His trademark black Chevrolet, the No. 3 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Monte Carlo, is one of the the most recognizable vehicles in NASCAR history. Unfortunately, Earnhardt was not invincible.

That became a sobering reality when he died tragically in a last-lap crash on Feb. 18, 2001, in the Daytona 500 while helping two cars he owned -- driven by Michael Waltrip and son Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- finish first and second.

He is a blue jeans and tennis shoes kind of guy. And his simple approach has not only won him over with NASCAR's fans, but it has also helped him to win a lot of races. The proof is in the numbers.

In 2000, the spectators voted Elliott NASCAR's Most Popular Driver for the 10th straight year and 15th time in the last 17 seasons.

Meanwhile, in 25-plus years of competing at the Winston Cup level, he has taken the checkered flag 42 times -- twice at the Daytona 500 (1985 and '87) -- and won the series points championship in 1988. For Elliott's part, he could have never imagined he would have had success like this when he started competing in the Cup ranks with his family-owned Elliott racing machine in 1976.

	Tony Stewart

Stewart, the defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion, said he and Gibbs have yet to talk about extending the contract but was hopeful that would happen soon.

Gibbs recently extended the contract of Stewart's teammate, Bobby Labonte, through the 2008 season and has talked with Stewart's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, about extending Stewart's deal, too.

After the race, Biffle called Gordon's team "two-faced" for allegedly backing out on a deal where Biffle would let Gordon go on a restart if Gordon allowed Biffle to get back on the lead lap.

"It should be the opposite. It should be that I wasn't real happy with him," Gordon said Friday at Pocono Raceway. "I didn't really say much, but he was very sadly mistaken that there was any deal.