RELATED: Festivities set for Champion’s Week | Champion’s Week homepage
MORE: Full schedule of live streaming at NASCAR.com for Champion’s Week

Fans going through offseason NASCAR withdrawal have a potent salve to look forward to this week.

Champion’s Week, NASCAR’s annual postseason celebration, kicks off Tuesday in Las Vegas with a packed week of activities and special appearances. The week culminates with Friday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards, where first-time champion Kyle Busch will be the toast of his hometown.

All 16 drivers from the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs will participate in the fan-friendly jubilee, with events centered at the Wynn Las Vegas and other areas along Sin City’s Strip. A fan experience at the LINQ Promenade will be open to the public from Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day.

The activities begin in earnest Tuesday with Eli Gold’s annual interactive NASCAR Live show from the Wynn’s Race and Sports Book, featuring a sit-down interview and fan Q&A with this year’s champion. Starting Wednesday, the festivities spread to Las Vegas Motor Speedway‘s annual FanFest at Fremont Street, including a red carpet walk and game show activity for all 16 Chase drivers.

The NMPA Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon takes place Thursday with the presentation of several special honors from the NASCAR industry. From there, the 16 Chase drivers will participate in the NASCAR Victory Lap Fueled by Sunoco, a raucous, tire-smoking trip up the Las Vegas Strip, before taking part in the NASCAR After the Lap presented by Ford and Sprint, an unfiltered tell-all hosted by Rutledge Wood and Courtney Hansen. All three Thursday events will be live-streamed on NASCAR.com.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards caps the weeklong bash with a black-tie gala honoring every Chase driver, hosted by comedian and TV personality Drew Carey. The formal event will also reveal the winner of the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award presented by Nationwide, shortly after balloting concludes Thursday at 11:59 p.m. ET.

RELATED: Cast your vote today

RELATED: Keep updated on the 2016 changes for drivers, crew chiefs

Stewart-Haas Racing announced Monday its crew chief lineup for the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, including high-profile changes for two of its four teams.
 
Michael Bugarewicz will become the new crew chief for team co-owner/driver Tony Stewart as he embarks on his final full season in the No. 14 Chevrolet. Billy Scott will take over as crew chief for Danica Patrick in the No. 10 Chevy.
 
Bugarewicz, a 33-year-old native of Lehighton, Pennsylvania, makes the transition from his previous role with SHR as race engineer on the No. 4 Chevrolet team for 2014 series champion Kevin Harvick. He previously spent time with Roush Fenway Racing in an engineering role for the No. 17 Ford and drivers Matt Kenseth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. from 2011-13.
 
Bugarewicz replaces Chad Johnston, who left to become the crew chief for Kyle Larson and the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet team. The 2016 season will mark Stewart’s last campaign in the sport’s top series.

RELATED: Stewart to retire from Cup after 2016 | Johnston heads to CGR
 
“We have great people at Stewart-Haas Racing and these changes prove that,” Stewart said in a release provided by the team. “We were able to promote from within while also adding new talent. Change isn’t easy, and that’s particularly true when it comes to my relationship with Chad Johnston. He served as my crew chief during two very difficult seasons. He was always supportive and he’s become like a brother to me. I think very highly of Chad and wish him nothing but the best in his new opportunity.”
 
Scott joins Stewart-Haas after an eight-year tenure as an engineer and later a crew chief with Michael Waltrip Racing, which shut its doors at season’s end. The transition reunites Scott with Rodney Childers, who joined SHR in 2014 after five years with the Waltrip-owned team.
 
The 38-year-old from Land O’ Lakes, Florida, replaces Daniel Knost, who has been promoted to the senior leadership role of manager of vehicle dynamics within the Stewart-Haas organization.
 
The driver/crew chief lineups remain intact for the two SHR teams that qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs this season. Childers will return atop the pit box for Harvick’s No. 4 entry, and Tony Gibson will again be paired with Kurt Busch in 2016.
 
“We made these changes after thoroughly evaluating our program to ensure that all four of our teams are consistently strong and competitive,” said Greg Zipadelli, Stewart-Haas Racing‘s vice president of competition. “In this business, you can’t rest and you can never be satisfied. You have to constantly improve. We feel these personnel changes enhance our strengths and shore up areas where we needed to be better.”

Lorene King, executive director of the NASCAR Foundation, has done a Q&A with each of the four finalists for the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award. They will appear on NASCAR.com this week.

RELATED: Cast your vote today

As another year comes swiftly to a close, we should all take time for reflection. As a charitable organization, we are thankful for those of you whose volunteer service impacts the lives of others and our communities.

Volunteerism remains strong with one in four adults volunteering in our country. The NASCAR Foundation has established the encouragement and support of volunteerism as one of our major efforts. Through the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award that honors our founder, Betty Jane France, we annually receive and review hundreds of nominees from which four finalists are selected.  

The stories of these four outstanding, everyday champions and the charities they serve are told through special appearances at NASCAR races, our marketing efforts and those of our supporters and sponsors. We are blessed this year that Nationwide has joined us as Presenting Sponsor of the Award and is helping us spread the word about each of our finalists and their work for children.  

This week, we are giving you a more in-depth look at each of this year’s finalists. These outstanding volunteers will touch your heart, so please stay tuned as each of these champions for children share their passion. And you can help — vote for your favorite every day, share these stories through social media, and tune in to the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards at Wynn Las Vegas at 9 p.m. ET on Dec. 4 (NBCSN), to see the winner of this year’s award.

Q: What does it mean to you to be among the finalists for The NASCAR Foundation’s Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award presented by Nationwide this year?

A: It is an honor to be a finalist for The NASCAR Foundation’s Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award presented by Nationwide. Mrs. France is an amazing role model and I am proud that my philanthropic efforts on behalf of children’s charities has been recognized for an award named in her honor.

Q: How does being selected as a finalist further your cause?

The Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF) is a small organization funding research for a big disorder: neurofibromatosis, or NF. NF affects one in 3,000 people — which is more common than Huntington’s disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis combined! Yet, you have likely never heard of it. NASCAR is one of the most popular sports in the United States. The exposure that an affiliation with The NASCAR Foundation can bring to an organization like CTF, and the awareness of NF in general, is enormous.

Q: Why did you choose to work with this organization and/or cause?

A: I was born with NF. When I was 6 years old, doctors found a tumor on my optic nerve (the nerves in your eyes) and began treatment. Chemotherapy and radiation caused me to lose my sight by the time I was 12. My first fundraising idea — Jeff’s Bistro — sold my hand-painted note cards, and I decided to donate the money to CTF. CTF is the world leader in funding NF research, and I want to help make a difference in the lives of others, who like me, are living with NF.

Q: What inspires you and your personal commitment to your cause?

A: I have been blessed. While being diagnosed with NF is not anything I would wish on anyone else, it has changed my life in ways I could not have imagined. My art makes me happy. Helping others through my art makes me happy. I don’t want to be known as the kid who lost his vision because of an NF tumor. I want to be known as the kid who used his art to raise a million dollars for charity.

Q: What has been the most rewarding moment during your work with your charity so far?

A: Working with the Children’s Tumor Foundation’s Racing4Research program has been so rewarding. In 2014 and 2015, we worked together to use my art to create liveries for six professional race cars. Not only was it amazing to see my art racing around the track at 180 mph, it was most rewarding to meet children in Daytona Beach, Florida, who live with NF and to see how much it meant to them knowing that a kid with NF had created the artwork used on the race cars. They took as much pride in those race cars as I did!

Q: Is there anything else you would like voters to know about you, your charity and your work?  

A: I am a kid from Kansas who was faced with a choice: I could have felt bad for myself because NF cost me my vision, or I could have chosen to live a life with purpose. I chose not to let my “CLOD” (my nickname for the tumor on my optic nerve) define me but to live my life with a purpose instead — to change the world through art. I hope to help find a cure for NF by raising money for the Children’s Tumor Foundation through my artwork.

RELATED: Timeline of Busch’s injury, recovery

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who missed the first 11 races of the 2015 season after suffering multiple injuries in a NASCAR XFINITY Series season-opening wreck at Daytona, confirmed he will have two additional surgeries in December.

On either Dec. 14 or Dec. 15, Busch hopes to have both procedures done at the same time — one to remove the plates and screws from his left foot and the other to remove the rod from his right leg. Those devices were put in during corrective surgery in February.

RELATED: Watch the crash that injured Busch

“When I get the foot surgery done, I haven’t heard exactly how long I’m supposed to be off of that, but the doctor made it seem as if once the plates and screws come out, I’ll be able to walk on it right away,” Busch said during a teleconference. “It’ll be to rehab to make sure that all the joints that have been immobilized for the last nine months, we get them kind of woken back up in a smooth fashion and break it in let’s say. 

“And then the leg, though, you know, I’m going to be down for probably they said about four weeks with the leg. Just having to re-go through the knee and to cut the knee open again in order to pull the rod out, that’s going to be the most traumatic part and just having that have to heal and go back together.”

Busch completed his Champion’s Tour duties on Tuesday in New York City. Next up is a stop in hometown Las Vegas for Champion’s Week.

Lorene King, executive director of the NASCAR Foundation, has done a Q&A with each of the four finalists for the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award. They will appear on NASCAR.com this week.

RELATED: Cast your vote today

As another year comes swiftly to a close, we should all take time for reflection. As a charitable organization, we are thankful for those of you whose volunteer service impacts the lives of others and our communities.

Volunteerism remains strong with one in four adults volunteering in our country. The NASCAR Foundation has established the encouragement and support of volunteerism as one of our major efforts. Through the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award that honors our founder, Betty Jane France, we annually receive and review hundreds of nominees from which four finalists are selected.  

The stories of these four outstanding, everyday champions and the charities they serve are told through special appearances at NASCAR races, our marketing efforts and those of our supporters and sponsors. We are blessed this year that Nationwide has joined us as Presenting Sponsor of the Award and is helping us spread the word about each of our finalists and their work for children.  

This week, we are giving you a more in-depth look at each of this year’s finalists. These outstanding volunteers will touch your heart, so please stay tuned as each of these champions for children share their passion. And you can help — vote for your favorite every day, share these stories through social media, and tune in to the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards at Wynn Las Vegas at 9 p.m. ET on Dec. 4 (NBCSN), to see the winner of this year’s award.

Q: What does it mean to you to be among the finalists for the NASCAR Foundation’s Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award sponsored by Nationwide?

A: To be chosen as a finalist and to be recognized for all I have done and given; to do something, helps me emotionally. Though this nomination will not bring my daughter Erin back, it comforts me greatly to be recognized for doing something, so more survive sepsis!

Q: How will being selected as a finalist further your cause?

A: Just being chosen as a finalist and competing for this year’s award requires educating people about sepsis. Less than 50 percent of Americans have heard the word, “sepsi,” yet it is the No. 3 cause of death in the United States and the No. 1 cause of death in most hospitals. Another factor furthering our cause is the exposure from The NASCAR Foundation; by highlighting this as one finalist’s cause, millions will be introduced to the word, “sepsis,” thus creating needed public awareness.

Sepsis kills more children than childhood cancer. No one even knows the total number of people, including children who survive, but who lose limbs or have disabilities sometimes for the rest of their lives.

Q: Why did you choose to work with this organization or for this cause?

A: I did not choose to work for this cause, it chose me! When we lost Erin to sepsis — something I had never heard of — I looked around for answers and support. There were none. There were no advocacy groups, no institutions dealing with this and even most nurses and other healthcare providers did not have any education on sepsis. SO, I did not choose this organization. I started it. 

Q: What inspires you and your personal commitment to this cause?

A: What inspires me has changed since I became involved. We lost Erin in April of 2002 from sepsis. I am now inspired by my Erin, plus all the unnecessary deaths and disabilities in the U.S. and worldwide. I am actually on a task force of the Global Sepsis Alliance that is working with the World Health Organization. Much to do, many to save!

Q: What is the most rewarding moment during your work with your charity so far?

A: The most rewarding moment is when I get confirmation and appreciation that I did something. Also, when I help someone survive physically or when I can help survivors heal is very rewarding. It is very rewarding and gratifying to know you are helping change the world regarding what may be the No. 1 cause of death on this planet!

RELATED: Gase takes up cause in honor of mother

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Joey Gase was as surprised as he was touched in winning the inaugural Comcast Community Champion Award at Monday night’s NASCAR XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series awards banquet.

Gase, 22, was genuinely touched by the big honor — a tribute to his mother Mary Jo, who died from a brain aneurysm when Gase was only 18 years old.

Four people representing NASCAR’s three series were among the group nominated for the award — in addition to Gase it also included Martin Truex Jr. and his girlfriend Sherry Pollex (Sprint Cup) and Martha Nemechek (grandmother of Truck series driver John Hunter Nemechek).

Truex and Pollex were nominated for the award for their work with cancer patients and Nemechek was honored for her time helping grieving families — a nod to the loss of her youngest son John, 27, who died from injuries suffered in a Truck Series race at Homestead, Florida in 1997.

Gase was absolutely surprised when his name was announced, but also extremely humbled and grateful to be the selection.

“It’s amazing,” a thankful Gase said. “It’s the first time Comcast has done this and not only to honor my mom, but to let people know we’re doing everything we can.

“I was surprised. I didn’t know what to expect for sure.”

Gase was obviously extremely touched by the award, speaking about what the $60,000 donation from Comcast will mean as he continues his work to increase awareness about organ donation.

“It is very sad, but for me and my family. … the one thing that was able to come from it was my mom was able to help 66 people and she would be proud to know that. A lot of people think only of the recipients but it’s also the other family members knowing that if it wasn’t for my mom their loved one wouldn’t be helped.”

A $30,000 donation was also made to the charitable organizations of Truex and Nemechek.