Busch, Hornaday honored as 2009 series champions (cont'd)

Johnny Sauter and Justin Allgaier were given their Raybestos Rookie of the Year awards, and then the rest of the top five drivers in each series were introduced one by one and given an opportunity to chat with SPEED's Rick Allen and Krista Voda on stage. For the Trucks, that was (in reverse order of finish) Colin Braun, Todd Bodine, Mike Skinner and Matt Crafton. Mike Bliss -- who took a moment to list all six of his car owners this season -- Jason Leffler, Keselowski and Carl Edwards were feted on the Nationwide side.

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Edwards made a reference to comic Kathleen Madigan's earlier stand-up routine, where she mentioned that they both hail from Missouri, and teased that their home state was now No. 1 in the country for methamphetamine production and sightings of unidentified flying objects.

"One of the neatest things about the Nationwide Series is we get to go to foreign countries and race these things," Edwards told Allen and Voda. "For a kid from a place where all his buddies are seeing UFOs and meth labs, it's quite a thing to be in Montreal."

On a more serious note, Edwards took time to thank the other competitors present.

"It's been a blast to race with all of the guys in the room, and everybody up here on this stage," Edwards said. "Some of the greatest battles I've been in in my life have been in this series and some of my proudest moments are here. That's why I'm looking forward to being here in the future."

Then it was time to shower the series champions with their hardware. Harvick and J.D. Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing accepted their champion owners' awards. Champion crew chiefs Rick Ren and Jason Ratcliff, who told Busch "you are second ... to no one," had their time at the dais. And then first Hornaday and then Busch were given their championship rings by Helton.

"This isn't what I like to do," Hornaday admitted as he started his congratulatory speech. "I like to sit in that race truck and drive. When I signed a contract with Kevin and DeLana, they said I might have to do this again."

Hornaday elicited laughs from the crowd when he went down his list of sponsors, mentioning that he still hadn't gotten his pair of Georgia boots, could use some more Twizzlers and then when talking about driving the Vlasic pickle car, "Having a bird on my firesuit, that was pretty weird."

Helton made a poignant comment when handing Busch his ring.

"We've had our moments," Helton said of Busch. "I speak on behalf of NASCAR professionally, but for me personally, I like watching you race. I'm proud that you're our 2009 Nationwide Series champion. Don't change. You do it your way and it'll work out fine.

"We may have to visit from time and time, but just keep it up. I'm glad, however, that this is not a guitar."

That referred to Busch's destroying of the hand-painted Gibson guitar trophy after winning at Nashville this summer.

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In Busch's comments, he took one jab at the critics who claimed he might have stretched himself too thin by running more than 80 races in the three national series in 2009.

"They say winning races in all three series takes away from Sundays," Busch said. "Maybe you've heard about it -- can't focus, hurts the big picture, I'm too distracted -- so let me just say this. If not for racing in the Nationwide Series this year and chasing after the championship, I wouldn't be accepting this beautiful trophy, understanding what it takes -- the determination and drive -- in order to win a championship. So I'm proud to stand here right now to say, 'Things don't necessarily look too bad.'"

Hornaday summed up the thoughts of everyone in attendance when he glanced at his wife, Lindy, during his speech.

"My wife, Lindy, thank you, honey," Hornaday said. "We've got another one. Now you'll have to build me another trophy case. And for all the wives, all the girlfriends and all the kids, thanks for letting your husbands do what they do and love."

A condensed version of the banquet will be aired at 7 p.m. ET on Dec 4. on SPEED. Subsequent broadcasts will air from 8-10 p.m. ET on Dec. 11, and from 12 p.m.-2 a.m. ET on Dec. 12 and again from 2-4 p.m. ET the same day.

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