Story by: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Matt Cullom
Nashville, TN–
It looks like NASCAR is going to fit right in nicely here in Nashville as tonight concluded the final day of events with a star studded red carpet and awards ceremony at the Music City Center downtown.
Quite a few stars from the country music world hit the Black Carpet tonight as well that included Darrius Rucker, Billy Currington along with some other notables like Eddie George and Jay Cutler, who attended with Kristin Cavallari just to name a few. Its a safe bet to say this was a good start to what NASCAR would like to do to plant some serious roots in the city going forward.
Thursday night’s soirée featured quite a few jokes along the way and of course a chance for Kyle Busch to get up on stage and talk about all of the hard work his team put into making this happen.
In a season of remarkable accomplishments, Joe Gibbs Racing, however, competed with sadness for the loss of team president J.D. Gibbs, son of founder Joe Gibbs, who died in January after a long battle against a neurological disorder.
That was one of the first things Busch acknowledged after receiving his championship ring from NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France.
“Every single person dug a little deeper and gave a little more, even though they raced with heavy hearts,” said Busch, who had nothing but praise for crew chief Adam Stevens and his No. 18 Toyota team.
“No matter what was thrown at them, they never gave up. They were able to finish off that final race at Homestead with their best performance.”
The evening continued with musical performances from country stars Cassadee Pope and Chris Janson.
