1 – Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 107.3
2008 Rundown
• Seven wins, 15 top fives, 22 top 10s
• Average finish of 10.5
• Led 29 races for 1,959 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• Series-best Average Running Position of 10.1

2 – Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 108.6
2008 Rundown
• Nine wins, 19 top fives, 27 top 10s
• Average finish of 9.5
• Led 21 races for 1,282 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• Series-high 1,091 Fastest Laps Run

3 – Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M Ford)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 93.4
2008 Rundown
• Two wins, 12 top fives, 17 top 10s
• Average finish of 12.9
• Led 20 races for 465 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• 501 Fastest Laps Run, sixth-most

4 – Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 91.0
2008 Rundown
• Seven top fives, 19 top 10s
• Average finish of 12.4
• Led eight races for 192 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 69.0%, ninth-best

5 – Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 82.8
2008 Rundown
• One win, seven top fives, 17 top 10s
• Average finish of 14.1
• Led six races for 188 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• 241 Fastest Laps Run, 12th-most

6 – Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 89.2
2008 Rundown
• Two wins, seven top fives, 18 top 10s
• Average finish of 12.5
• Led 12 races for 140 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• 1,605 Quality Passes (passes of cars in the top 15 under green), fifth-most

7 – Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 95.8
2008 Rundown
• 13 top fives, 19 top 10s
• Average finish of 14.5
• Led 20 races for 447 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• Average Running Position of 12.0, fifth-best

8 – Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 94.4
2008 Rundown
• One win, 12 top fives, 18 top 10s
• Average finish of 15.4
• Led 15 races for 766 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• 1,669 Quality Passes (passes of cars in the top 15 under green), second-most

9 – Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 93.2
2008 Rundown
• One win, 10 top fives, 16 top 10s
• Average finish of 14.9
• Led 15 races for 633 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• 404 Fastest Laps Run, seventh-most

10 – Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M’s Toyota)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 103.9
2008 Rundown
• Eight wins, 17 top fives, 21 top 10s
• Average finish of 12.5
• Led 24 races for 1,673 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• 707 Fastest Laps Run, third-most

11 – Matt Kenseth (No. 14 DEWALT Ford)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 89.0
2008 Rundown
• Nine top fives, 20 top 10s
• Average finish of 16.4
• Led 20 races for 604 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• 333 Fastest Laps Run, ninth-most

12 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet)
• Season-to-Date Driver Rating: 99.0
2008 Rundown
• One win, 10 top fives, 16 top 10s
• Average finish of 14.1
• Led 22 races for 896 laps
Season-to-Date Loop Data Highlight
• 614 Fastest Laps Run, fourth-most

Benson, 45, became the series’ 10th different champion by finishing seventh in Sunday night’s Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He also became only the second competitor to win the truck series title and the NASCAR Nationwide title, having captured the latter in 1995.

RADIO ANSWER: Greg Biffle is the other driver to have won both championships

The 13 years between championships is the longest in NASCAR national series history.

Owners Bill and Gail Davis and crew chief Trip Bruce also became NASCAR Craftsman Truck champions for the first time as Benson edged Ron Hornaday Jr. by seven points in the third-closest title race since the organization adopted its current national series points structure in 1975.

There has been a different champion each year since 2000 as the series concluded its 14th season.

Benson joined Bill Davis Racing in mid-2004 on a race-to-race basis and became a fulltime driver in 2005. He finished third in the standings a year ago after placing runnerup to Todd Bodine in 2006.

Over the course of the three seasons, Benson has won 14 races.

“Winning the championship for Bill and Gail Davis and BDR has been great. When I got the call from Bill (in 2004), we had two main goals. To win races and win a championship,” said Benson, from Grand Rapids, Mich.

“We have accomplished those goals. I am excited about being Craftsman’s last champion and being the ambassador for (news series sponsor) Camping World. We are going to enjoy this off season.”

The championship was the first for the Davises, who have operated a NASCAR team for more than two decades and won the 2002 Daytona 500 with driver Ward Burton.

“Winning a championship is what NASCAR is all about; the ultimate goal,” said Bill Davis in his banquet remarks. “For Gail and me, we have been lucky enough to be in the championship hunt for the last three seasons. We have been so close so many times.”

Bruce, a 31-year-old Chester, Va., native, teamed with Benson for the past two seasons. Their nine victories rank No. 2 in the series over the two-year period.

During 2008, Benson and the team collected awards of $1,181,997 – most in series history.

Benson was also named the series’ Most Popular Driver for the third consecutive season. It marked the first time that fans could vote for the award.

Craftsman, the series’ presenting sponsor in 1995 and full entitlement sponsor since the following season, will be succeeded by Camping World under a seven-year agreement beginning in 2009. The series will be known as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

“Over our 14-year span we’ve crowned 10 different champions in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and have been proud to watch many of our series stars go on to become great heroes of NASCAR,” said Mike Cassar, Craftsman brand manager. “While our role will change going forward, Craftsman will remain as the Official Tools of NASCAR.”

The 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season will begin Feb. 13 at Daytona International Speedway.

Besides our National Radio shows heard all across the U.S. and Canada, we also usually have two online shows each week. The first is a lively talk show, and for about an hour we discuss everything in the world of NASCAR, great to take on your commute. From race recaps, previews, rumors, tech talk, this show has it all. Our second show is all the weeks NASCAR news in just about 6 minutes, quick, easy, and fun! Check out our shows below. Occasionally we will have a 3rd show interviewing drivers, writers, and other NASCAR newsmakers.

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CONCORD, N.C. (November 18, 2008) – Yates Racing is pleased to announce Paul Menard as the driver of the No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion in 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition. Following his first full season in the Sprint Cup Series, Menard finished 26th in the point standings, while earning his first career pole at Daytona International Speedway and his first career top-five finish at Talladega Superspeedway.

“I’m really looking forward to starting this new chapter of my life with Yates Racing and behind the wheel of the No. 98 Ford Fusion,” said Menard. “The No. 98 has been to victory lane 25 times, many times with Marvin Panch and Lee Roy Yarbrough. It’s exciting to be starting with Max (Jones) and Doug (Yates), and having Larry Carter on the box making the calls. I’ve seen how solid the Roush/Yates engine program has been over the years and I know we can have a really good season in the No. 98 Menards Ford Fusion.”

Helping Menard make the transition to Yates Racing and Ford Motor Company will be veteran crew chief Larry Carter. Carter comes to Yates Racing from Roush Fenway Racing, where in 2008 he helped Jamie McMurray earn four top five and 11 top-10 finishes. Prior to working with McMurray, Carter worked with veteran driver Rusty Wallace in his final season of Sprint Cup racing.

Yates Racing co-owner Max Jones is pleased with the addition of the No. 98 to the team’s racing stable. “Paul is a focused and determined young man. His efforts combined with the strength and compatibility of our sponsor partners, and with Ford, will take him to new levels,” Jones said.

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Jimmie Johnson celebrates winning his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Johnson became the second driver in NASCAR history to accomplish the feat. (Photo credit: CIA STOCK PHOTO)
HOMESTEAD-MIAMI — Jimmie Johnson has accomplished racing’s version of the hat trick…. three championships in a row.

He did it with a 15th -place finish in southern Florida’s grand finale for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. Carl Edwards won the battle, so to speak, but Johnson won the war.

On a day when he only needed a 36th-place finish to clinch his third title in a row, Johnson brought his Lowe’s Chevrolet into the thick of the battle, steadily clicking off position after position in the 267-lap race.

Johnson’s championship run was the first three-peat in NASCAR since Cale Yarborough did it 30 years ago.

While Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus were the men of the hour, hard-charging Edwards, for the second time this season, coaxed extra mileage out of his Ford and hung on to win the race on fuel mileage. However, it was not a fuel mileage fluke. Edwards led the most laps and was clearly the fastest cat on the track all day and into the night.

Trailing Edwards across the finish line were Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Travis Kvapil, Casey Mears, Tony Stewart and Martin Truex, Jr.

The win was Edwards’ ninth of the year and cemented Carl’s position as a serious challenger to Johnson for the championship next year.

A slew of caution flags in the last 100 laps kept the outcome in doubt until the very end, when leader Matt Kenseth ran out of fuel with just a couple laps left. Edwards, as he did once before this season, proved he can be just as smooth letting up on the gas pedal as he is in mashing it down. He backed off just enough to finish in front of the field.

David Reutimann, the first-time pole winner, led a lap at the start before former champion Kenseth passed him.

Beautiful, balmy, South Florida weather welcomed the drivers as they streaked around the Homestead-Miami track at 180 miles an hour. Johnson, who started 30th, charged towards the front right from the git-go. At just 10 laps, he had moved past nine drivers to 21st position.

Edwards, Johnson’s only threat for his third championship in three seasons, moved past Kenseth for the lead on the 13th lap. Edwards was flat-out-all-caution-to-the wind, planning to give it everything he had in the season finale.

Johnson was 18th by Lap 19. He was 17th when Edwards, the leader, pitted on the 51st lap. Harvick led a lap when Edwards pitted. Montoya also led a lap when the field started pitting.

Once the pitting cycle ended, Edwards was back out front and Johnson had gained two spots to 15th.

The top 10 at 60 laps were Edwards, Harvick, David Ragan, Reutimann, Truex, McMurray, Kenseth, Mears, Stewart and Jeff Burton.

Johnson, meanwhile, had moved into 14th spot and was continuing his charge to the front. The first caution of the afternoon waved on the 68th lap when Aric Almirola spun on the frontstretch.

At 90 laps, Edwards was in control, followed by Ragan, Harvick, Reutimann, Stewart, McMurray, Bowyer, Kenseth, Mears and Hamlin. Johnson had worked his way to 11th.

By the halfway point, it was clear Edwards had come to Florida with one thing in mind — winning the race.

It was Edwards, Ragan, Stewart, Hamlin, Reutimann, Harvick, McMurray, Earnhardt, Johnson and Gordon. Johnson had come from 30th to ninth in 134 laps.

Jimmie Johnson’s stats for 2008 are simply amazing.  7 wins, 15 Top 5’s, 22 Top 10’s.  He now puts his name next to Cale Yarborough as the only two drivers in history to win three championships in a row.

This is Hendrick Motorsports 8th Championship as an organization.  Jimmie Johnson (3) Jeff Gordon (4) Terry Labonte (1)

Jimmie Johnson takes home a check of $7,092,800

Oh, by the way he finished 15th in the race.

RACE RECAP | HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY
10 Martin Truex Jr.
9 Tony Stewart in his final ride in the #20 car
8 Casey Mears
7 Travis Kvapil
6 Kasey Kahne
5 Clint Bowyer
4 Jeff Gordon was winless in 2008
3 Jamie McMurray with yet another top 5
2 Kevin Harvick also winless in 2008, came up 1 short

VICTORY LANE

1 Carl Edwards led the most laps and wins his 9th of the 2008 season, the most of any other driver.  Once again he needed to slow way down for a fuel mileage win with a 13 second lead on second place.  Even still, he came up short on the championship by 69 points.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (November 15, 2008) — Carl Edwards won the battle, but Clint Bowyer won the war.

Edwards took the checkered flag in the Ford 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, depriving runner-up Kyle Busch of a record 11th victory in a single season.

But Edwards couldn’t put enough distance between his No. 60 Ford and the No. 2 Chevrolet of Clint Bowyer, who claimed his first NASCAR Nationwide championship with a fifth-place finish. Bowyer entered the race with a 56-point lead over Edwards and won the title by 21 points.

“We’ve raced each other for a long time,” Bowyer said of Edwards, who won the NASCAR Nationwide championship last year. “He’s from the Midwest (Columbia, Mo.). He’s last year’s champion, and it feels great to be able to beat him.”

Edwards, who won his seventh race of the season and the 20th of his career, beat Busch to the finish line by .639 seconds.

“That’s a great win, to hold off the 18 (Busch), as strong as he’s been all season,” said Edwards, who congratulated Bowyer on his championship. “If I’ve got to get beat by somebody, a dirt racer from Emporia, Kansas (Bowyer’s hometown) is one of the best.

“But we’ll be back next year, and I hope Clint will, too. There’s no shame in giving 100 percent and finishing second. That’s all we could do.”

Brad Keselowski ran third and claimed third in the final series standings. Jason Leffler finished fourth in Saturday’s race, followed by Bowyer, Scott Wimmer, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelly Bires and Joey Logano.

Logano’s 10th-place result was enough to secure the owners’ championship for Joe Gibbs Racing, which used four different drivers in the No. 20 Toyota this year. Logano, Busch, Hamlin and Tony Stewart combined for nine wins in the car, with Stewart accounting for five. The No. 20 car finished 12 points ahead of the No. 2 Chevrolet, driven exclusively by Bowyer.

Notes: Kenny Wallace started his 418th NASCAR Nationwide race, breaking a tie with Tommy Houston for second on the all-time list. Wallace finished 33rd… Though Landon Cassill didn’t race Saturday, he claimed Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors. The other rookie contender, Bryan Clauson, entered the race six points behind Cassill but scraped the wall, fell out of the event after 157 of 200 laps and finished 34th.

10 Joey Logano wins the Owners Championship for Joe Gibbs Racing
9 Kelly Bires
8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
7 Denny Hamlin
6 Scott Wimmer
5 Clint Bowyer becomes the 2008 Nationwide Series Champion, doing it with 1 win, 14 top 5’s, and 29 top 10’s
4 Jason Leffler
3  Brad Keselowski
2 Kyle Busch came up just short at winning a series high 11 wins and remains tied with Sam Ard

VICTORY LANE

1 Carl Edwards grabs his 7th win in 2008 in the Nationwide Series, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the consistency of Clint Bowyer and loses the Championship by 21 points