I’m watching ESPN’s coverage of NASCAR right now; basically it’s all about how the qualifying and Nationwide practice sessions have been rained out.

A little bit earlier Dr. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree and Dale Jarrett were interviewing crew chief Chad Knaus when I happened to see a NASCAR headline crawl across the bottom of my screen. It said that Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick got into an “altercation” in the garage at Lowe’s Motor Speedway today.

Get out! Gosh, I wish I could have been there to see that! Apparently the confrontation stemmed from the comments Harvick made last weekend at Talladega, something about him calling Edwards a “pansy.” I find this all very interesting. Is it just me or does it seem like Carl has been more, uhm, how do I say this, uh… assertive this year?

I was in my favorite grocery store the other day when I happened upon a display for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s candy bar Dale Jr.’s Big Mo’ in Creamy Caramel. Of course I was happy about this because I hadn’t been able to find the candy bar in my area until this point, and luckily it was on sale!

So in terms of taste I think it’s good stuff. It’s not trying to do too much ya know? It’s just simple milk chocolate and caramel. There’s also a milk chocolate and peanut butter version.

In other news…

– Did you know that you can win $25 in free gas from me?? You’ve got from now until October 31st to win one of three $25 BP/Amoco gas cards.

– Check out the first in a series of videos for the Americans for a Gunk-Free Nation campaign. Kevin Harvick makes an appearance:

– On Tuesday Kyle Busch went down to Texas to take on the media in a game of paintball. This was all in promotion of the upcoming Dickies 500 weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, of course. And as usual Kyle dominated:

And much like his NASCAR season, he piled up some victories. Busch went undefeated against his media counterparts in three games and in the process walked away unscathed. Releasing some of his aggression against the media was quite rewarding and entertaining for the 23-year-old Las Vegas native.

“I let off a little steam, especially against the media so that was fun,” Busch said. “It was pretty fun there at the end. I think I knocked out the last three on the other team (in the final game). I’m not bragging, but I’m saying that was cool to do it.”

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kyle Busch signs his name with the paint splatter on the prize — the Dickies 500 trophy — after he and his team defeated the local Dallas/Fort Worth media in paintball warfare for a Texas Motor Speedway media event Tuesday, Sept. 30, at Fun On The Run Paintball Park in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo By Tom Pennington/Getty Images for the Texas Motor Speedway)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kyle Busch takes a break during paintball warfare for a Texas Motor Speedway media event Tuesday, Sept. 30, at Fun On The Run Paintball Park in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo By Tom Pennington/Getty Images for the Texas Motor Speedway)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kyle Busch (immediate left of trophy) and Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage (immediate right of trophy) stand next to the Dickies 500 trophy and the participants in paintball warfare for a Texas Motor Speedway media event Tuesday, Sept. 30, at Fun On The Run Paintball Park in Fort Worth, Texas.

Happy Thursday everyone! It’s a great day for me because tomorrow I’m flying to Las Vegas for the Blog World & New Media Expo. I had a great time last year and I’m looking forward to sitting in on the sports blogging sessions. The big news this year, at least for me, is that Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park will be a keynote speaker along with Tim Ferriss, writer of the book “The 4-Hour Work Week.” I know I’m going to get a lot out of this weekend. Vegas baby, Vegas!

In other news…

– This morning I got to interview Kyle Petty! He was made available to me because he has been busy promoting Prostate Cancer Awareness Week and the STAY ON TRACK for Better Prostate Health prostate cancer awareness program sponsored by the Prostate Cancer Education Council and sanofi-aventis. I plan on posting the first part our discussion today. Check back later on today or subscribe to my RSS feed to read it as soon as it goes online.

– Are you interested in winning free gas? Well check out this awesome promotion from Shell-Pennzoil:

Shell is bringing new meaning to the “No. 29.” Through September 28, the company will highlight the No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil car and offer customers the chance to win free Shell gasoline through the “Shell $2,900 Every Day Giveaway” promotion. At participating stations, customers will receive a scratch-and-match game card with any fuel purchase.

Building off the stop gunky build-up theme, consumers need to scratch off the gunk on the valves to see what they have won. Plus, the game cards will feature online codes for more chances to win Shell fuel every 29 minutes and thousands of other prizes, including No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil merchandise autographed by Kevin Harvick and a limited edition 105th Anniversary Harley-Davidson(r) Motorcycle, XL Sportster 1200C. Consumers may also write in for a free game card. And in Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia only, Shell customers will have the chance to participate in the “Get a Free Race Cup” promotion while supplies last. There will be three different racing cups to collect.

– 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!

– I love Martha Stewart and I have for pretty much all of my life. She’s the reason I had the confidence to make my sister’s three-tier wedding cake ten years ago. Anywho, yesterday she devoted a show to bloggers and blogging, and now she’s running a little contest where she’ll pick some blogs to feature on her site, The Martha Blog. Of course I put myself in the running. Go check it out!

– Ok, so get this, remember when I told you that fate finally threw me a bone and got me close to Dale Earnhardt Jr. well there’s a photo to go with it. I came across it when I was checking out the NASCAR blog over at AOL’s FanHouse. So take a look below and you’ll see that I’m right there on the left-hand side looking pissed off almost straight at the camera. I really wasn’t, but it was insanely hot and that’s my “it’s seriously freaking hot and I’m serious about that” face.

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…)

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 now we finally know who the top 12 drivers are to make it into The Chase for the Championship this year. I’m glad The Chase to The Chase is over and I can now chew my fingernails down to the nub hoping and praying that something horrible doesn’t happen to my favorite drivers, which is basically everyone except Kyle Busch. hehe. I’m kidding!

The 2008 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field poses with the Sprint Cup trophy after the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway. The drivers are (Back row L-R) Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton (Front row L-R) Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

The 2008 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers celebrate their Chase berths after the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Speedway. (Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)