SONOMA, Calif. -- On this Father's Day weekend, NASCAR is blossoming with children, for drivers, crewmen and executives alike. Obviously, it's a beautiful thing.

Leave it to Jamie McMurray -- who like several drivers before him has his father attending to his motor coach that serves as a refuge, home-away-from-home and meeting place at most race tracks -- to put a totally new spin on the holiday.

During television coverage of Sprint Cup qualifying from Infineon Raceway, McMurray announced to the world that he and his wife, Christy, are expecting their first child in December.

"We found out, uh, six weeks ago," McMurray said after doing some quick mental calculations. "We've just been wanting to tell everybody, and we got here and I just told Christy, 'I think I'm just going to tell everybody' because we've been having so many people asking us; and you don't really want to lie [laughing].

"She's far enough along -- 15 weeks -- and we just thought it'd be a good time to say it. It wouldn't do any good for me to tell you [the sex of the child] because we don't know."

It was a joyous announcement and McMurray made no bones about the fact this child was "absolutely" planned -- right down to both parents being thrilled with Christy's due date on Dec. 5 -- well into the off-season.

But McMurray was no less happy -- but willing to wait a year to celebrate his own day as a father -- as he spoke of what this Father's Day would mean, on Saturday.

"I still view Father's Day as being for my father," McMurray said. "I'm just looking forward to Christy and I getting to share something that special together in our lives. So many of our friends are having children right now and we've seen how excited they are and how it's life-changing." (Continued)