Last week the top 12 drivers in The Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship were in New York City for Chase Media Day. For the drivers it meant making television appearances and conducting a bunch of interviews with various media outlets.

All twelve drivers appeared on The David Letterman Show to run down Dave’s “Top Ten List”, or in this case, a top-twelve list:

Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson hung out on The Early Show with host Harry Smith:

Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards went on Tony Stewart’s show on Sirius Satellite Radio and they addressed their “rivalry.” There’s a clip of them discussing exactly that over on Tony’s page at Sirius.com. Look for the section on the right-hand side with the “Sounds of the Show” heading.

And now for the photos, I’d like to point out Dale Earnhardt Jr. and how much I loved his sweater/button-up combo. That’s a very good look for him. In fact all of the guys looked really good, kudos to them and anyone that helped them pick out their outfits. (more…)

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I didn’t get to watch the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire live because I was down in Los Angeles again. It was a very important trip because I was set to meet up with professional photographer Fred Egan so that he could work his magic and take awesome photos of me for this website. I am so excited about these pictures and I cannot wait to show them to off. You can expect a bit of a tweak to the look & feel of the site once I have them. I have to say that if you’re getting married or you just want amazing photos of you or your family just in general you should call Fred. I can’t recommend him enough.

While I didn’t watch the race live on Sunday I was able to listen to some of the race on Sirius Satellite Radio when I was driving to Nordstrom to have my make-up done. I heard about Kyle Busch’s troubles and then after the photo shoot was done I heard about Greg Biffle’s win.

I love the fact that Biffle won because for one the guy deserved a win without a doubt and two because it totally changes the landscape of The Chase. It reinforces the fact that there are more than just two guys that have a real chance at winning the Sprint Cup. That’s really the way it should be because the minute someone runs away with the points lead with a bunch of races still to come it’ll become incredibly boring and I am entirely against that.

I did Tivo the race at home so I saw it last night but of course I couldn’t resist fast forwarding through all of the slow parts, so it wasn’t really the same. I still need to watch all of the post-race interviews with the drivers, I kept falling asleep.

Atlantic Records recording artists OAR meet Carl Edwards after the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Drivers’ Meeting at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday. (Photo Credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR)

(Left to right) Richard Childress talks with his driver Clint Bowyer in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage after Bowyer turned the fastest lap in Saturday’s first practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Bowyer will attempt to defend his Sylvania 300 title on Sunday at the track. (Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Jimmie Johnson takes a break during Friday’s practice for Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Johnson was second-fastest in practice. (Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images)

Tony Stewart straps into his ride for Saturday’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Sylvania 300, the first race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Stewart was ninth-fastest in the practice. (Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Like Amy over at Amy’s Bad Groove I’m trying out Pay The Fan for the first time this weekend. You have until tomorrow before the green flag drops for the NASCAR Sprint Cup New Hampshire race to get in on the Chase for the PTF Cup. PTF offers you a chance to win real money from participating in a fantasy racing league. You pick Sprint Cup drivers each week and accumulate points based on how your guys finish. If you win the PTF Cup you’ll get $150,000!

It’s funny because Amy decided to save her fave driver, Tony Stewart, for later on and I did the exact same thing in saving Dale Earnhardt Jr. I figure I’ll pick him for a track where I know he does well, say Talladega.

So check it out right now and join!

In other news…

– There’s still time to enter to win one of five Kevin Harvick autographed “Americans for a Gunk-Free Nation” hats! The contest ends on September 30th, 2008. Enter today!

So this the last post in the series dedicated to my interview with Dale Jarrett. It’s my last but probably my favorite because I got to ask him about that awesome Valentine’s Day of 1993 when he won his first Daytona 500 by beating Dale Earnhardt. Ned Jarrett, Dale’s father and a former two-time NASCAR champion, was the racing analyst on duty that day and coached his son home to victory.

It’s one of my all-time favorite NASCAR moments and if you don’t remember check out the video below and then read Dale’s response to my question. So sweet! (more…)

Me: If you had to pick one rule or change that NASCAR made during your career which one had the biggest impact on your career and on you as a driver?

Jarrett: I think probably the biggest thing that came along as far as a change was whenever they required everyone to wear the HANS device. I look at that as a very positive impact and unfortunately this positive impact came from some negative things that happened. We lost a couple of lives to get to that point, to be able to make that decision and make that happen. To me that’s the best thing that has been done in our sport.

There’s a lot of things that have been changed, a lot of rules, some that would be up for argument whether they were better for the sport or just things that were done from what they felt like was necessity to make changes. The racing back to the caution thing where people could get laps back, that was getting a little bit out of hand and something needed to be done. People will argue they don’t like the idea, that now that it’s changed, that someone gets a free pass to get a lap back but it seems to have all worked out better for the sport. (more…)

The following is more from my interview with ESPN NASCAR analyst Dale Jarrett, after this there are a couple more posts to come — all good stuff.

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Me: Do you think that NASCAR could get bigger in terms of media coverage? It’s huge in its own right, but it still doesn’t quite get the respect, I think, that the NFL does and the NBA. Do you think it could get bigger and that the coverage could expand?

Jarrett: It could expand and it has expanded a lot, but what everyone would need to understand is how different our sport is because we don’t really have home teams. That’s the thing that separates our sport from getting more media coverage is that we don’t have that home team in Los Angeles or New York. The teams are based primarily around the Charlotte/Mooresville area. (more…)