NEW YORK -- The table was right next to a speaker. There might have been a pole obstructing their view of the stage. To make it worse, it felt like they were attending not an awards banquet, but the latest edition of what seemed an annual Dale Earnhardt appreciation dinner.

That's when Jeff Gordon leaned over, grabbed Rick Hendrick by the arm, and spoke a few words into his car owner's ear. "You're not going to have to sit down here next year," he said.

And they didn't. The next time NASCAR's year-end gala visited the grand ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria, it was Gordon and company up on stage at the head table, all eyes and all focus on them.

"I think it's always bigger motivation to be the guy sitting out in the audience looking at the head table going, 'I want to be right there,'" Gordon said. "You see them receiving all the awards, the checks, the pride of them being up there representing their team and their sponsors and the sport. There's not a better way to motivate yourself and your team than to see that."

Watching on television, the NASCAR awards banquet can sometimes seem like a slow parade of bad comedy, halting speeches and gear heads looking uncomfortable in tuxedos. But to the drivers in attendance, it's the ultimate dangling carrot, another reason to do better next year. Three-time champion Jimmie Johnson and his team will be seated up on the stage Friday night. Nine other drivers will sit in the audience and seethe. Who knew a dinner could serve as such a powerful motivational tool.

"That is the biggest motivational tool, without a doubt," Johnson said. "Sitting out on the floor is a great honor. But especially in '04, when we were eight points away from being on the stage, it was so close, and you want those seats. The entire week when you get up here, and especially Friday night, it's all about that champion. All the great things you did during the season, you might get a blip when your clip comes up, and that's it. It's all about that guy [on stage], and I want to be that guy. So it's very much a motivational tool for the race teams."

For the drivers, team owners and crew chiefs who don't win the title, it's not just the formal wear making them look uncomfortable. Yes, Johnson has been everywhere this week, from television programs to thumping nightclubs to the New York Stock Exchange. At nearly every stop, there are video screens showing his image, or clips of his season, or pictures of his No. 48 car. Friday night will be more of the same, a crescendo of Jimmie-mania three years in the making.

And all his competitors will have to sit there and watch it. (Continued)