The best thing about NASCAR ain’t the driving…

The NASCAR drivers who voted yesterday’s Grid Girl of the Day Athena Barber as the sexiest WAG on the track may have missed a trick by denying Ingrid Vandebosch top spot. She is a Belgian model who married wheel jockey Jeff Gordon in 2006, and thoroughly earned a centerpiece position in the ‘Athelete’s Wives’ section of the Sports Illustrated 2008 Swimsuit Issue.

Thursday’s online truck stop

• You know you want a Jeff Gordon action figure. Comes with free “choking hazard” sticker. Awesome [From the Marbles]

• Nascar is bad for the environment. How is that news? [With Leather]

• Takuma Sato’s undeniable Japaneseness of great interest to Honda and Red Bull [F1 Live]

• First pics of Mazda’s sleek new Kiyora concept car [Car]

• Sebastian Vettel wasted at Red Bull? [Times F1 blog]

Nascar star pays tribute to his charming Milf wife

In an interview with People, Jeff Gordon gushed about how lucky he is to be married to The Undeniable Hotness That Is Ingrid Vandebosch: “She’s an amazing wife and mother,” Gordon said. “You’ve got to have a wife that’s very understanding. I’m lucky to have that.”

(It also helps to have a wife who looks like Ingrid Vandebosch.)

And if that isn’t a good excuse to print a bikini-themed pic of the Undeniable Hotness That Is Ingrid Vandebosch, then nothing is.

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Out-of-form Nascar star beaten by petrolhead pop star

You know your season is in the shithouse when you can’t even beat a damn A-list celebrity in a remote-controlled car race.

But that’s what happened to Jeff Gordon when he faced off against Pharrell Williams at the Avalon nightclub in Hollywood, prior to Sunday’s Pepsi 500. The race was a PR stunt devised by - you guessed it - Pepsi, who not only sponsor the main event but also pay Pharrell a tidy sum to publicly eschew Coca-Cola.

More pics below, plus a video of the race:

Nascar star frustrated by bad form…

… Still, at least he has a hot wife.

At this stage of the 2007 Nascar season, Jeff Gordon was leading the championship with four wins and a 344-point lead. Fast forward one year and he’s winless, in sixth place, a massive 500 points behind leader Kyle Busch.

So what’s gone wrong?

Jeff Gordon’s missus is hawt

Successful racing drivers get the finest women. And there are few finer than Ingrid Vandebosch, Jeff Gordon’s wife.

Vandebosch, who comes from Belgium, is a supermodel-slash-actress. She featured in Sports Illustrated’s latest Swimsuit Issue - not bad for a 38-year-old. (Yep, you’re thinking what we’re thinking - she looks pretty damn good for a 38-year-old.)

She married Gordon in 2006. The couple now have a baby girl, Ella, who was born in June 2007.

A couple more photos and a bonus video are one click away…