bench at his ranch. Tebow has the too-good-to-be-true personality of Forrest Gump.
• Earnhardt was happy with second in the 2012 Daytona 500; Tebow appears happy to be second string with the Jets.
OK, they're really not that much alike.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
David Newton
David Newton, an award-winning NASCAR writer, began as a national motorsports columnist at ESPN.com in December 2006. Prior to joining ESPN.com, Newton served as the lead writer for NASCAR.com.
Newton previously covered NASCAR, the Carolina Panthers, Clemson University and University of South Carolina athletics for The State in Columbia, S.C., from 1984 to 2006. He also served as a correspondent for Sports Illustrated, and covered seven Super Bowls, dozens of college bowl games, five Masters, two U.S. Opens, two men's Final Fours, one women's Final Four and every major race on the NASCAR circuit.
The 1981 Wofford College graduate has won numerous state and national press association awards, including the 2009 Aflac Motorsports Journalism Award and second place in the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) columnist category. He also grabbed second-place national honors for his coverage of University of South Carolina football from the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) in 1992 and the award for excellence in news reporting from the South Carolina State Press Association in 2002. He has broken major national stories, including the Carolina Panthers' steroid scandal in 2004.