b1202kurtAmid the festivities and silliness of Champions Week, there have been some serious, even sobering moments. Kurt Busch, who's had a rough season from a public relations perspective, acknowledged this week that he's seeing a sports psychologist.

"I need to be a better person on the radio, to the team, as a leader," Busch said. "It's personal issues, of course, and working with a sports psychologist, I've gotten obviously a small grasp, but there's obviously bigger things that I need to accomplish and things can't happen overnight."

[ Related: Four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon breakdances ]

Busch marred a promising year with several outbursts, ranging from profane radio chatter to unruly behavior at Richmond to a foul-mouthed shot at Homestead captured on YouTube. He became a walking punch line — we too got in on the jokes — who could explode in rage at any moment.

But the revelation that he's seeing a sports psychologist is very good news indeed. Certainly, there will be those

b0912jrDo yourself a favor and sit down before you read this. Oh, you're already sitting down? OK, cool. Maybe lay down, then, and read this from a prone position. We don't want you to hurt yourself from the shock of the news we're about to tell you.

Ready? OK, here it is: Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won NASCAR's most popular driver award.

I know, crazy, right? But this is the world we're living in now. Junior was named the NASCAR National Motorsports Press Association's Most Popular Driver for the ninth straight year.

Junior took the highest number of the nearly 1.5 million votes cast in the 2011 effort, sponsored by Wheaties Fuel. He beat out the other nine finalists: Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart.

[ Related: Four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon breakdances ]

You know the rest: Junior was honored, he's hoping to build on the momentum of this year, et cetera et cetera. To be sure, this was a

b1201kesAmazing things happen when you go on a historic run and vault your way into the Chase, like multi-year contract extensions.

As recently as July, Brad Keselowski was looking like a talented but undistinguished member of the Sprint Cup field, running in the 20s and performing weakly enough that Kurt Busch complained of having no teammate assistance.

Things change in a hurry. Keselowski won three races, very nearly vaulting himself into the Chase on rank. (Side note: if he had, he would have bumped out eventual champ Tony Stewart.) He snagged a wild card, and would go on to finish fifth in the standings, ahead of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and both Busch brothers. Not a bad turnaround, huh?

As a result of his performance, Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe have received contract extensions from Penske. While Penske didn't disclose exact terms, both deals were "multiple-year" arrangements. Wolfe had previously crewed Keselowski to the 2010 Nationwide championship.

Keselowski has, as

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Ever dreamed of having a NASCAR show car to call your own? Or wondered if you could have a COT wing after they were replaced by the spoilers that are on the current cars?

Well, if you've got some spare cash lying around, you're in luck. Richard Childress Racing is auctioning off some equipment and parts on December 6. (We hear that driveshafts make great Christmas presents.)

Some of the items up for bid include the car chassis , an old Clint Bowyer or Casey Mears era Jack Daniel's show car without the drive train, random car parts and even a copier and an ice maker. RCR is downsizing from four Sprint Cup teams to three after the departure of Bowyer to Michael Waltrip Racing.

If you want some of the stuff, you can sign up at the auction site. We're thinking that this may be a great time to finally go through with our threats to start our own NASCAR team. There seem to be plenty of qualified drivers available.

(If you participate in the online auction or head on over in person, drop us

b1201tony

Champions Week has begun in Las Vegas, and for a few days your favorite NASCAR drivers plunge into a world where they're both the bringers and the butts of jokes — you know, pretty much like every day around these parts.

The festivities kicked off with a version of "The Newlywed Game," hosted by none other than Bob Eubanks himself. Teammates (and occasional rivals) paired up to answer questions about the other, in often sick and twisted fashion. The teams were:

• Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman
• Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth
• Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson
• Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch
• Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch
• Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The Stewart-Haas boys won the day by correctly picking what the other would say about them (follow that?). A few of the key one-liners:

• Kenseth said Edwards' most annoying habit was being late. "You're also late crossing the finish line," Eubanks added. Twist that knife!

• Who would Stewart bump out of the way on the last lap to

b1130tony1

It's Champions Week in Vegas, and Tony Stewart is toting his Sprint Cup championship trophy anywhere and everywhere he can. Behold a photo gallery of Smoke in Vegas...

b1130addingtonWelcome to the latest Happy Hour mailbag! You know how these work: You write us with your best rant/ joke/one-liner at happyhournascar@yahoogroups.com (note new address) or on Twitter at @jaybusbee, we respond to your messages, everyone goes away with a smile on their face.

Remember, even though the season's done, we're not. Usual nonsense here every day of the week. And hey, if you want to get a letter printed, NOW IS THE TIME. We'll need plenty o'material for this feature each week.

For now, we start by considering the sanity of one of the offseason's central figures ...

Does Steve Addington have a fetish for the undercarriage of multi-passenger conveyances? Why else would he sign on with a third straight driver that WILL throw his crew chief under the bus?

— JT

Ah, undercarriage fetishes. The reason why the internet was invented. Tip: do NOT do a search on the phrase "undercarriage fetishes." Some things you just can't unsee. Anyway, where were we? Oh, yeah, Addington. Yeah, you do have to wonder a bit about his sanity in dealing with the three most notorious hotheads in NASCAR today. Shoot, I'd put them in the top 10 all-time.

But look at it this way: Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart are also three of the most talented drivers in the sport. And if you happen to be the type of person who can let torrents of rage roll off you like rain off a roof, hey, you're going to be running up front all season long. It's a small price to pay for getting the top layer of your skin peeled off over the radio every Sunday.

Plus, have we established that Addington is not, in fact, deaf? Because if he were, that would explain an awful lot.

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Brian Barnhart is set to be removed from his position officiating Izod IndyCar Series races.

According to a report from SPEED.com, Barnhart has been offered to stay within IndyCar but his new position wouldn't be involved with race control.

From Speed:

SPEED can report that Barnhart will be offered to stay on the payroll as president of operations but will no longer have anything to do with the officiating or managing of IZOD IndyCar Series races.

INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard was unavailable for comment but indicated a few weeks ago that some major changes were forthcoming.

In addition to removing Barnhart as chief steward and director of racing, Bernard is also replacing Terry Angstadt with Mark Koretzky, who served as director of business development for IndyCar in 2011.

IndyCar has had an uneven recent history when it comes to race control decisions from the disbursement of blocking penalties to the starting of the Baltimore Grand Prix when there was still a safety vehicle