The Cardinals vs the Steelers? Place your bets

   
   


   

   
Kyle Busch: The man who should have won the 2008 NASCAR championship? (Photo: Toyota Motorsports)

   
   

By Mike Mulhern
mikemulhern.net

   CONCORD, N.C.
   So it's Super Bowl Sunday, eh?
   Just slipped up on me somehow.
   So where's the smart NASCAR money going?
   Kyle Busch says "I'm going to go with the Arizona Cardinals.
   "There's really no reason why….I'm just not a big fan of the Steelers.
   "I'm going to go with 24-21 as the final score.
    "I'm kind of friends with Kurt Warner, so I would really like to see him win. I got to spend some time with him at a Super Bowl party last year in Phoenix. Kurt came around the room and we talked a little bit. So it would be great to see him do well and the Cardinals win."
    Teammate Denny Hamlin goes the same way: "I would take the Cardinals and the points. 
    "They are playing really well now, and in the playoffs that momentum is worth a lot.
    "Kurt Warner looks like he did when he was winning with the Rams, and he has some really good receivers that are coming down with everything he puts up. 
    "The Steelers have a great D, so it will be tight. But I still like the Cards."
     Joey Logano, taking Tony Stewart's spot in the Joe Gibbs' lineup, agrees with me: "I have to admit, I'm not a huge football fan.
   "I did follow the Redskins a little when Coach Gibbs was there. 
    "But it's tough when you race during most of the football season.
    "This year I'm pulling for Pittsburgh; they are closer to where I grew up (Middleton, Conn.).
    "Anyway, I have a 50-50 chance of being right."
    David Reutimann picks the Cards: "I like the underdog side of the deal.
    "I'm from the Tampa area, and everyone down there says it's been pretty crazy so far. 
    "Nobody I know has enough money to buy a ticket, so I'm sure they'll all be watching somewhere…like me."
    And the irrepressible Scott Speed, who, during his last few years in Formula One, spent the winter months skiing and snowmobiling in the Austrian Alps, rather than watching TV (though he is from California's San Joaquin Valley)?
    "I went to my first NFL game a couple weeks ago, when the Panthers played the Cardinals in the playoffs," Speed says. "The Panthers lost really badly, because the Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald caught everything that got thrown in the sky.
    "I'm pulling for the Cardinals to win the Super Bowl, for sure. Fitzgerald is the man. He has sticky fingers. 
    "I don't like the Steelers. Not for any particular reason, I just don't like them. I think they're bullies.
   "So on Sunday I'm going to have some friends over to my house to watch the game."
    Put Michael Waltrip in the Arizona camp: "All of my friends are Pittsburgh Steelers fans… so I hope the Cardinals win. 
    "Plus, I love Kurt Warner…because he's old like me. Really not quite like me. 
    "I've got to fly home from California on a red-eye Saturday night, after an appearance for NAPA in Sacramento.  Hopefully I will get home in  time to get a couple hours of sleep and then enjoy the game."
    Johnny Benson (a man to keep an eye on this season, perhaps for a Cup ride – he won the Truck championship last season, in a terrific duel with Ron Hornaday…only to lose that ride when Bill Davis sold the team) says he's playing the odds: "I like Pittsburgh. Their defense is awesome.
    "Ben Roethlisberger is cool under pressure and does a really good job.
    "I think the Cardinals are a good team too, but I just think the Steelers have the upper hand. 
    "Pittsburgh made it this far because they're a really good team and their coach does a good job.
    "I'm even trying to get tickets so I can go to the game."