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Alexander Ferguson takes a look at the highs and lows of the NASCAR season.

Best driver

In the second half of the year, Jimmie Johnson's #48 car always seems to turn it on. Trailing teammate Jeff Gordon by a country mile, the Chase helped Johnson to claw back some of the disadvantage. His performance in the Chase was second to none as he took his car to four wins in the last five races to sew up victory.

Biggest disappointment

While Gordon couldn't take his pre-Chase form to the playoff itself, it was Dale Earnhardt Jr who managed to really take the biscuit. Wrestling with the early decision to leave DEI to go to Hendrick Motorsports earlier in the year, Earnhardt's car looked permanently cursed with crashes and burnt out engines taking him from Chase to 13th to an end-of-season also ran.

Kasey Kahne also gets a nomination - he went from six wins to no win in a disappointing season. But at least one thing went well for him - he'll be sponsored by Budweiser next year.

Best team

Hendrick Motorsports, of course. Not only did they have the Champion and the second placed driver, but each of Rick Hendrick's charges (Casey Mears, Kyle Busch, Gordon and Johnson) won at least one race. Hendrick dominated the 'Car of Tomorrow' races. And when Junior arrives on the season next year, it's going to get worse for the opposition.

Best race

Although a lot of races featured last ditch passes and battles to the finish, EVERYTHING paled into comparison to the madness that was the Daytona 500. In the 'Super Bowl' of NASCAR in February, monster crashes wiped out almost every single one of the pre-race favourites, and Kevin Harvick beat Mark Martin by the width of a bumper to score his first ever victory at the track.

Worst race

The Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway is one of the best known races for carnage. 160,000 fans wait, chomping at the bit to see cars, drivers and tempers fly. But with the new track, the race went from fender bender to a three lane motorway where the drivers relied on driving skill rather than having "friends" to help them.

We preferred the latter. It might have meant less cost to the teams in the long run, but will this make fans less eager to come? Methinks so.

Best battle

Although the Gordon v Johnson was pretty fun, I'm actually going to go with Juan Pablo Montoya v the world. In his rookie season, the transfer from Formula One managed to get up almost everyone's noses.

Throughout most of the season, Montoya battled it with 2005 winner Tony Stewart. "He didn't make friends with me [Sunday] so he won't get any help from me in the future," said Stewart after a crash at the Samsung 500 in Texas. And true to his word, it didn't happen.

And Stewart wasn't alone amongst the drivers, who felt that Montoya's aggressive style early on in races didn't fit in. Then at The Glen in New York, a crash with Kevin Harvick - which wasn't Montoya's fault - saw both drivers get out of their cars and into fisticuffs, sending NASCAR historians back down memory lane when fights between drivers were an every race experience.

Biggest story

While the Car of Tomorrow may have dominated headlines early on, even NASCAR's new vehicle paled into comparison compared to Dale Earnhardt Jr's decision to go to Hendrick Motorsports in June.

The move, which ended a six month soap opera that involved his step mother Theresa and Dale Earnhardt Inc, the team his late father started, sent ripples through NASCAR. As a result Kyle Busch - the best driver at Hendrick not named Johnson or Busch (sorry Mears) - went to Joe Gibbs Racing, who also moved from Chevrolet to Toyota for the 2008 season.

Best Quote

"I still not a great fan of these things. They suck." Kyle Busch talking about the Car of Tomorrow after he won the Food City 500.