'06 Fans Voice Awards

Results of the fifth annual Fans Voice Awards poll conducted by NASCAR.COM and Sprint / Nextel. More than 250,000 votes were cast in the 10 categories and the winners are ...

Quote of the Year

Carl Edwards

"Let me just say this: If it weren't for respect of the sport and the people watching and his team and everything, he'd be out there bleeding right now. ... How can a person make it this far in life being that much of a jerk?"
-- Carl Edwards, after a Lap 31 incident with Tony Stewart at Pocono on July 23

Edwards finished 39th, four laps down that day, but did retaliate by spinning Stewart on pit road on Lap 67. After Race No. 20 he was 14th in points, 697 behind leader Jimmie Johnson and 235 behind 10th-place Stewart, who finished seventh to race winner Denny Hamlin.

The victory catapulted Hamlin to eighth in points (he was 12th entering the race) and eventually a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup -- a first for a rookie driver.

Breakthrough Season

Kasey Kahne won a series-best six races and made the Chase for the first time and rookie Clint Bowyer was part of the resurrection of Richard Childress Racing, but Denny Hamlin garnered a majority of the headlines among the young drivers.

Hamlin, who made seven starts for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005, swept both races at Pocono and posted eight top-five finishes and 20 top-10s.

He finished third in points, the best showing for a rookie driver since James Hylton was runner-up to David Pearson in 1966.

Worst Luck

MB2 Motorsports' Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek combined for 11 DNFs and only 23 lead-lap finishes in 72 starts. As a result, Marlin finished 36th in owner points and will have to qualify on speed for at least the first five races of 2007 for the newly renamed Ginn Racing team. Nemechek finished 28th in owner points -- but he has been moved to the team's new No. 13 car in favor of Mark Martin, who joins Ginn after 19 years with Roush Racing.

Breakthrough season Voting on NASCAR.COM TOTAL PCT. Denny Hamlin 19,154 68 Kasey Kahne 7,772 27 Clint Bowyer 1,328 5 Worst luck TOTAL PCT. Michael Waltrip 9,662 34 Greg Biffle 8,054 29 Robby Gordon 6,281 22 Joe Nemechek 2,520 9 Sterling Marlin 1,689 6 Hang out with ... TOTAL PCT. Elliott Sadler 8,751 31 Kevin Harvick 7,375 26 Kasey Kahne 6,004 21 Carl Edwards 4,505 17 Jamie McMurray 1,467 5 Like to drive for ... TOTAL PCT. DEI 10,214 36 Hendrick 5,796 21 Gibbs 3,794 13 Childress 2,970 11 Evernham 2,800 10 Roush 2,687 9 Least like in rearview TOTAL PCT. Tony Stewart 13,538 48 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 5,120 18 Kurt Busch 4,173 15 Jeff Gordon 3,446 12 Jimmie Johnson 1,978 7 Pit-road reporter TOTAL PCT. Allen Bestwick 10,841 38 Dick Berggren 4,344 16 Matt Yocum 3,843 14 Marty Snider 3,703 13 Steve Byrnes 2,002 7 Jeanne Zelasko 1,905 7 Dave Burns 1,289 5 On-air analyst TOTAL PCT. Darrell Waltrip 10,836 38 Benny Parsons 6,665 24 Larry McReynolds 5,592 20 Wally Dallenbach 5,045 18 Play-by-play announcer TOTAL PCT. Mike Joy 15,703 57 Bill Weber 11,798 43

Robby Gordon and Greg Biffle also suffered their share of hard knocks. Gordon had eight DNFs; Biffle had six and failed to make the Chase after finishing second in points in 2005.

But in the fans' eyes, no one had a worse year than Michael Waltrip: He failed to qualify for three races and suffered seven DNFs while finishing on the lead lap only five times in 33 starts.

Driver you'd most want to hang out with

Annie, get your gun! If you're going to hang out with Elliott Sadler, dress warmly -- layers, as the deer slayers say -- and check your fear of heights at the Back 40 gate. Almost one in three fans voted for the affable Virginian. Who knew so many NASCAR fans like to hunt deer? (I know -- 75 million, right?)

Sadler is one of the more gregarious drivers in NASCAR and it shows in his on-camera appearances. It was never more evident than after his release from Robert Yates Racing, when he joined Evernham Motorsports for the final 14 races.

Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne finished 2-3 in the poll, offering evidence that Kahne's soccer mom fans spent more time trekking kiddies to and from functions (or bumping into things and causing a ruckus) than casting votes on the Internet.

Team you'd most like to drive for

The surprise in this category was that Roush Racing finished last in a six-team field. After putting all five of its drivers in the 2005 Chase, Roush managed to get only two drivers into the field this year, including Matt Kenseth who finished second in points.

Dale Earnhardt Inc. garnered the majority of votes (no surprise there; few are the polls in which Junior or DEI don't win) with reigning championship organization Hendrick Motorsports finishing a distant second.

Hendrick has won six of the past 12 Cup Series championships -- twice as many as its nearest competitor (Joe Gibbs Racing, three). And while DEI has never hoisted the trophy ... it would be cool to be invited to June Bug's crib or play wingman for the series' most popular driver.

Driver you'd least like in your rearview mirror

This may be the first poll that Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not win. The FBI is investigating, but who can argue against the orange blob -- the No. 20 Chevrolet, not Tony Stewart per se.

These poll results also play into the notion that Jimmie Johnson lurks in the shadows and then snares a top finish while many are left to wonder, "Where the hell did he come from?" Most races at Charlotte come to mind.

In the end, Smoke is the most feared driver; that he failed to make the Chase was a huge relief to many of the championship hopefuls. Imagine coming out of Turn 4 at Homestead door-to-door with Stewart and the championship hanging in the balance. Exciting, yes -- especially answering those questions on pit road about how you finished second.

Best pit-road reporter
Best on-air analyst
Best play-by-play announcer

• Allen Bestwick garnered the nod as the voice most enjoyed on pit road. He has been a staple of NBC / TNT coverage and Bestwick will join ESPN / ABC for its broadcasts, beginning with the Brickyard 400 on July 29, 2007.

• Three-time Cup champion Darrell Waltrip was tabbed the best analyst. Saddled with the moniker "Jaws" during his driving days, ol' D.W. still has the gift of gab for FOX Sports. Boogity, boogity, boogity.

• Mike Joy is quickly becoming the Voice of NASCAR -- whether it's radio or television. As FOX Sports' lead announcer, Joy has more than 30 years' experience and, maybe most enjoyable, he doesn't rely on a catchphrase. That he lets the on-track action speak for itself shouts volumes for Joy, who is a welcomed relief from many of today's over-the-top announcers who want to bombard viewers with one-liners.

Most Dramatic Moment

Talladega DramaVickers spins Johnson, Junior en route to Victory Lane Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Where to begin in a season that had several award-worthy moments? With the contrived Chase format it stands to reason that the most dramatic moments are those that affect the championship playoffs. That was the case in 2006.

On Oct. 8 at Talladega, Brian Vickers won his first Cup Series race -- but what many fans remember about that afternoon is that on the final lap race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. was last seen spinning to the infield along with Vickers' Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson.

It was the end of the line for Junior and Johnson; their Chase hopes gone in a cloud of dust. Earnhardt trailed points leader Jeff Burton by 106 points and Johnson was 156 in arrears after only four races.

But two weeks later at Martinsville fate's fickle finger pointed at Burton -- and in less time than it takes an engine to grenade, the Chase was on again. And Johnson was able to turn the disappointment of Talladega into a celebration at the Virginia short track.

Burton entered Martinsville with a 45-point lead on Matt Kenseth and an 8.6 average finish through five of the 10 Chase races. However, it was the race that changed the championship. Johnson won at Martinsville and pulled within 41 points of Kenseth, who inherited the points lead after Burton suffered engine woes -- one of only two DNFs of the season -- and took it to the garage after 217 of 500 laps.

Jimmie Johnson

Johnson took the points lead after Texas en route to his first Cup championship, but the unscripted spin through the infield at Talladega remained top of mind through Phoenix and Homestead. "I think after Talladega, that was probably the low of emotions in the championship," he said.

"But still at that time no one ever said, 'We can't do this.' I mean, the meetings we had, the gatherings we had at the racetrack, just being around each other, we just kept telling ourselves, 'This isn't over, keep fighting, it's not over.' "

After finishing as the points runner-up in 2003 and '04 and again falling short in the 2005 Chase (fifth), Johnson confided that those disappointments helped the No. 48 team deal with this season's adversity.

"I think going through those experiences got me ready to deal with this year," he said. "The slow start to the Chase, the adversity we were faced with, the chaos of the contact with Vickers at Talladega, needing to go on a tear and race our way back into this thing, all of that, you can see different pieces of what we did this year in the Chase.

"Over the last three years of the Chase, four years we've been in Cup, there have been pieces of that in all of those years. I think all of that built up and helped us keep our composure and be smart this year in the Chase and do what we needed to."