| By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
December 1, 2005
03:21 PM EST (20:21 GMT)
There are very few cities that have a longer history with NASCAR than New York. That's not a typo. Friday night's Nextel Cup Series Awards Ceremony marks the 25th year that NASCAR has had its end-of-season celebration has been hosted at the Waldorf-Astoria. According to Steve Phelps, NASCAR vice president of corporate marketing, who oversees the sanctioning body's New York office, the event signified NASCAR's ever-growing presence in New York. "NASCAR has been celebrating our champion in New York City for 25 years," said Phelps. "We've had our corporate marketing headquarters here since 1998. On any given weekend, New York is one of NASCAR's biggest markets, with fans as passionate as anywhere." The first champion crowned at the Waldorf? Darrell Waltrip. This year's award ceremony hits the air at 9 p.m. ET on TNT, hosted by Bill Weber and guest host Jay Mohr. Mohr, who also participated in last year's ceremony, is best known for his role as Bob Sugar -- an underhanded sports agent -- in the movie Jerry Maguire in 1996. He also spent two seasons on Saturday Night Live and played Jeff Foxworthy's younger brother -- named Jay -- on the short-lived The Jeff Foxworthy Show. More recently, Mohr served as host of the NBC reality series Last Comic Standing. On the musical end of things, Toni Braxton and Gavin DeGraw and Eric Lewis will perform. Braxton is a six-time Grammy winner who's best known for hit-songs "Breathe Again" (1993), "Un-Break My Heart" (1996), "You're Makin' Me High" (1996), and "He Wasn't Man Enough" (2000). DeGraw's debut album, "Chariot," stormed up the charts last year on the strength of the hit single "I Don't Wanna Be." Lewis, a jazz pianist, has toured the world with Wynton Marsalis, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Cassandra Wilson, Jon Hendricks, Roy Hargrove, the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, the Duke Ellington Orchestra and many others. Lewis is best known to NASCAR fans for his performance of the national anthem with a race car inspired piano at Sonoma last June. SPEED is adding a one-hour NASCAR Champion's Week special at 7 p.m. ET on Friday. Hosted by John Roberts, the special will include features from the week's activities in New York City and interviews on the yellow carpet -- everything leading up to the crowning of champ Tony Stewart. Vicki Johnson, Craig Reynolds and Shannon Spake will be reporting from New York. In the final edition of "The Rant" for this season, S.G. Conrad of Parts Unknown says the whole Kurt Busch incident has him thinking. I think we sometimes forget how the sport of race car driving really began, by guys running moonshine, trying to outrun the law. I have all the NASCAR tapes of older NASCAR drivers talking and bragging about running moonshine and beating the law. Should we take all of their accomplishments and discard them? And now, this weekend's light schedule: Nextel Cup Series: Awards Ceremony Site: Waldorf-Astoria
• 1,245 rooms, including 197 suites TV schedule (all times ET) • Ceremony: 9 p.m. Fri, TNT. One year ago, Kurt Busch claimed the first Nextel Cup. He'll be a highlight this year, as well, as he'll be taking the stage at the Waldorf to accept 10th-place money after his two-race suspension last month after a traffic stop in Phoenix. The most recent checkered flag went to Greg Biffle, who got his second consecutive Homestead win on the season's last day. Keep an eye on Rusty Wallace. The moment many fans are waiting for is when Wallace takes to the stage at the Waldorf for the final time as a driver. "It's the last awards banquet for me as a driver," said Wallace "It's kind of bittersweet. It feels good to be in the top 10 in the last year I'm going to run. It's been a great career." Mark Spoor is a senior producer for NASCAR.COM. The Domino's Viewer's Guide will return next season. | 
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