The Bowlesy Awards: Best, worst and memorable moments so far

Consistency has been the key to Jeff Burton's successful 2008 campaign thus far. Getty Images Related Links BOWLES: The most memorable 2007 moments

It's that time again! The Bowlesys are back to recognize the best and worst of the 2008 NASCAR season to date. Now in their third year, these semi-annual awards pop up each July and December and keep the sport on its toes with an honest assessment of who's really made their mark or missed it.

Without further ado ... here they are!

The Richard Petty Award (best points racer): Jeff Burton.

Kyle Busch's entourage stood up in shock when his name wasn't called, but a career-defining year couldn't overshadow the consistency of Burton. In the first 17 Cup races, Burton pulled the unprecedented -- 17 consecutive finishes of 15th or better, while completing all but one lap of every race run during that stretch. It was a remarkable achievement that kept him in the same time zone as Busch in the standings -- even leading them for a month in April when the No. 18 entered a mini-slump. The No. 31 has faltered somewhat the last two events -- finishes of 37th and 19th ended the streak and dropped Burton to fourth in points -- but his streak remains one of the remarkable stories of '08.

The David Pearson Award (hardest charger): Kyle Busch.

Is there really anyone else who has even come close to Busch's dominance in the Winner's Circle? Seven victories and 12 top-five finishes have him making a mockery of the championship, leading by 262 points over Dale Earnhardt Jr. with seven races left in the regular season.

Busch's wins have run the gambit from road course (Infineon) to restrictor plates (Talladega) to NASCAR's roughest race of the season (Darlington). And to cap it all off, Busch pulled the best late-race dramatics of the year last Saturday night, passing Jimmie Johnson on the outside during a restart with two laps left to win at Chicagoland and put his former organization in its place. No question about it, this year's title is clearly Busch's to lose.

The Tim Richmond Award (comeback driver of the year): Brian Vickers.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. gets some consideration here, as his success with Hendrick Motorsports is better than anyone would have expected by now. But for Vickers, no one expected much of anything after he failed to qualify for 13 of 36 races last season with Team Red Bull. This year at Daytona, a flat tire nearly got everything off on the wrong foot once again; but the team recovered in their Duel to make the 500, and Vickers hasn't looked back since.

Three top 5s -- including a second at Pocono -- have been the highlight of a year that's got the No. 83 team on the brink of Chase contention. It's still going to be a long road to make it over the hump, but even if he falls short, Vickers could well reach Victory Lane before season's end, the sole two-car team capable of dueling with the three-and-four-car superpowers up front.

The Davey Allison Award (top rookie): Aric Almirola.

How bad is this year's rookie class when the person I pick isn't even running full-time for the award? Almirola's done an admirable job filling in for veteran Mark Martin during a handful of starts, coming up with the lone top-10 finish (8th at Bristol) a first-year driver's recorded this season. The 24-year-old was rewarded with an announcement in June he'll drive the No. 8 full-time for DEI next season, with a primary sponsor to be announced in the coming weeks. That could leave him as perhaps the only freshman who survives long enough to make it to the '09 Daytona 500.

The Carl Edwards Award (pleasant surprise): David Ragan.

When Ragan started Cup racing in '06, Tony Stewart called him a "dart without feathers" after the rookie was involved in what seemed like a half-dozen wrecks at Martinsville Raceway. But just 18 months later, Ragan's not only grown wings -- he's flying toward a bulls-eye of his first-ever Chase appearance. Six top-10 finishes and just two DNFs have left him 15th in points, 98 out of the top 12 and 120 behind Stewart himself. With Ragan's career-best third-place finish at Richmond last September, don't count this kid out if he can stay in the hunt for the playoffs 'til then.

The Buckshot Jones Award (biggest disappointment): Jamie McMurray.

Three years in, it's clear the McMurray-to-Roush experiment just isn't working out. The No. 26 team got off to such a slow start that it fell out of the top 35 in owner points, putting McMurray in the embarrassing position of qualifying on speed at Martinsville the end of March. With McMurray sitting 22nd in the standings and without a top-5 finish, the question isn't whether the six-year veteran will be released from the team once his contract expires next season -- it's whether that happens one year early.

The Jayski Award (best move): Busch to Joe Gibbs Racing.

While Earnhardt's move to Hendrick has paid major dividends, no one's benefited more than a JGR operation that's picked up a youngster hungry for revenge. All season long, Busch has been a man on a mission, eager to show Hendrick made a poor decision in dumping him for NASCAR's Most Popular Driver. And while Earnhardt turns 34 this October, Busch's age (23) means he's not even close to entering his prime. With Busch getting Toyota support and Gibbs equipment, the rest of the field better watch out for many years to come.

The Breaking News Award (biggest story to watch): How many NASCAR teams shut down.

Chip Ganassi's closure of the No. 40 team at Daytona was a troubling wake-up call that all is not rosy in NASCAR Nation. Carl Edwards' new $26-million dollar sponsorship deal with AFLAC has raised the stakes to compete in this era of multi-car giants, and the poor economy has only a handful of companies capable of keeping up with the Joneses. With record losses by Ford, GM and Chrysler, cuts to their motorsports budgets could be coming -- and all of this could mean closures for a handful more Cup teams before the '08 season is complete. Among those next on the chopping block: Regan Smith's No. 01 and Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 00.

Honorable mention: How the Mauricia Grant discrimination lawsuit unfolds on a public scale. It's not going away, and as more facts become public, it's bound to open up far more cans of worms than are sitting on the table right now.

The Dale Earnhardt Sr. Award (best on-track altercation): The Earnhardt Jr. -- Busch tangle at Richmond.

With two laps remaining, the two cars were going at it neck-and-neck when they both dove hard into the corner entering Turn 3. But Busch drove in a little too deep, and his contact with the No. 88 sent Junior spinning and the crowd into an uproar, which took weeks to settle down. How bad did things get? Busch needed bodyguards at Lowe's Motor Speedway testing days later, with track promoter Humpy Wheeler soaking in the publicity by saying he was afraid of possible fan retaliation. And what did NASCAR's Most Popular Driver have to say? "I was in position for a win," he said. "I ran hard, and got wrecked..." A depressing analogy by the son of the Intimidator, a man who simply got Intimidated by someone else.

The Tony Stewart Award (best off-track altercation): Busch and Steven Wallace.

That same weekend in the Nationwide Series race, Wallace and Busch got after it on the backstretch during the last lap. Contact between the two nearly spun Busch out, enough that Wallace wisely gave Busch the spot back coming to the finish line. But that wasn't enough to stop a post-race scuffle in which Busch reached into Wallace's car.

"If you want to play boys' games like that, then it's every man for himself. You mess with a bull, you're going to get the horns," Busch said when it was all over with. But Wallace refused to back down, claiming, "I jerked his helmet to rattle his cage a little bit. He's just a little girl about it. There's a reason why everyone in the grandstands boos him ... he's a sore loser."

The Darrell Waltrip Award (quotes of the year): Ron Hornaday and Juan Pablo Montoya share this award, proof of what contact with Busch can do to you:

"If he's going to race that way, that's pretty chicken. He doesn't deserve to be a racer. He's got a lot of talent, but that is flat stupid. If Billy Ballew needs the [owner's] championship that bad, then drive that way, because he's got the right driver. I don't knock any other driver, but I tell you what, that kid is just about done to me now."
-- Hornaday after a crash with Busch in the Craftsman Truck Series, one that left Hornaday spun out and Busch chugging towards a Ttp 10-finish on the final lap.

"Yeah, [I wrecked him on purpose]. I did what he did to me. I don't appreciate when people race me like that. There was a fine line, and he crossed it."
-- Montoya at New Hampshire, when he followed up contact with Busch by wrecking him intentionally down the front straightaway with 20 laps left in the race. He's the only driver to put his money where his mouth his and strike back on Busch's aggressive antics to date.