Via on-line voting by sports fans, Jeff Gordon won the Best Driver Award Wednesday night at the 15th Annual ESPY Awards held in the Kodak Theatre. Gordon bested his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, Daytona 500 champion Kevin Harvick, IndyCar Series champion Sam Hornish Jr., Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti and NHRA Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher. Winning an ESPY is an honor, Gordon said. It’s one of the most prestigious awards in sports. It’s a credit to how the No. 24 DuPont team performed over the last year. Hopefully we can continue to have success through the end of this season and be in contention for next year’s award as well. In addition, Talladega Nights, the popular comedy starring Will Farrell, gave NASCAR its second victory of the night by winning in the Best Sports Movie category. Other films in the category were We Are Marshall, Pride, and Invincible. Jimmie Johnson was nominated in the Best Championship Performance category. That award went to Peyton Manning, quarterback for the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts. Kevin Harvick was also part of another nomination for NASCAR, as this year’s Daytona 500 in which Harvick edged Mark Martin by 0.02-seconds was nominated in the Best Finish category. That award was won by last September’s 11-10 Los Angeles Dodgers victory over the San Diego Padres; the Dodgers had four consecutive home runs in the ninth inning to tie the game 9-9, then had another homer in the 10th inning to win. Wednesday night’s ceremonies were hosted by comedian/talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and NBA star LeBron James. The show will be broadcast on Sunday at 9pm/et, on ESPN more info on the ESPY’s page.(NASCAR PR)(7-12-2007)
