U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger congratulates Jimmie Johnson

   WASHINGTON – On Sunday, Ninth District resident Jimmie Johnson won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, his sixth championship in just eight years.

   “Jimmie Johnson is a remarkable race car driver, but I’m even more impressed with his work off the track,” commented Congressman Robert Pittenger (NC-09). “Since 2006, the Jimmie Johnson Foundation has contributed more than $5 million to charity, with a special focus on improving K-12 education in North Carolina, Oklahoma, and California.

   “Jimmie Johnson is a champion both on and off the track, and while his racing exploits will one day be memorialized in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, his quiet, off-the-track efforts to improve education will be his most significant, lasting legacy.”

   Congressman Pittenger will soon give a speech on the House floor to honor Jimmie Johnson’s community involvement, and also plans to extend an invitation to Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 Lowe’s team to attend a special Congressional reception in honor of their championship season.

It's official: Jamie McMurray has a new crew chief

   Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (EGR) announced Monday that Keith Rodden has been named crew chief for Jamie McMurray and the No. 1 Chevrolet SS. Rodden will assume the role effective immediately to prepare for the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. 

   The Observer first reported the crew chief change on Nov. 5.

   "We are very happy to get a crew chief that is the caliber of Keith,” said EGR owner Chip Ganassi. “He brings a lot of great experience with him to our organization. We are building the foundation for what we believe will be long-term success in our NASCAR operation and Keith fits into those plans perfectly. I look forward to having him in the organization and leading the No. 1 team.”

   Rodden joins EGR from Hendrick Motorsports where he was most recently in the role of lead engineer for the No. 5 Chevy and driver Kasey Kahne. In his two seasons as the lead engineer on the No. 5, the team won four races and made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in both seasons.

   “I am excited and appreciative for this opportunity and can’t wait to be just a small piece of an excellent team that Earnhardt Ganassi Racing is building,” said Rodden. “Chip has quality people and is also building great race cars. This team has shown that they can win races and compete at the highest level of this sport and I look forward to working with Jamie and everyone on the team as we work to prepare for the 2014 season.”

Forget NASCAR history, Jimmie Johnson is set to make TV history

   Newly crowned six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson will become the first athlete to guest host ESPN’s flagship news and information program "SportsCenter."

   Johnson will join regular anchors John Anderson and Lindsay Czarniak for the 6 p.m. ET show on Tuesday, Nov. 19, on ESPN.

   Billy Crystal and Ken Jeong are the only other celebrity guest hosts of SportsCenter in the show’s 34-year history. Crystal was the first in 2012 and Jeong hosted earlier this month on Nov. 1.

   “We’re always looking for opportunities to change it up and give SportsCenter viewers a different take on the day’s news, have some fun and do some memorable television,” said Jack Obringer, SportsCenter senior coordinating producer. “And having a six-time champion like Jimmie Johnson on your set is pretty cool.”

Interest high in entitlement sponsorship of NASCAR Nationwide Series

   NASCAR is receiving high interest in the entitlement sponsorship of its Nationwide Series including several familiar companies already involved in the sport.

   Nationwide Insurance Co., which is in its sixth season sponsoring NASCAR's No. 2 series, announced in September that next season will be its last in that role. The company is expanding its presence in NASCAR and will sponsor a car in the premier Sprint Cup Series.

   Subway, KFC and Dunkin' Donuts were all companies involved the last time the series sponsorship became open, several sources confirmed to The Observer.

   In addition to companies that previously expressed interest, others involved include existing NASCAR sponsorship "partners;" as well new brands in specific categories that cater to NASCAR's target demographics, such as an auto parts chains, quality service restaurants and technology and innovation companies, sources said.

   "The NASCAR Nationwide Series is one of the smartest and most effective spends in all of sports,” NASCAR chief sales officer's Jim O'Connell, said in a statement provided to The Observer.

   "We expect there to be very strong interest in this entitlement position and are highly confident a great replacement will be found."

   NASCAR officials hope to have an announcement made of the new series sponsor sometime next year.

NASCAR's explanation for not throwing red flag in Saturday's race

   Rather than display the red flag and bring Saturday's Ford 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series season finale to a halt, NASCAR elected to keep the race under caution for 12 laps while it cleaned up a three-car wreck that began on Lap 184 of 200.

   With so few laps left in the race, NASCAR has many times displayed the red flag to preserve as much of the race as possible.

   After Saturday's race, Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition was asked why no red flag was used. Here was his response:

   "It really looked like it was going to be a typical clean-up, a typical wreck. You know, you had two cars that had a lot of damage and both of them dumped quite a bit of oil. There was no need to throw a red. We felt like we could get it in normal lap segment of that. You know, unfortunately there was a lot of oil – it looked like it kept either seeping back up out of the race track or whatever from the car that was on the outside of the wall. And you know, we went one to go a handful of times trying to get back racing as soon as we can, but you know, when you’re in situations like that the most important thing is getting the track race ready. You know, you can look at you can use your hindsight every chance that you want to, but in this particular time we did the best we could to do and it was more important to get the track ready."
 

Yes, Donovan McNabb said Jimmie Johnson is 'absolutely not' an athlete

   The video speaks for itself, but Fox Sports Live guest Donovan McNabb said Friday night that five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was 'absolutely not' an athlete.

   Needless to say the remarks did not go over well among the NASCAR fan base.

   And Saturday morning, Johnson himself weighed in on his Twitter account: "I choose to be respectful. There is way too much venom spewed these days."

Who thinks Jimmie Johnson will reach eight NASCAR championships?

 

   Jimmie Johnson is very close to earning his sixth Sprint Cup Series championship, which he can do in Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. 

    That would put him one away from tying the record of seven which is held by Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt.

 

   Some might be surprised who is among the group who thinks Johnson will have no trouble setting the new record in NASCAR - Petty himself.

 

   "They’ve shown (they are capable) in the past," Petty said Friday. "If you look back and look at how long Petty Enterprises lasted and won championships and won races for a lot of years, right now and from the beginning of racing the Hendrick operation is the only one that’s done that good and lasted that long to compete with what they did with Petty Enterprises."