Collegiate Football Rivalries Enter NASCAR

Do you think "Chris Rix" is the equivalent of a four-letter word? Do you wear jean shorts? If you answered yes to either question, then the NEXTEL Cup has something for you. In a first for NASCAR racing, college rivalries from the gridiron will settle the score on the track. Scott Riggs' No. 10 Florida State Seminoles car and Kyle Petty's No. 45 Florida Gators car will face off at the Ford 400 this Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The sponsorship is designed to give sports fans one more opportunity to gear up for the intra-Florida rivalry on the football field set for the following week.

The Company expects to create excitement due to the tremendous fan cross-over among the two sports. Exciting, isn't it? Just like the universities they'll represent, these drivers are right in the thick of title hunt... or not. This would be a great idea if the drivers were Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson (or anyone that actually matters) going after the final title of The Chase in, say, USC Texas, Miami, and LSU cars. But they're not! It's a nobody and a has-been racing cars sponsored by this season's also-rans. Good choice, NEXTEL. If they're going to stick with the Florida-Florida State theme, the least they can do is slap those sponsorships on the top cars and then pay Jeff Gordon to drive the South Carolina Cocks car... he can knock Tony Stewart out of the Chase at the last minute just for laughs.