Six NASCAR drivers make Power 100

   The 2012 Power 100 ranking of the most powerful professional athletes in the U.S was released Wednesday night by Bloomberg/Businessweek, revealing six NASCAR drivers in the top 100. 

   Bloomberg Businessweek teamed up CSE, a leading integrated marketing agency that created the Power 100 list for the third consecutive year using proprietary methodology; Rick Horrow, host of Bloomberg TV "Sportfolio," and CEO of Horrow Sports Ventures and the Nielsen/E-Poll N-Score.

   The NASCAR drivers who made the poll:

   No. 22 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

   No. 29 Jeff Gordon

   No. 37 Jimmie Johnson

   No. 60 Tony Stewart

   No. 62 Carl Edwards

   No. 92 Kevin Harvick

   CSE’s Analytics team, lead by VP, Analytics, David Newman, evaluated more than 3,000 athletes across a variety of sports, with 50 percent based on"off-field" measurements and 50 percent on "on-field" performance. CSE’s proprietary analytics utilizes a range of industry statistics, including data from E-Poll.

   The New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees (No. 1), Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers (No. 2) and New England Patriots’ Tom Brady (No. 3) topped the poll.

   For more information on the poll, go here.

Brendan Gaughan returns to Cup

   Veteran NASCAR driver Brendan Gaughan will compete in four Sprint Cup Series races for Richard Childress Racing in 2012 in addition to his previously announced 18-race NASCAR Nationwide and Truck series schedule with the organization.

   Gaughan, 36, competed full time in the Cup Series during the 2004 season, finishing 28^th in points with one top-five and four top-10 finishes in 36 starts. He competed full time in the Nationwide Series in 2009 and 2010, earning one pole and 17 top-10 finishes in 71 career starts. He finished ninth in points in  2009 and 11^th in 2010.

   Leading the effort for the No. 33 team will be veteran crew chief Gil Martin, RCR's Nationwide Series program team manager. Martin has been at RCR since 2000 and has served as crew chief for Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Casey Mears, Kerry Earnhardt and Robby Gordon.

   "The opportunity to run four races for Richard Childress in the Sprint Cup Series is truly amazing,' said Gaughan. "RCR has top-notch equipment and teamed me with a winning crew chief in Gil Martin. Everyone deserves a second chance and I am ecstatic that my second chance in the Sprint Cup Series is in the No. 33 Chevrolet with RCR."

    Gaughan's four-race Cup Series schedule will kick-off at Phoenix in March, followed by a doubleheader weekend where Gaughan will pilot the No. 33 South Point Chevrolet in both the Nationwide and Cup events at Las Vegas. Completing his 2012 schedule is Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, Calif.) in March.