And the award goes to ...

Greg Biffle wins the award for the greatest comeback of the year. Tom Bowles's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Tom. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

Three's not just a charm for Jimmie Johnson these days. The Bowlesys are also wrapping up their third straight season, although our awards banquet isn't nearly as glamorous as the Waldorf-Astoria for NASCAR's Sprint Cup stars. Due to budget cuts, we're busy doling these out in my neighbor's backyard (hey, he offered free food, how are you going to argue with that?)

Anyways, let's get to it. Here's the semi-annual glimpse into the good, the bad, and the ugly that shaped the 2008 NASCAR season:

The David Pearson Award (hardest charger): Carl Edwards. (midseason award winner: Kyle Busch)

While Edwards ended 2008 without any championship hardware, it wasn't from a lack of effort. After falling behind in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series title races, Edwards made a dramatic late season charge that was ultimately futile -- but fun to watch. On the Cup side, he scored three wins and no finish worse than fourth over the final five races, becoming the only man to cut into Jimmie Johnson's lead in the second half of the Chase. Chopping 99 points off a 168-point deficit, Edwards closed to within 69 by Homestead and would have actually won the trophy under the "classic" points system by 16.

Over in the Nationwide Series, Edwards was even more impressive, ending the year with four wins and nine straight Top 5s to cut over 200 points off the margin between himself and eventual champ Clint Bowyer. Two hundred forty one points behind at one point, he came up just 21 points short at the finish. Coming so close had to be tough to take; but with 16 wins in NASCAR's top two series, he had plenty of consolation hardware...

The Tim Richmond Award (Comeback Driver Of The Year): Greg Biffle. (midseason award winner: Brian Vickers)

While several of Biffle's Roush Fenway teammates (Edwards, Matt Kenseth) were looked at as strong Chase contenders, no one expected much when Biffle and his No. 16 3M Ford made the playoffs. But it didn't take long for the oldest driver in that five-car stable to make everyone pay attention.

Back-to-back wins at New Hampshire and Dover catapulted the Biff into title contention, staying within striking distance of the point lead until a slow fade during the Chase's second half. Still, Biffle held on to finish third, his best performance since a runner-up finish to Tony Stewart during the 2005 campaign. Considering he started the year with his future with Roush in doubt after missing the playoffs two straight years, his '08 renaissance kept him off the dicey free agent market -- both sponsor and driver are now signed through 2011.

Honorable mention: Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who won a race in his first year with Hendrick but slumped to a disappointing 12th in the Chase -- a finish that won't even get him up on stage in New York for the banquet.

The Carl Edwards Award (pleasant surprise): David Ragan / Jamie McMurray. (midseason award winner: David Ragan)

Jack Roush's five-car team continues its sweep of the Bowlesys, as its two non-Chase teams carry some of the biggest momentum into 2009. Despite falling just short of the playoffs, Ragan avoided the sophomore slump with a sizzling second half that included close calls with Victory Lane at Michigan and Talladega. With 13 Top 15 finishes in the final 18 races, he cruised to the "Best of the Rest" title of 13th in the final standings.

Meanwhile, teammate McMurray went from a possible pink slip to a permanent fixture up front in the No. 26 Ford. After two and a half years of disappointing runs with Roush Fenway Racing, McMurray ended the year with three straight third-place finishes to surge up to 16th in the final standings. Leading more laps than any non-Chaser in the playoffs (159), he came a long way from the poor start that won him the Buckshot Jones Award back in July.

The Buckshot Jones Award (biggest disappointment): Penske Racing. (midseason award winner: Jamie McMurray)

Speaking of biggest disappointment, this year's recipient fell so far below expectations we felt appropriate to give it to an entire team. After a 1-2 finish in this year's Daytona 500, much was expected of Ryan Newman and preseason title favorite Kurt Busch. But that was the last time two of Penske's three cars finished in the top five in the same race, as the organization became the poster child for Dodge's struggles on the Cup tour.

Newman never finished better than 4th the rest of the year, eventually bolting the team where he'd spent his entire career for a spot at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009.

Meanwhile, Busch fell apart amidst a handful of early season wrecks, winning just once (Loudon) while failing to make the Chase for the second time in three years. The '04 champ got so frustrated by the Fall, he asked to park his car at Martinsville over the radio after tire failures put him several laps off the pace.

And we haven't even touched on Sam Hornish, Jr., the former IRL convert who fell short in his Rookie of the Year bid after failing to notch a Top 10 finish all season. Ouch.

The Richard Petty Award (best points racer): Jimmie Johnson. (midseason award winner: Jeff Burton)

Well, duh. Johnson's third Chase title is as much about his ability to master the system as his unquestioned talent on the race track. He and crew chief Chad Knaus know how to spread out their season into three distinct parts. In the spring they test combinations for the playoffs without falling to far behind in the points that they lose touch with the leaders. In the summer they work on securing a place in the Chase while using quiet consistency to gather momentum for the challenges ahead. And come late August and early September they release all the bullets in their arsenal, peaking at the top of their game during the 10-race stretch, where it matters most.

Check out this stat: the last time Johnson finished outside the Top 15 in a Chase race was at Talladega on Oct. 8, 2006. Whether or not you think his achievements are Cale Yarborough-esque, you can't help but be impressed by streaks like that.

The Davey Allison Award (top rookie): No one. (midseason award winner: Aric Almirola)

In a Bowlesy first, things were so bad in this category we've decided to shelve the award until 2009. For the first time in NASCAR's 60-year history, the ROTY winner (Regan Smith) went the whole season without a single Top 10 finish. Of course, Smith did nearly snag a victory at Talladega before a questionable yellow line penalty at the finish handed the win to Tony Stewart and dropped him to 18th in the final running order. But that's just the way the year has gone for the worst crop of freshmen in decades.

Part-timers Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola were the only ones who showed glimmers of hope; and when all is said and done, they may be the only first-year guys coming back for a second try in 2009. Sam Hornish, Jr. is the lone full-time candidate remaining with a ride nailed down for the Daytona 500.

The Jayski Award (best move): Mark Martin to Hendrick Motorsports. (midseason award winner: Kyle Busch to Joe Gibbs Racing)

After two years of part-time work, Martin is leaving DEI for 2009 to team with the organization that's won eight of the last 14 Cup championships. Turning 50 in January, Martin still has some gas left in the tank, showcased by near-misses at Phoenix and Pocono in his quest to get back to Victory Lane. But considering DEI's recent merger and sponsorship woes, Martin got out while the getting was good. With four runner-up finishes in the points, he'd love to cash in on the title at HMS that has eluded him in a career spanning three different decades. And even if the veteran falls short, he'll be an instant improvement in the No. 5 car over the consistently underperforming Casey Mears.

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

Finally, we've got a repeat winner this season -- although this is hardly the story you'd like to see sweeping the Bowlesys. Four days removed from the end of the year, we've already seen over 200 layoffs as teams scramble to survive in the face of an economic downturn. Even the "healthy" Big Four of Hendrick, Gibbs, Roush, and Childress have been forced to make cuts in a year that's seen sponsorship dry up like water in a desert.

For teams lower down the totem pole, the question isn't a matter of how many layoffs, but if they'll even be in business come the Daytona 500. Could we see a field of less than 43 cars for the Great American Race? Probably not. But at California the following week? All bets are off.

The Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Award (best on-track altercation): Bobby Hamilton, Jr. and Landon Cassill at Memphis. (midseason award winner: Kyle Busch -- Dale Earnhardt, Jr. tangle at Richmond)

Fewer fans may have seen this Nationwide Series altercation at the end of October, but it's definitely a highlight in a tough year for that division. After being involved in an on-track incident for what seems like the umpteenth time in 2008, Hamilton, Jr. ran down Cassill after the race, ramming into him and then engaging in a heated conversation in which Hamilton, Jr.'s wife reportedly came up and gave Cassill "the bird." Lesson learned for this 19-year-old: don't mess with the Hamiltons.

The Tony Stewart Award (best off-track altercation): Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards at Charlotte. (midseason award winner: Kyle Busch and Steven Wallace)

After an ill-timed bump caused a multi-car wreck at Talladega, Edwards was more than willing to admit his mistake. But after Harvick criticized him on national TV, Cousin Carl didn't hesitate to leave a little "love letter" in Harvick's plane before both flew home Sunday night. One week later at Charlotte, the two saw each other and tangled in a fight NASCAR wanted to keep under the rug so bad, it took days before a handful of pictures were released to the press. Coming on the heels of the Edwards-Matt Kenseth spat in 2007, it showed that one of the sport's most marketable drivers still has a moody side that's yet to be fully under control.

The Darrell Waltrip Award (quote of the year): NASCAR VP of Competition Robin Pemberton

Oh, how quickly opinions can change. Here were some highlights from Pemberton's quotes at Indianapolis this July, when a Goodyear tire fiasco prevented the race from going green for more than a dozen laps. No apology, just a litany of excuses:

"I don't think an open test here would have done enough for what we, as competitors, would have wanted to achieve... There's only one NASCAR series that's here this weekend, and you don't get a chance to put enough rubber on the track... You can criticize all you want, but when you come here and have the surface that we got... Goodyear's doing the best they can. It's a situation we do see probably every time that we come here... I think we'll just learn from this weekend and try to do a little bit better job next year when we come back."

And here was Pemberton, two days later, after a litany of criticism by fans and the media: "I can't say enough how sorry we are, and it's our responsibility being NASCAR that we don't go through this situation again. The race didn't come off like we had hoped, the fans didn't get what they exactly wanted, and we'll do everything in our power -- it won't happen again, I can tell you that much."