NASCAR Gets Another Win with Dale Earnhardt Jr. News

The NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon was held today at the Bellagio Ballroom in Las Vegas where the 2011 NASCAR Most Most Popular Driver award was given out along with other significant awards.

Brian France stepped to the podium and expressed his thoughts about the tremendous season and thanked Jimmie Johnson for being such a great champion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Mike Joy then took to the stage to begin the awards ceremony, the first being the NASCAR/Sunoco Rookie of the Year. This ROY recognition has taken place since 1954, but this was the first NASCAR Sprint Cup/Sunoco Award.

Andy Lally, driver for TRG Motorsports, was the recipient of this year's NASCAR/Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award. Lally said, "I dreamed about this since I was a little kid." 

The second announcement was for the Champion Buddy Shuman Award which has been presented since 1957. It went to Richard Childress for his involvement and promotion of the sport from the time he began as a driver nearly 50 years ago.

Toyota was recognized for their commercial fan interaction, specifically with the Toyota Sponsafier Program that allowed fans to design their own race cars.

The 12 NASCAR Chase drivers were then introduced on stage starting with Kyle Busch and working up to our new NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, Tony Stewart.

Matt Kenseth received the 1st Annual Sunoco Restart Award.

For the ninth time in a row, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Wheaties Fuel NASCAR Most Popular Driver Award as the result of some 1.5 million fan votes.

Earnhardt said, "My fans wear this as a badge of honor." He expressed his gratitiude to Junior Nation and to all fans of the sport.

Crew Chief of the Year Award was sponsored by Direct TV and went to Bob Osborne. He is the crew chief for the No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford driven by Carl Edwards.

The Coors Pole Award was presented to Carl Edwards. There were 18 different pole winners during the 2011 season.

The Moog Problem Solving trophy went to Jeff Gordon's crew chief on his No. 24 Chevrolet, Alan Gustafson.

The 11th presentation of the Mechanix Wear Most Valuable Pit Crew Award was presented to the pit crew for the No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford driven by Edwards.

The Mahle Engine Builder of the Year Award was presented to Doug Yates and the Goodyear Gatorback Belts Fastest Lap award went to Kyle Busch.

Tony Stewart was recognized with several awards, including the O'Reilly Auto Parts Position Improvement Award, Mobil 1 Driver of the Year Award and the Sunoco Diamond Performance Award.

One of the coolest trophies that is given out each year comes from Goodyear. They presented Stewart with a 1/12 model 14-karat gold replica of his No. 14 Chevrolet.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sponsorship Award went to Office Depot and Mobil 1, sponsor for Stewart's team.

The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Crew Chief Award went to Darian Grubb for his gutsy fuel call that he made at Homestead-Miami Speedway when he told his driver to conserve and for his performance in leading his team to the championship.

An emotional Grubb accepted the award and thanked many people including Stewart. He was given a standing ovation as he departed the stage.

The National Motorsports Press Association honored Drs. Joseph and Rose Mattioli of Pocono Raceway with the Myers Brothers Award.

A total of $1.1 million was dispensed with the awards and some $360,000 of it went to the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion.

Quotes were courtesy of the live video provided by NASCAR.com.