FanHouse RickHendrick

Mark Martin's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory last weekend at Phoenix very well may have been the most popular and sentimental win in years.

Not only did the fans in the grandstands voice their thundering approval but numerous drivers and car owners ducked into Victory Lane to congratulate Mark on his accomplishment. Greg Biffle articulated it best when he said, in summary, that he couldn't think of anyone else, besides himself, he'd rather see in Victory Lane. The feeling of virtually every driver in the garage is that if they can't pull their car into Victory Lane, they're happy to see Mark do so. He has that much respect because he races everyone clean and is as intense as they come.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owner Rick Hendrick had a pretty doggone good weekend at Martinsville Speedway by taking home the race win and watching each of his four cars finish in the Top-10.

To cap it off, the race was the 25th anniversary of Hendrick's first win in NASCAR's top division, so it was fitting for his team to have a successful day.

Unfortunately, not all was roses for Hendrick over the weekend as Raliegh, N.C.'s News & Observer ran a lengthy story detailing what could be some significant transgressions involving his business relationship with former North Carolina governor Mike Easley.

Rick Hendrick has given his driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Earnhardt's crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., a strong vote of confidence amidst speculation that the cousin tandem should split up after a disappointing start to the season.

"What I want to say is that I am 100 percent behind this group and I have no intentions of making any changes,'' Hendrick said Wednesday during a conference call with the national racing media. "Tony Junior is our guy.''

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s performance -- or lack thereof -- in 2009 has become a contentious debate, last weekend's Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway lacked the pizazz we're used to at Bristol and a few drivers have struggled to put forth results that'll leave you scratching your head.

What, you ask yourself, does FanHouse's Holly Cain and Geoffrey Miller have to say on these issues?

Find out as FH's Wheel2Wheel takes a look at NASCAR's current stories and issues. Read on to see what we've got to say, and when you're done, tell us exactly how we're wrong. It'll be more fun than sneaking your family sedan on to Daytona's high banks for a late night joyride.

Well, almost.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dressed casually in jeans and a black, button-down oxford, Ray Evernham leaned back into his chair and twirled the large gold ring on his right ring finger - the ring he received as crew chief for Jeff Gordon's 1999 Daytona 500 victory.

"I've got two of these Daytona 500 rings, but I can't get a parking pass," Evernham joked Wednesday from the infield of the Daytona International Speedway.

A decade ago he was celebrating in victory lane. A year ago he was on the pit box guiding another young driver, Kasey Kahne, to a top-10 finish in the Daytona 500. This week, he had to borrow a parking pass from fellow ESPN television analyst Rusty Wallace.

Tony Stewart seems to have started something out in the desert.

The two-time Sprint Cup champion helped auction off one of his No. 20 Chevrolets from Joe Gibbs Racing a year ago at the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., and enlisted $300,000 for the Darrell Gwynn Foundation. This year, Stewart isn't back, but plenty of others in the NASCAR world are.

The biggest draw so far was auctioned off Saturday night when Jeff Gordon's 2006 No. 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo fetched a mere $500,000 with the help of car owner Rick Hendrick standing on the auction block.

Tony Stewart may be just getting his feet wet with that little business venture he's starting for the 2009 Sprint Cup Series, but that certainly doesn't mean he's giving up on one of his true loves:

Open-wheel midget racing in the Mid-West.

So, for another year, Stewart showed up at Fort Wayne's (Indiana) Memorial Coliseum last Friday and Saturday to take part in the "Rumble in Fort Wayne" -- an indoor midget race on a 1/6-mile track set up on the floor of the convention hall. (That's Stewart on the left)

Reports from the local paper indicate that Stewart's winning percentage for the two-night event was 50 percent after he bumped the leader out of the way in the Friday night version to take the checkered flag. Stewart apologized immediately after the race for the contact, saying it wasn't intentional and that "it was my fault."

The driver he bumped, Lou Cicconi Jr., understood Stewart and followed it up by winning the feature race the next night and beating Stewart by a third of a lap, or roughly the length of a football field.

In a telltale sign of how different NASCAR and other top levels of racing are from their short-track roots, Cicconi Jr., announced earlier in the week that he was selling a race he bought to beat Stewart with simply because the officials were "busting [his] chops" about the measurements, and that he'd be leaving the racing series. You can find that chassis for sale on a messageboard.

Think you'd ever see Rick Hendrick or Jack Roush make a call like that? Doubt it.

Friday night, FanHouse hosted a marathon live blog of what was likely the least entertaining awards show ever televised as NASCAR officially crowned Jimmie Johnson as its first three-time consecutive Sprint Cup champ in 30 years.

I'll give 'em credit, though, because its virtually impossible to make a banquet entertaining for fans who aren't eating the $300-plate (my guess) meals at an event that we already know the award winners of. The most thrilling award given was a the "Sprint Monster moment" and even that one had its winner (Carl Edwards) unsure if he was even supposed to give a "I'd like to thank the Academy"-type speech.

If you missed the show, don't worry too much because it wasn't the next incarnation of the Daytona 500 and the best line of the night really wasn't even that great. Funny, but not great. (More on that in a coming post)

It is, however, fun to see some of the usually firesuit-clad drivers dressed in black tie formality and to see some other events from what NASCAR has dubbed "Champions Week". So if you're in to that, here's your cup of tea as we enjoy a nice photo gallery from the fine folks at Getty Images:

The last time we did this here at the 'House during the regular season finale at Richmond, Kyle Busch was making business cards saying "2008 Sprint Cup Champion" and Jimmie Johnson was likely ready to question team owner Rick Hendrick about why in the world he let the Shrub leave the organization.

My, oh my, have the tables turned.

Johnson, of course, is the one writing the new business cards and Kyle Busch has been left to doing nothing except shake his head and wonder why.

Naturally, it's a great time for FanHouse to get back on the live blog bandwagon, and I'm certainly hoping you'll join us!

We'll crank up the live blog on Sunday at around 3 p.m./ET to help you get through yet another run to the title for Johnson. There will be race analysis, TV analysis, commercial analysis and whatever other type of analysis you want during the 500 miles that will be the Dickies 500 coming to you and yours live on ABC.

Come one, come all and make sure you visit the box below to have an email reminder sent your way so you can join in on the fun.

Jeff Gordon is having such a disappointing 2008 Sprint Cup series season that he made the rounds Tuesday on Washington D.C.'s Capitol Hill looking for a little bit of help from the nation's politicians.

Grin.

Joking aside, the Hendrick Motorsports driver really was in Washington D.C. Tuesday in support of an organization that is far more important than point standings or top-five finishes -- the National Marrow Donor Program. Gordon made the rounds on the organization's behalf the drum up support behind several issues that the group is looking to improve.

From The Jeff Gordon Foundation website:

Gordon met with key lawmakers, including the House of Representatives North Carolina delegation, to urge their continued support of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).

The NMDP, a nonprofit organization, serves a vital role in the U.S. health care system by facilitating unrelated marrow and cord blood transplants to treat patients with more than 70 diseases including leukemia, lymphoma and sickle cell anemia.

"I have watched some very good friends battle leukemia who were not able to find a match. Their struggle has made me more passionate about and committed to increasing awareness about public cord blood banking and the work of the NMDP," said Gordon.

Now I won't claim to be an expert the subject Gordon was advocating for, but I will say it definitely falls into the "'Atta Boy!" category for good deeds.