The Cup Series banquet is now in the books, along with the 2005 racing season. It's a done deal. This season's big money winner set an all-time record that surpasses Jeff Gordon's last championship windfall at the end of the 2001 season. Tony Stewart's season total of $13,578,168.00 beat Gordon's record season earnings by more than 2.6 million. That's not bad for a year's work! Stewart claims that he's never raced for the money, but just for the enjoyment of driving racecars and winning races. Stewart won more than $6.1 million from the point's fund and over $500k in other awards.

In a previous article, I made reference to how much Chad Knaus cost Jimmy Johnson by failing to bring in the championship contender's car for a tire change. Close to the halfway point of the championship event at Homestead, Johnson had complained that he had a bad vibration which he thought signified tire trouble. The faux pas on Knaus' part ended up costing Johnson more than $900k in championship points fund money, and a fifth place finish instead of a probable second. It would be a long shot to even consider that Johnson could have beat Stewart, but at one point it was a mathematical possibility. Rumors abound asserting that Knaus is leaving the Hendrick Motorsports organization. Even though the rumors have been denied, it still may come to pass, with Johnson taking to the track in 2006 with a new man at the helm of the #48 crew. We've seen denied rumors become reality on more than one occasion.

Second place points winner Greg Biffle didn't do too bad either, taking more than $2.6 million, followed by Carl Edwards in third taking $2 million and Mark Martin in fourth at $1.7 million. The three Roush Racing drivers, along with Matt Kenseth in 7th place and Kurt Busch in 10th, brought in more than $8.7 million in point's money. There's something to be said for having five teams in the Chase for the Championship competition.

The above season money totals are from Jayski.com . Check out Jay's Cup Awards Page and get all of the facts and figures, including driver's career totals and the news covering the entire championship week activities in New York City.

12/3/05…I'm sure most of us who have Internet access have voted in Nextel's Fan's Voice Awards. They claim that this is the fourth year that it's been around; time flies right by. Have you heard that old saying,"Time flies like wind – fruit flies like bananas?"

At any rate, I think the voice of the majority of voting fans is worth commenting on, and is something that should not be taken lightly. The Most Dramatic Moment category was won by Tony Stewart's long awaited Indy win when he held off Kasey Kahne to win his first major event at the hallmark of racing in his home state of Indiana. This I can agree with, although I think Carl Edwards' nose to nose victory over Jimmie Johnson for his first Cup Series win deserved at least honorable mention.

Best Quote award went to Tony Stewart for complaining about being too old and fat to climb fences. He used a curse word in the statement, which was in the same vein that others drivers have been fined for. How come Stewart wasn't fined for using the word "damn" when other drivers have been fined for using the word "shit?" Is there that much of a difference?

Other winners included Chevrolet for Manufacturer Rules NASCAR, and more points for winning races took the "Rules Implementation" category. Best Commercial was Dale Jr.'s number change to 6.7, which I thought was kind of lame. Dale Jr. has better commercials than that. Carl Edwards took the Driver You'd Like Your Daughter to Marry. Why not Tony Stewart? He's better looking, a lot richer, and more used to fame and fortune. Carl Edwards, although a dynamite driver, may be challenged in all of those areas.

The fans want to see a Foreign Event in Toronto, Canada and think Kenny Wallace is the Best On-air Personality. They don't want to see Robby Gordon in Their Rear View Mirror and think the Best Owner to Drive For would be Teresa Earnhardt. I like Kenny Wallace, and that's about all that's worth commenting on.

Tony Stewart won again for the Most Creative Display of Emotion by climbing the fence and mounting the flag stand after winning the Pepsi 400. Could be, I won't argue about that. Hanging Out with Driver Jamie McMurray wouldn't float my boat, and the Biggest News Story of the Year certainly wasn't Dale Jr. and Gordon not making the Chase. The Grudge Match between Stewart and Biffle doesn't make much sense, but the husband of Krissie Newman being the Luckiest Driver sure does! They want Bristol In the Chase, but why? They already have a short track event; they need a road course in the Chase, to give road racing some respectability.

Season to Forget and Most Popular Driver went to Dale Jr. That wasn't any surprise on either count, and Edward's winning of Breakthrough Season wasn't much of a surprise either. Kurt Busch could have won the prize for Breakup Season or Self Destruct Season, whichever…

Thanks for reading!

12/8/05… It was no surprise that the NBC network is out of the loop with NASCAR broadcasting. They complained heavily soon after their much ballyhooed contract went into effect. Apparently the NBC execs cut their own throats with the bottom line of the contract. Then they leaned hard on NASCAR getting race times changed toward the prime time target of high dollar advertising. They couldn't bring in enough money from advertisers for Sunday afternoon time slots as compared to evening prime time. This changed the Sunday afternoon tradition of NASCAR racing, to appease a TV network that didn't even want to broadcast the races. I'm happy to see the sorry NBC network gone, and let's hope it's gone for good!

The new deal has FOX starting out the season with SpeedWeeks and the Daytona 500, with the exception of the Gatorade Duels that set the field for the race. The SPEED channel will broadcast the Duels as well as the Pit Crew Challenge and All-Star event in May. FOX will only do the first 13 point's events and then turn the baton over to the TNT network for six consecutive summer events. This change over will take place in early June instead of the usual switchover for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. The ABC/ESPN networks will take over near August, with ABC exclusively broadcasting the Chase for the Cup.

I'm wondering how NBC will treat us fans this coming season. They will be on lame duck status, and I'm sure that we'll be treated to a record number of commercials during the events. Regardless of what kind of contract stipulations they are required to follow and how they proceed to follow them, I have a feeling that we will be happy to see them go when their NASCAR tenure is completed in November of 2006. Here's hoping that some of their lackluster broadcast personalities go with them. I'd like to see some new faces in the booth, I've seen enough of Wally Dallenbach and Allen Bestwick to last me a lifetime!