Title belongs to Johnson, but '07 belonged to Junior

He has a second consecutive championship and the big silver trophy, and next week will receive a check worth several million dollars. The 2007 season concluded as it began, with Jimmie Johnson as the man to beat. He fully deserves it -- you seize control of a title hunt by winning four in a row and erasing a 68-point lead by the sport's most successful active driver, and you've earned it, brother. Sure, Johnson got an assist from the system. But he still needed to produce results, which he and his No. 48 team did unquestionably.

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By winning his second consecutive championship, something no one has done in a decade, Johnson propelled himself toward greatness. But even those historic exploits weren't enough to unseat another driver as the year's top newsmaker, one who didn't make the Chase or even win a race. Yes, the title belongs to Johnson. But the season was dominated by Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose divorce from the team his late father founded and alliance with the sport's top organization consumed 2007 from beginning to end.

The story had a massive, 11-month arc. In January, Dale Jr. and his stepmother, Dale Earnhardt Inc. owner Teresa Earnhardt, appeared on stage together during the sport's media tour, and played nice for the public. One month later, Dale was demanding 51 percent of the company. We learned that Dale and Teresa couldn't be in the same room with one another, and that newly installed company president Max Siegel was trying desperately to keep it all from coming apart.

Which eventually it did, with spectacular results. In May, Dale announced he was leaving DEI. Everybody wanted a seat at the table -- Richard Childress, Joe Gibbs, even Bobby Ginn, who played the role of ornery upstart before selling out and leaving dozens of employees in the lurch. In June, Earnhardt announced that "my new boss" was Rick Hendrick, the soon-to-be seven-time championship car owner and overseer of NASCAR's top team. Both sides beamed. At last, the soap opera was over.

But it wasn't. There was still wrangling to be done over Junior's car number, and a failed bid to secure the No. 8 from DEI that crystallized just how at odds Dale Jr. and his stepmother were. There was the acquisition of crew chief Tony Eury Jr. There was that test session at Atlanta, when Earnhardt slipped into Hendrick gear for the first time. There were all those engine failures, all those unfounded rumors of bad parts and sabotage, and that unfulfilling finish last week at Homestead that was a microcosm of the whole year.

And there were the aftereffects. Because of Junior's move, Hendrick had to bump Kyle Busch, who moved to Joe Gibbs Racing to replace J.J. Yeley, who unseated Tony Raines at Hall of Fame Racing. DEI absorbed Ginn's team, adding Mark Martin, Aric Almirola and Regan Smith, and leaving Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek jobless. Mountain Dew and National Guard replaced Budweiser, which replaced Dodge Dealers on Kasey Kahne's car. Casey Mears was moved from Hendrick's No. 25 team to its No. 5. And Tony Gibson, Eury's understudy at DEI, became a crew chief.

Some people are quick to dismiss Junior, claiming he's a media creation or that he's living off his father's name or that he hasn't won enough to deserve all the attention he receives. But to all those thousands of people in the grandstands who wore red No. 8 apparel, he matters. He's important enough that when he's not winning, television numbers drop. And he's influential enough that when he makes decisions, hundreds of little dominoes fall. Just as we all witnessed this year.

The rest of the top 10 stories of 2007:

2. Gordon's year
Four-time champ Jeff Gordon built a massive championship lead and had it taken away from him by the system. He built a little championship lead and had it taken away from him by a teammate. He collected top-10 finishes like loose change. He had a baby. He smiled through all of it.

3. Back-to-back
Johnson became the first driver to win consecutive titles since Gordon did it in 1997-98. He achieved it in impressive fashion, winning four consecutive races in the Chase to take control, and never letting up.

4. Tomorrow is now
It was tough to adjust. It was hard to handle. The protective foam caught on fire. Crew chiefs were fined and suspended for finagling with it. From a technical standpoint, nothing dominated 2007 more than the Car of Tomorrow, that rolling work in progress, which as of now is the standard Sprint Cup chassis. Enjoy it, boys.

5. Montoya's mark
He won a Busch race at Mexico City, won a Nextel Cup race at Infineon Raceway, and nearly snatched an oval-track victory at Indianapolis. Along the way, former Formula One star and Indy 500 champ Juan Montoya collected a handful of top-10s, and showed an aggressive driving style that enraged some and made others think of the late Dale Earnhardt. It was all fun to watch. (Continued)