-By Aaron Rosser

Christmas is the time for many things. Of course, there's all the good stuff like joy, giving, and the warm feeling in your heart you get when you see people you care about smiling and having fun.

There's also getting your Santa on. By that I mean eating a lot of food and drinking a lot of Ol' St. Nick's favorite drink. Milk? Heck no! I mean Coca-Cola Classic!

And it's as I sit here, partaking in yet another Santa Soda that my mind turns inevitably to motorsports.

A recent study showed that Coca-Cola benefits more from its racing sponsorship than any other company with corporate stake in the sport. And I'm a perfect example of that. Not only am I a commited drinker of Coca-Cola products - Sprite and The Real Thing, mainly, - but my list of favorite drivers is stacked heavily with Coca-Cola Racing Family members.

My favorite driver, of course, is Tony Stewart, and Coca-Cola is Smoke's longest-running sponsorship, longer even than the Old Spice partnership. My second-favorite driver, Kevin Harvick, also has a longtime association with Coke.

Now is that the only reason I root for Tony or Kevin? Of course not. And when a company like Coke has such a large base of drivers, its to be expected that you might find yourself as a fan of a couple of them.

But consider this: Coca-Cola's driver roster includes, in addition to Stewart and Harvick: Bobby Labonte, Bill Elliott, Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann, Martin Truex, Jr., and Waltrip himself, Roush-Fenway Racing's David Ragan, and, after finally bringing his long-time association with that other soda maker through its Gatorade brand to an end after the 2009 season (better late than never), Ryan Newman.

Coke also has partnerships with NOS Energy Drink (Kyle Busch) and Vitaminwater (Carl Edwards).

Now, is it coincidence or not that those thirteen drivers make up nearly my entire favorite drivers list, with only Mark Martin infiltrating from the outside? And even then, come on, its Mark Martin. Even if his car was full-time sponsored by Pep...Pepso...Pepsart...Pepsulaka...nope can't say it....I'd be a fan, so does he really count?

Obviously the Coca-Cola association isn't my only reason for rooting for any of the drivers listed above. But it is interesting that they all have that bind. Hey, perhaps its proof that Coca-Cola drinkers really are the best.

So have a Coke and a smile.

Aaron Rosser is an amateur NASCAR writer, cartoonist, and lifelong fan from Northwest Georgia. His favorite drivers include Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, and Bobby Labonte. He can be reached at arosser20ts@hotmail.com or on twitter (@RedChevy14) and his cartoons can be viewed on twitter @garagetoons