Some interesting quotes throughout the '07 season

So what were you thinking just before the season started way back in Daytona Beach? What were your hopes? What were your fears? Who was your pick to win the 2007 Nextel Cup Championship?

So much changes during the season. Of course, one reason for that is the length of the season. Still, it might be hard to remember everything that happened leading up to the season, and all that has unfolded since the green flag was unfurled last February. It has been quite a journey, and Jimmie Johnson has had the best ride.

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Johnson was certainly among the candidates to win the championship in 2007, but I have always believed that repeating is extremely difficult, more so in Nextel Cup competition than most other sports. I narrowed my pre-season picks to two, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth. When pushed to make a final decision, I went with Gordon. I went back and looked at the races from 2006; I compared some of Gordon's results from previous seasons where he failed to win the championship. I also added in the determination factor. Jeff Gordon is extremely competitive. I truly believed there would be extra motivation for the 24 bunch to follow-up the Johnson/Chad Knaus championship with one of their own.

Gordon started the season with a little controversy of his own at Daytona. Remember? Something about the car not being totally legal in post-race inspection but not being illegal enough to change anything except his starting position in the Daytona 500. That irked a lot of people in the garage, especially when you recall that NASCAR really sacked some teams during Speedweeks. As we have discussed during the past two weeks, Team Hendrick started strong and Gordon was in great shape after 26 races.

I enjoyed listening to team owner Rick Hendrick talk about Gordon's season. No matter what happens in Homestead, I think the quote I will take with me into the offseason is what Hendrick said about the year Gordon had through the race at Richmond and that he deserved the championship.

"I'm not a big fan of the Chase," Hendrick said. "I think with the season he's had, the wins he has and the points and the lead he had [after 26 races], Jeff Gordon should be champion. But we are where we are."

If it was a 26-race season, Gordon would have won the championship. But now when you look at what Jimmie Johnson has done the last few weeks, Hendrick can rest assured he has two championship caliber teams. One of them is going to win the Nextel Cup and I do not believe it is a lock for Johnson. I feel comfortable saying he doesn't either, but, man, what a season for those guys.

That doesn't take away from the fact I really thought Kenseth and company were a legitimate threat to win their second championship. And despite the fact, or maybe in spite of it, that crew chief Robbie Reiser got benched for a few races after infractions in Daytona, Kenseth won early. But in the Chase, Kenseth and company never really found their stride until it was too late.

I remember that earlier season conversation with Reiser. He had to stay back at the shop while his guys were racing out west. Racing, and winning, at California Speedway -- that was important and impressive. Reiser is a strong leader and his leadership skills showed that weekend. This season we have seen teams perform well when their crew chief was not at the track. In fact, don't forget NASCAR amended their suspension policy in the middle of the season. The decision was made to bar those serving their suspension from the property where the race was being held. The move came after Tony Eury Jr. was spotted hanging out in a motor coach just outside the track in New Hampshire. Eury was not the first guy to test the ground rules when it came to being put in "time-out," but he was one of the last.

The fact that teams can race and win without their number one guy on the pit box is a true tribute to leadership and organizational skills. Reiser grades out high in both. And in Victory Lane at California, Kenseth did not forget that.

"Robbie Reiser built this team. If it wasn't for Robbie none of us would be here," Kenseth said.

Kenseth even thanked Robbie over-the-air on his team radio while celebrating after the win. Kenseth added, "If you're watching."

It was a humorous jab at Reiser. Kenseth knew he was watching. Those two have come a long way since they were racing rivals in Wisconsin.

Do you remember the guy who almost won the Daytona 500? He had a strange number on the side of his car and was driving a Chevrolet instead of a Ford but that was Mark Martin charging toward the checkered flag. The place was going nuts! Martin had the lead heading into Turn 3 on the final lap. Here was a Hall of Fame driver who basically got the boot from Roush Racing, shocked everybody by announcing he had signed with Bobby Ginn and was trying to convince anyone who would listen he was only going to run a 20-something race schedule and spend the rest of the time with his family. Sure thing, Mark. Then with less than a mile to go in the season-opening race, it looked like he was going to begin the year with a win.

Remember how it all came about? Caution flags; a red flag; the intensity of those restarts, and every lap it looked like Mark Martin was finally going to become a Daytona 500 champion. And all this was happening in his first race with a new team and his new crew chief Ryan Pemberton.

"Yeah, I thought about that during the red flag," Pemberton told us the following week. "That would be pretty cool. The emotions were something else. We were leading, then there's a caution. We're leading, then there's a red flag. Then it's green-white-checkers and Mark gets a great start, for the third time. On the final lap, when they disappeared into [Turn] 3, I thought, 'Holy smokes, we got this thing.' Then, in the last few seconds, disbelief. I was kind of in a daze."

Then another one of my favorite quotes of 2007 when Pemberton said, "I think it's probably the best Daytona 500 ... that didn't have a fight at the end of it."

Martin stuck to his plan. He got out of the car while leading the Nextel Cup point race. He spent the Bristol weekend at home, barbecuing Saturday night and "replaying the wrecks" on Sunday.

Martin has not won this season. I really thought he would. But do you remember what he told us before the Bristol race?

"Over the past year, through the change of teams, the fans have been overwhelmingly supportive and that means more to me than any Nextel Cup trophy or any Daytona 500 ever would," Martin said. "The respect they have shown me, the feeling of love. I guess I have done something right, and that's the highest tribute."

One word, baby: Class.

That's part of how it all started in the early weeks of the 2007 Nextel Cup season.

We raced on through the spring and into the summer. The Hendrick teams got stronger. There were a lot of fun races. We got to Charlotte at the end of May and the 600 turned into a wild fuel mileage affair won by Casey Mears. Finally, right? How happy was that guy?

I got to work with Kyle Petty this year on the TNT races. KP has the gift for colorful conversation and he shared it with everyone during our six races. But his story after Charlotte had some of my favorite lines.

"The team was joking about having to tear down after the race," Petty said. "'Oh, we're going to have to tear down'. They were grinning from ear-to-ear."

So was he.

It was a fun night for a lot of people, and the Petty bunch was right in there with them.

Do you remember at the start of the season that so many people thought this would be the year for Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Instead it turned into his Farewell to Teresa Tour. Earnhardt joins the Hendrick Yankees in 2008 and while he hasn't won a race this season, he did leave behind some winning quotes about fans throwing stuff onto the track at Talladega.

"Go out in the parking lot with two or three beer cans and wail 'em at your car," Earnhardt said. "Don't throw them at my car. C'mon. It's a serious situation. Throw toilet paper. It's hell to clean up but it won't hurt anybody."

And when talking about all the talent within the Hendrick organization, Junior sees nothing but good things coming from the fierce but friendly competition among the four teams. Of course, he said it a little better.

"You can't sink half a ship," Earnhardt said. "Sure, nobody wants to finish second to a teammate, but with all the people there, it's good. No one or two is as smart as six or eight."

Strength in numbers, right?

I could go on, as I usually seem to do, but maybe in couple of weeks we'll take another look at what some of the guys said during the 2007 season.

But as we get ready for Homestead, think about this for just a moment. Isn't this sport fun? Drivers make fans feel like part of the team and fans make drivers feel like part of the family. We get to watch races where you really don't know what's going to happen next and what the guys are going to say about it. I don't know if it is more fun to tell the stories, or listen to them. I'm lucky, I get to do both.

I hope you have enjoyed the ride. Now let's sit back, put the feet up and watch the last event of the season and see who wins the race and who the 2007 Nextel Cup champion is.

To accomplish either one of those feats it's going to take a little luck, and as Earnhardt Jr. said, "Ain't no store where you can buy that."

The opinions expressed are those solely of the writer