DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It may be time to stop referring to Danica Patrick as a female driver.

Pole-winning driver will suffice.

Period.

But you can bet most of the headlines will have the word female or woman somewhere in it after Patrick's pole-winning run for Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway (1 p.m. ET, ESPN and WatchESPN).

That's understandable, since she's only the second female driver to win a Nationwide pole -- Shawna Robinson at Atlanta in 1994 was the other. And until Patrick or another woman makes winning a pole and races seem like an everyday occurrence, a big deal will be made of it.

But maybe one day what Patrick accomplished on Friday and hopes to accomplish in NASCAR will make people forego prefacing her accomplishments with "female driver" the same way Tiger Woods no longer is called a black golfer.

"I really don't think about it from a girl perspective," Patrick told reporters after her historic run. "I've been taught from a young age to want to be the best driver. My dad's in here [media center], and he can attest to that. We'd go to a go-kart track, and I'd be a half-second quicker, and he was still ticked off and not happy when we were a second quicker.

"It was about being the best driver and not the best girl."

Patrick is a long way from being the best driver, but you get the point. We live in an era when such tags aren't necessary.

"This is good for the sport," Elliott Sadler said. "It's going to bring more people, more attention."

Some may turn to conspiracy theories, noting the COPD spokesperson will start on the pole for the Drive4COPD 300 race.

Seriously, don't.

Patrick earned this one. Does anyone honestly believe Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr., just to name a few, would step aside and let her win the top spot?

Yeah, right. Mr. Nationwide Series Kyle Busch is about as likely to walk up and hug Kevin Harvick as he would let a Chevy driver spoil his debut for his own Nationwide Toyota team, all for the sake of a sponsor he has nothing to do with.

I've always argued that if NASCAR were all about conspiracy theories, as some believe, then Earnhardt would have at least one Sprint Cup title and not be mired in a 129-race losing streak.

So give Patrick props. Defending Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne, who qualified second for the Nationwide race, did.

"I think it's got a good shot for No. 1 on 'SportsCenter' today," he said. "That's always good for our sport. We look for these kind of moments. NASCAR keeps talking about star power, and these are the kinds of moments that are going to help our whole sport.

"Not just Danica or our team, but our whole sport. The more eyeballs, it's all better for us."

True, but again it's because Patrick is a woman driver and not just a star driver.

The pole definitely has to ease some of the criticism Patrick took after Stewart-Haas Racing bought her way into the Sprint Cup Series' Daytona 500. It turns out she needed it, but mainly because of somebody else's mistake in Thursday's 150-mile qualifying race.

Face it, folks. Patrick can wheel a stock car, particularly at Daytona. She qualified fourth for this Nationwide race a year ago and finished 14th. She was ninth on the last lap of Thursday's qualifying race before running into misfortune with two turns remaining.

And remember, she has some of the best equipment in the Nationwide garage at JR Motorsports. That and her dramatic improvement in average finish -- 28.0 to 17.4 -- from 2010 to 2011 in NASCAR's second-tier series is why anything less than finishing top six in points will be a disappointment this season.

Speaking of points, one of the first thing Patrick said during her postqualifying interview was, "Do you get any points for a pole?"

"Darn it," she continued when told no. "I'm in the best possible position to get the most amount of points for Saturday."

That shows her desire to win races and titles, not just poles. But remember, when Robinson won her pole, she didn't lead a lap and finished 36th. I'm betting Patrick will fare better.

Not because she's a better female driver than Robinson was.

Because she's a better driver.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- You could hear the emotion in Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s voice, see it in his facial expression and demeanor, as he described how it felt to win the 2004 Daytona 500.

He was so poignant, it seems a waste of time to describe it and put it into words better than his.

Simply read and enjoy.

"When you win that race, it's so hard to explain," Earnhardt said Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway. "Everything that you … it's just really, really hard to explain. … All the things that you want out of life, all the pressures that you put on yourself or you feel from other people, all the things you want to accomplish …

"Everybody sort of has this mountain in front of them that they put in front of themselves they want to climb. … For a moment, for a day, you're at the top of that mountain."

Earnhardt looked down, reaching to places in his mind and heart he doesn't often share. He made you understand why grown men are willing to risk life and limb going 200 mph in 3,400-pound machines around this 2.5-mile track.

He made you understand why his father did all that was humanly possible to guarantee that his son or Michael Waltrip captured the 2001 500 on what became the final lap of his life.

"Nothing matters," Earnhardt continued. "All of your wants and all of your needs and problems you have, the little petty things that bother you, everything goes away. You just feel like you've realized your full potential. Everything is just sort of maxed out for the day, all the things you wanted to achieve.

"Obviously, you set a lot of goals for yourself and that's just one of the goals, but just for a moment, just for that one day, whether it be 30 minutes or an hour after that race, as soon as you cross the finish line, you feel like it can't get any better than this. It's a pretty incredible emotion. I feel so lucky to have had that opportunity, experience. It is such a special, special moment."

The deadline room was dead silent as Earnhardt continued as though he were delivering a Shakespearean monologue. He was mesmerizing. That NASCAR's most popular driver hasn't won in 129 races didn't seem nearly as significant.

This is why Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch and Mark Martin, just to name a few, want to win the "Great American Race" so badly.

This is why Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip were reduced to tears of joy after waiting so long -- Earnhardt 20 years and Waltrip 17 -- to visit Victory Lane here.

This race defines careers. Michael Waltrip was mediocre, under most standards, with only four wins in 766 Sprint Cup starts. But almost every time he is introduced it is as a two-time Daytona 500 champion, and that doesn't sound mediocre at all.

Stewart can't get through an interview this week without being asked how badly he wants to win this race. He makes it sound as though it's not a huge deal, but you know it is.

Kyle Busch has a Daytona driver rating of 98.7, better than 500 winners Earnhardt and Kevin Harvick, but that means nothing compared to the raw exhilaration of hoisting the 500 trophy into the air.

You can feel how much Edwards, the pole-sitter for this race, wants to add the 500 to his résumé, how much he wants to feel what Earnhardt has.

Every driver in the field does.

Many of us laughed two years ago when Jamie McMurray said he wouldn't trade his win in the 500 and Brickyard 400 that season for a chance to be in the Chase and race for the title. After listening to Earnhardt, his argument seems a little more believable.

"Every time I see a replay of me and my crew celebrating below the flag stand, it all comes back so clearly," Earnhardt concluded. "Every time I see it, I just think about how fortunate I was to have won that race.

"Some of the greatest drivers come through this sport and don't win it. It just doesn't seem right … only certain ones get to see that opportunity."

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- How do you explain to your 4-year-old daughter that daddy is all right after she watched him flip three times in a 3,400-pound stock car before coming to a rest upside down?

Jeff Gordon found out when he talked to Ella Sofia the morning after Saturday night's horrific crash in the final laps of the Budweiser Shootout.

Bottom line: Keep her away from mom.

"I showed it to [Ella] on TV," the four-time Sprint Cup champion said Sunday after qualifying sixth fastest for the Daytona 500. "Her first question was, 'Were you OK?'

Obviously, with me sitting there and her sitting on my lap I could explain how I was and she could watch it.

"Had she been awake and heard the reaction of my wife, that would have gotten her more concerned than anything else."

Gordon was joking, but he was serious when talking about the safety innovations in the car and on the track that allowed him to escape with only a stiff neck and small cut on his finger.

And he may not have suffered the cut had he listened to safety workers and waited for them to flip his car upright before he crawled out.

"I'm a little guy," Gordon said. "I felt like I could do it. And I did, but I can tell you it was a lot of work. It didn't go smooth."

Drivers face death every time they climb into a racecar, which separates them from athletes of most other sports and most other families. NASCAR fortunately hasn't had a death in the three national touring series since Dale Earnhardt here on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

The IndyCar Series experienced one in October during the season finale at Las Vegas when Dan Wheldon was killed when his car went airborne and was ripped apart in the catchfence. He left behind a wife and two sons.

"As a parent, all you can do is reassure them of the safety as well as understanding what we do has its dangers," Gordon said. "I think it's tougher as she gets older."

But because all that has gone into eliminating those dangers in NASCAR, Gordon was able to explain that to his daughter with her on his knee and only a cut on his finger.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- What would be bigger for NASCAR: Danica Patrick or Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the 54th running of the Daytona 500?

The question was posed to Earnhardt as media day came to a close on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway.

"ME! FOR ME!," said Earnhardt, his voice growing a few octaves higher than normal. "Hell, she don't drive for me in the 500, so it wouldn't make a difference for me if she won or not.

"But if I won it, it would be a big deal for me. As far as what everybody else thinks, everybody is going to have a different opinion on that."

It's an interesting choice to ponder. A win for NASCAR's most popular driver in the biggest race of the year, ending a losing streak that dates back to 2008, would be huge for the sport.

But so would a win for Patrick in a sport in which no woman has come close to Victory Lane in the "Great American Race." Imagine all the casual fans that would draw.

A Patrick win would make national newscasts that don't typically mention NASCAR. It would have immense historical significance, like Tiger Woods winning at Augusta National.

An Earnhardt win wouldn't be nearly as significant.

But Earnhardt wasn't thinking about what's good for the sport when answering the question. He was thinking about what is good for him.

"I'm frustrated we didn't win last year," said Earnhardt, who owns Patrick's Nationwide Series car. "I'm ready to get back to that. I want to win a race pretty bad. Daytona, this is probably the worst odds for me all year because of the way the racing is here.

"This is going to be a fun experience, but I'm looking forward to getting to Phoenix and the rest of the tracks to start getting control of my destiny and to start making things happen and start winning races."

Yes, you are reading correctly. Earnhardt, once the king of restrictor-plate racing, believes he's better off at non-restrictor-plate tracks. That says a lot about what he thinks about the tandem drafting and uncertainty of NASCAR's effort to return to the pack racing that made Daytona and Talladega so unique.

"I am looking forward to going to a track where I am driving the car and I can make a difference," Earnhardt said.

You can debate that, too.

But for now the debate is Danica or Dale Jr. winning at Daytona. Who do you think would be bigger for the sport?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The biggest news of the 2012 Sprint Media Tour wasn't that Danica Patrick will run the Coca-Cola 600 or the unveiling of the 2013 Ford Fusion. It wasn't that NASCAR has eliminated secret fines -- as far as we know -- or that Wal-Mart will sponsor Bill Elliott for the July Daytona race.

It wasn't that Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team are "pissed off" over not winning a sixth straight Sprint Cup championship or that team owner Rick Hendrick will be disappointed if he doesn't get all four cars into the Chase.

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Harold Hinson PhotographyKevin Harvick announced Wednesday night that his wife, DeLana, is 14 weeks pregnant.

The biggest news was DeLana Harvick is pregnant.

Fourteen weeks.

Yes, sometime in July, a little "Happy" will join the NASCAR family.

You scoff, but look at all the things the decision to start a family triggered. As Kevin Harvick revealed during Richard Childress Racing's tour stop in Welcome, N.C., on Wednesday, this is the main reason he and DeLana shut down their Truck and Nationwide Series race shop in Kernersville, N.C.

That led to a consolidation of much of the Nationwide program with RCR, which worked out perfectly with Richard Childress' grandson Austin Dillon, ready to run full-time in the series. It led to Eddie Sharp forming his own Truck team with KHI equipment.

This also ended the speculation that Kevin Harvick Inc. was shut down because the couple's marriage was in trouble.

And it cemented what we've all known for years, that DeLana really does wear the fire suit in the Harvick household.

"There were a lot of factors that went into the KHI decision, but when your wife tells you she's not starting a family unless you get out of the race team business, that's a pretty big factor in things that are going on," Harvick told reporters on Wednesday night.

"It was kind of like it was all meant to be, Austin coming up in the Nationwide car, us wanting to do the family aspect of life and Eddie Sharp starting his team. It all lined up perfectly."

And get this for planning: The due date is during a rare off week in the Cup schedule.

Maybe that golden horseshoe Harvick once claimed Johnson owned really has changed hands.

We don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but we are confident either way the baby won't be named Kyle. Harvick made it clear his feud with Kyle Busch isn't over.

The sad news is we likely won't see DeLana in her familiar fire suit on pit road for long. Kevin doesn't really want his wife climbing those steep steps to the pit box.

The good news is the Harvicks really are Happy.

Congratulations.

Big news.

CONCORD, N.C. -- The Nationwide Series garage at Charlotte Motor Speedway was dark except for blinding spotlights shining on the front of the room. Rock music blared over the loudspeakers. Anticipation was in the air.

You half expected Steven Tyler or Mick Jagger to come barreling through the black curtain.

It was better, at least if you're a NASCAR fan.

It was the 2013 Ford Fusion.

Remember the last time a new Sprint Cup car was introduced, in 2007? Everyone from crew chiefs to drivers Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick called the boxy-looking Car of Tomorrow ugly. And they were right.

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AP Photo/Chuck BurtonGreg Biffle climbs out of the 2013 Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint Cup series race car into a news conference during the NASCAR Media Tour on Tuesday.

Some said real ugly, and they were right. Kyle Busch said it "sucked," and that was after winning the inaugural race in it.

Many fans hated the car as well, complaining it looked nothing like the car they drove at home. Because fans hated it, so did manufacturers who were used to the "race on Sunday, sell on Monday" motto.

"They're not going to complain about that thing," Greg Biffle said as he pointed to the car he drove into the room. "That thing is badass."

It really is.

It's sleek. It's racy. It's everything the car we've grown to hate hasn't been.

"If it runs as good as it looks, we'll be good," seven-time champion Richard Petty said.

The COT was designed with safety in mind, but it was never popular.

Officials tweaked the looks over the past few years to keep manufacturers and fans seeking brand identity happy, but the focus has been on a totally new look in 2013.

The focus has been on getting the cars closer to the days when Petty could buy one off the showroom floor and prepare it for the Daytona 500.

"This won't solve the problem 100 percent, but it'll give them 90 percent," Petty said.

Chevrolet, Toyota and Dodge will roll their 2013 cars out later in the year. There's anticipation Chevy will depart from the Impala SS and go with a new line.

There's anticipation, period.

"This stuff started as stock cars, and that's what got it going," Petty said of NASCAR. "We just got away from that for a couple of years."

Far away.

Tuesday's unveiling was such a big event it was called a milestone, a landmark.

NASCAR president Mike Helton said never in the history of the sport has there been a more collaborative effort between the governing body, manufacturers and teams "to start from the ground up and design a race car that they participate in the design of it."

Mission accomplished.

"This brings back the relevancy of NASCAR on the track to what fans have in their homes, garages and parking spots at work," Helton said.

As a kid I always wanted a Chevrolet Chevelle SS because that was the first car I remembered seeing my favorite driver, Bobby Allison, race. I wanted one because it looked like the Chevelles on the street.

The 2013 cars for all manufacturers will return the sport to that.

It will energize old fans and help bring in new ones.

"They've been hollering for this for a long time," Petty said.

NASCAR and the manufacturers finally answered. They answered with spotlights and rock music that made you stand up and pay attention.

"It's kind of sexy looking," Biffle said. "The old car didn't have all those features. This looks like a race car."

No, it looks like a stock car.

CONCORD, N.C. -- Tim Tebow doesn't have anything to do with NASCAR or the Sprint Media Tour, but he's made an impression on one team owner.

"I love Tebow," said Joe Gibbs, the owner of Joe Gibbs Racing and former head coach of the Washington Redskins.

Gibbs knows a thing or two about quarterbacks. No other coach in NFL history has won three Super Bowls with three different signal-callers -- as Gibbs did with Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien.

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Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images/NASCARFormer NFL coach Joe Gibbs, right, on Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow: "I admire him. There's not many young guys who would stand up and say the things he says. That takes guts."

So when the conversation Monday turned from racing to the popular Denver Broncos quarterback, the Hall of Fame coach couldn't say enough good things.

It had nothing to do with Tebow's outward expression of his faith, something Gibbs doesn't hesitate to share with others. It wasn't an attempt to be a part of the so-called Tebow bandwagon.

Gibbs genuinely is impressed.

"I think he's a player," Gibbs said of Tebow as he took a break from racing to talk football. "Everybody is talking about his throwing motion and all of that. I can't tell you how many guys up there have bad throwing motions."

Gibbs mentioned San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Byron Leftwich, to name a couple.

"Don't get caught up in that stuff," Gibbs said of throwing technique. "Tebow brings a real different deal to the game. He can run and he's a great competitor. Up there, one thing is for sure, you can't fake it. It's like driving these race cars -- you can't talk your way to the front."

Gibbs knows a thing or two about drivers, as well. He has won three Sprint Cup titles with two drivers -- Tony Stewart in 2002 and 2005, Bobby Labonte in 2000 -- and has a stable in Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano capable of adding to that list.

But we were talking football, and Tebow was the topic. Gibbs laughed at the suggestion that NFL coaches can change the Heisman Trophy winner's throwing motion.

"Anybody that starts telling you they're going to change somebody's throwing motion when he spent 16 years playing football and throwing that way is kidding you," he said. "What you see is what you get."

And Gibbs likes what he sees in Tebow, including his faith.

"Everybody deals with faith differently," Gibbs said. "In his case, he just said 'I'm going to take a stand.' It's been interesting to see how that polarizes stuff.

"I admire him. There's not many young guys who would stand up and say the things he says. That takes guts."

And for the record, Gibbs likes the New York Giants over the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

"I'm an NFC guy," he said. "I'm not going to jump ship."

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Having been born and raised in the deep South, referring to a woman as honey seems as natural as eating grits and fried green tomatoes.

But in considering a line to accompany my Thursday column on Danica Patrick, I refrained from tweeting, "From Honey to Honey Badger." The backlash Kasey Kahne had for his Twitter comment about breastfeeding was cause for concern the term might be offensive to somebody.

"Isn't that terrible? You can't say from honey to honey badger?" Patrick said as I shared this during a break in Sprint Cup testing Friday at Daytona International Speedway. "Isn't that a bummer? You can call me honey all you want."

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Jerry Markland/Getty ImagesDanica Patrick gets in some autograph time at Daytona during Preseason Thunder on Thursday.

Glad it was her and not Kurt Busch saying that.

In case you missed it, Patrick has become infatuated with the honey badger ever since seeing a video about the critter on YouTube. She has a picture of one on her cellphone and promises to have the on-track attitude of the animal that "takes what he wants."

"I don't want to be confused into thinking I want the nickname as the honey badger," Patrick said with a laugh. "I just like the attitude of the honey badger."

Patrick was having fun and enjoying the moment, just as she has every moment since arriving at Daytona on Thursday for her first test in a Sprint Cup car. She's more relaxed than she ever was at an IndyCar test.

"In IndyCar, it's just taken a little more seriously," Patrick said. "It's not that it's not taken seriously here. It's just a comfort zone of being able to joke around throughout and during it and having fun with it instead of feeling like you had to be serious."

At an IndyCar test, Patrick always was worried that if she joked around and something bad happened with the car that "they would blame me on not being focused."

Patrick loves the atmosphere at Daytona. She's felt comfortable here ever since her debut in an ARCA car in 2010.

That car, by the way, is in her garage along with the 2010 Hot Wheels Nationwide Series car in which she finished the 2010 season and an old IndyCar.

Perhaps one day she'll add the Cup car she drives in the 2012 Daytona 500 to her collection.

Remember, like the honey badger, she can take what she wants.

"Honey is sweet, isn't it?" Patrick said with a smile. "Sweet with just a little bit of bitter in it."

LAS VEGAS -- If you missed the start of Friday night's Sprint Cup banquet at the Wynn Las Vegas, you missed one of the funnier moments of the week, one of the funnier moments of any celebration involving NASCAR's champion.

If you missed the start, you missed one of the best examples of why Tony Stewart is great for the sport.

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Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesFive-time champ Jimmie Johnson, left, caused an uproar when he walked onstage and to the head table when the Sprint Cup champion was introduced.

On a night that was supposed to be all about him, a night of pomp and ceremony, Stewart convinced Jimmie Johnson to walk out on the stage and go to the head table when the champion was introduced -- just like Johnson had the past five years when he actually won the title.

The look of confusion on Johnson's face was priceless.

The reaction of the crowd was priceless.

It happened because Stewart was more interested in entertaining and collecting a good laugh than he was wrapped up in himself like you might see others be. Had NASCAR not called the three-time champion to the Vegas "hauler" before the event, it would have been funnier.

It would have been funnier than Jeff Gordon break-dancing a day earlier at the After The Lap event.

"I had an Elvis suit I was going to throw on and come out with," Stewart said afterward. "[NASCAR chairman] Brian [France] thought that might be a little too risky for an awards ceremony."

Stewart is all about risk. He took a huge risk when he left the comforts of Joe Gibbs Racing after the 2008 season to become the owner/driver for Stewart-Haas Racing. He took huge risks all race in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, going three- and four-wide to make passes to get to the front for the win he would need to steal the title from Carl Edwards.

Had NASCAR's chairman not vetoed the Elvis costume, who knows how many more risks we would have seen at the banquet?

"He told me he only got to do about half of what he wanted to do," Johnson said.

It was a fun ending to a fun championship run, one that began at the onset of the Chase with a struggling Stewart saying he would be a "total bumbling idiot" if he took home the title.

During his speech Friday night, Stewart reminded us that he wasn't married like many champions, but that he had a hot date in the elderly mother of SHR co-owner Gene Haas, adding, "I like cougars."

He took several shots at the length of Edwards' second-place acceptance speech -- just shy of 10 minutes -- in which the runner-up thanked everyone but the banquet room help.

"I fight hard in the race car every week," said Stewart, who had to fight for five wins in the 10 Chase races to beat Edwards in a tiebreaker. "We like to have a good time. I'm looking forward to finally going home and have fun with my friends."

Which will include?

"A lot of pool. A lot of Schlitz. I'm sure there is a deer that is going to be pretty upset over the next few days, too," Stewart said as he anticipated his return to Columbus, Ind.

Naturally.

Stewart as champion will be great for the sport. That he doesn't take himself too seriously as we saw on Friday will endear him to many fans.

"This year, I've never seen a more laid-back and happy Tony Stewart in the Chase," said Ryan Newman, Stewart's teammate. "Before that, he was an emotional wreck. He was struggling."

The only thing Stewart struggled with on Friday was convincing NASCAR to let him have more fun with his wild ideas.

"Getting called to the [NASCAR] trailer after the season for doing something stupid didn't seem right," Stewart said. "I thought I'd better end this all on a good note."

He did.

Todd Warshaw/Getty ImagesRoush Fenway Racing drivers Matt Kenseth, left, and Carl Edwards disagreed like an old married couple during a twisted version of "The Newlywed Game" in old Vegas on Wednesday.

LAS VEGAS -- Oh, the things you can learn about NASCAR's 2011 Chase class during a twisted version of "The Newlywed Game" -- like the one staged Wednesday at the Fremont Street Experience in old Vegas.

Warning: This blog may be offensive to those who have problems with noisy bodily functions, wet T-shirt contests and stupidity.

And did I mention that Bob Eubanks, the original host of the show that tested newly married couples on how well they know each other, made himself available afterward to sign autographs on some of his "old pictures"? I thought every picture of the 73-year-old, not to be confused with Bob Barker, was old.

Hey, that was a tame shot compared to what happened when the 12 drivers were partnered up. Speaking of partnering up, Brad Keselowski apparently found that phrase offensive after about the 10th time Eubanks referred to Kurt Busch as his partner.

Or maybe it was just that Busch was his partner.

That's a debate for later. Here's what you would have learned had you been one of the 2,500 or so fans who attended this kickoff function to the Sprint Cup champion's week:

• That Ryan Newman apparently "can fart the alphabet." This was his answer when asked what he does to annoy his partner, reigning Cup champion and boss Tony Stewart. Stewart, for the record, predicted Newman would say belch in team meetings, something else we learned.

• That Jimmie Johnson used to shave his legs. According to the five-time champion's partner, Jeff Gordon, Johnson did this because he was a swimmer in high school. Johnson later admitted it, to which Matt Kenseth slyly said, "Sure he was."

• That Kenseth really is the funniest driver in NASCAR. When asked what driver his partner, Carl Edwards, least likely would allow his daughter to date, Kenseth said "Danica," as in Danica Patrick. When Edwards wrongly predicted that Brian Vickers is the driver Kenseth most likely would knock out of the way on the last lap to win a race, Kenseth replied, "He probably wouldn't be leading."

• That Kyle Busch really does believe he is the best driver in the world. At least that's what Eubanks said Busch told him.

• That the Busch brothers really aren't all that popular in their hometown of Vegas. Prior to the show, when a fan was asked to name the Chase field beginning with who finished last, the response was, "Kyle Busch, who is a loser, was 12th. Kurt Busch, the other loser, was 11th."

• That none of the 12 drivers is willing to admit the other's wife or significant other could win a wet T-shirt contest. Dale Earnhardt Jr. shyly answered the question with "my future wife."

• That Kurt Busch has a sense of humor about his questionable behavior of late. When asked what would be something funny someone could watch him do without him knowing, Busch started with, "I've been pretty good at not making myself look good everywhere." Keselowski, by the way, suggested watching Busch on an in-car camera.

• That Johnson may be a great driver, but he's not great at this game. At one point Eubanks responded to one of Johnson's answers with, "That's dumb."

• That Keselowski, who is sponsored by Miller Lite, "can get drunk very easily."

• That Kyle Busch thinks Denny Hamlin's haircut is so bad that it looks like it "came straight out of [the movie] "Dumb and Dumber."

• That, according to Newman, Stewart is the "hairiest man alive."

• That drivers think too much, or at least Stewart thinks Newman apparently does. And when Eubanks sarcastically said "NASCAR drivers don't think?" Stewart deadpanned, "Hey, it's worked for me."

• That the fans as well as Johnson think four-time Cup champion Gordon whines too much. OK, we already knew that.

• That Edwards still is a bit sensitive about finishing second to Stewart in the Chase. When Eubanks jokingly said Edwards, traditionally late to everything, was "sometimes late crossing the finish line," the Roush Fenway Racing driver responded with a pulled kick to the shin.

• That Stewart is as smart as he is a great driver. The three-time champion and Newman beat Joe Gibbs Racing partners Kyle Busch and Hamlin in the final round.

• That drivers really shouldn't be allowed to drink and play games.