Title belongs to Johnson, but '07 belonged to Junior (cont'd)

6. Open-wheel invasion
Montoya might have made it look too easy. Now here come Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier, all ready to try the same thing. Who's next, Kimi Raikkonen? Fernando Alonso? The ghost of Juan Manuel Fangio? And meanwhile, some talented late-model driver on a local track never gets discovered.

7. Inauspicious debut
You knew it was going to be a tough year for Toyota when its flagship team was hammered by NASCAR for using a fuel additive prior to the Daytona 500. The entire season was a struggle, full of missed races and low finishes that made you wonder where the beast's teeth were. They come out next year in the form of Joe Gibbs Racing.

8. Fear and loathing on Fridays
For teams outside the top 35 in owner points, Fridays were the whole race weekend. With the arrival of Toyota and the influx of more fully-funded teams, qualifying day brought hand-wringing on an epic scale. Yet strangely, those struggles attracted attention; for the first half of the season, at least, who was in or out on Friday was a big story.

9. Tuning out?
Look at all those empty seats! Look at all those low television numbers! Some Uruguayan blog reports that Brian France is going to sell NASCAR to a European banking consortium and go buy an NFL team! They sky is falling! The sky is falling! Until Dale Jr. wins a few races, that is.

10. Part time, no problem
For Mark Martin, the livin' was easy. The veteran proved that a part-time schedule could work, nearly winning the Daytona 500 and running well enough that he hung around the edges of Chase contention despite having fewer starts than everyone else. Hopefully, he can continue the trend next year at DEI.

Surprises

3. Dave Blaney
Michael Waltrip Racing had the names. Team Red Bull had the bottomless pockets. But among all the Toyota teams, only Blaney has the guaranteed starting spot for the first five races of next year. Driving Bill Davis' No. 22 car, his four top-10s and one pole were relatively modest accomplishments. But he finished seven spots ahead of the next Toyota driver in the point standings, and won't have to worry about missing the Daytona 500.

2. Martin Truex Jr.
Who would lead Dale Earnhardt Inc. after Earnhardt Jr. moved on? That question hung in the air for about a week, until the other Junior won at Dover to ignite a furious second half that resulted in a Chase berth. His timing was impeccable, and critical to an organization that will be very green next season. What clicked? Who knows. But Truex evolved from project to contender just as his team needed it most.

1. Clint Bowyer
Just Clint, as the folks back in Emporia, Kan., still call him, seemed on the brink of winning races all year. But nobody expected him to emerge as a championship contender, and finish third in the Chase behind the Hendrick two-headed monster of Johnson and Gordon. No question, the kid can drive it. Now comes the hard part: Backing it up next year.

Disappointments

3. The Chase
Sorry, NASCAR, but the boys in the garage have this thing figured out. Even with some added bonuses for race wins, the system almost promotes conservatism, the very thing it's designed to prevent. With every year, there's less suspense in the cut-off race at Richmond. With every year, there's less suspense in the finale at Homestead. How much longer will those trends continue?

2. Gillett Evernham Motorsports
Is this really the same organization that placed drivers in the Chase in 2004, 2005 and 2006? A team that once seemed on the brink of playing with the big boys has collapsed, with Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler managing only one top-five finish between them all year. Errors in car development set the team back, and the addition of primary owner George Gillett has led to some curious moves  like giving the unproven Carpentier a full-time ride  that lead us to wonder if founder Ray Evernham is making as many decisions as he should be.

1. ESPN
The all-sports network was supposed to be the savior, the one entity that appealed to old-schoolers who remembered when only ESPN cared about NASCAR, and held the potential to attract the casual fans the sport craves. Instead, ESPN's return to NASCAR was a muddled mess, with too many voices, ridiculous graphics, and startling gaffes in production. Perhaps it's time to unplug Draft Tracker, cut loose Suzy Kolber, Brent Musberger, and Brad Daugherty, and concentrate on all those missed restarts. Stop trying to turn it into the Olympics, gang. Take a cue from CBS's NFL coverage, and let the action tell the story.

With little fanfare before his entry to Cup and now with back-to-back championships, David Caraviello says Jimmie Johnson may be the sport's most impressive discovery.

• Complete story, click here
• How the Chase was won
• Johnson's '07 dominance
• Estes: From the champ's pit
• Cross: Face of Nextel Cup era

Awards

Driver of the Year: Gordon
Sure, his teammate won the title. But there's something to be said for a guy who had 30 top-10 finishes in 36 races, had an average finish of 5.1 in the Chase, and would have won the title under the old system. Having a cute baby doesn't hurt.

• Runner-up: Johnson. The machine shows no sign of slowing down.

• Honorable mention: Montoya, who rarely looked lost in his first season in stock-cars, and set the bar for all the open-wheel expatriates to follow with a victory and six top-10 finishes.

Crew Chief of the Year: Gil Martin, RCR
The savvy, laid-back Martin helped the often excitable Bowyer to a breakthrough season and third-place points finish.

• Runner-up: Chad Knaus, the Evernham of today.

• Honorable mention: Doug Randolph, who breathed some life into Petty Enterprises before bolting to DEI.

Owner of the Year: Rick Hendrick
His four drivers all won races, and finished first, second, fifth and 15th and final points. Plus, he gets Junior.

• Runner-up: Richard Childress, who placed all three members of his stable in the Chase.

• Honorable mention: Jack Roush, who has a solid 2008 title threat in Matt Kenseth, a fleet of other contenders, and was somehow able to convince NASCAR to let him expand to seven cars. Sort of.

Race of the Year: Centurion Boats at the Glen, Watkins Glen
Montoya and Kevin Harvick crash and get into it. Gordon has the thing won until he overshoots the first turn at the end. Great action from start to finish, and a solid argument for more road-course racing on the schedule.

• Runner-up: Daytona 500. Plenty of controversy, especially at the end.

• Honorable mention: Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, just for the fabulous Johnson vs. Kenseth finish.

Early 2008 championship pick: Johnson
Get used to it. The New England Patriots of NASCAR have the new chassis figured out better than anyone, Knaus is an unparalleled mechanical genius regardless of what people think of him, and Johnson is the clear favorite to tie Cale Yarborough's mark of three titles in a row.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.