by Lee Spencer

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Certainly, Carl Edwards gave it his all this season with nine wins, including Sunday's Ford 400, 19 top fives and 27 top 10s. Edwards was the best in every category, yet he still fell 69 points short when the title tallies were totaled.

"We won more races than Jimmie and we ran with him when he won," Edwards said. "I personally feel like we closed a big gap this season. I feel we ran very well at the road courses, at Martinsville, at some of the tracks that haven't sometimes been able to keep up with them. I know they'll enjoy this championship, but they knew we were here."

As lackluster as fuel-mileage wins can be, Edwards brought some excitement to the races by seeing just how far he could conserve gas at Texas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Even his teammates marveled with how far he could go.

Edwards entered the Chase for the Sprint Cup with a 10-point advantage over Johnson, but what hurt the No. 99 Ford the most was wrecking at Talladega Superspeedway and both ignition boxes failing at Lowes Motor Speedway. Despite the adversity, Edwards was quick to focus on the highlights of the season and offer positive reinforcement to his team.

"I wanted to make sure my guys understood they did their jobs," Edwards said. "My guys performed well enough to win a championship this season. Considering how well Jimmie performed, I don't think that's a small feat.

"I'm glad we won the (season finale) so that we can go into the offseason knowing we won more races than anyone else in this series. I think that's a big accomplishment, especially knowing how well Jimmie and Kyle (Busch) both ran all season. That gives me a lot of confidence for next season."

Both Edwards and Johnson won three races in the postseason and were responsible for 12 victories in the final 17 races. But the consistency of the No. 48 Chevrolet coupled with the experience the team had at winning titles was too much for Edwards to overcome.

"I'm just so proud of my team," Johnson said. "When I think of these three years and the different guys we had to race for championships, our struggles, our highs and lows, to be able to deliver each year is so special and something I'm very, very proud of. I think it shows how important a team effort is and we've been able to set the mark.

Enjoy it now ... the mood may change Monday. (Terry Renna / Associated Press)

"There are some teams that are close to us, guys that have matched our pace, and we've got to step up again next year if we want to win four in a row. That's certainly a goal we have — something we're focused on — but these guys are getting stronger and stronger and it's not going to be easy."

A time to celebrate?

While Jimmie Johnson was feted on the champion's stage, hundreds of men and women wondered if jobs would be waiting when they returned to North Carolina on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the mood in the garage was morose. The goodbyes were more frequent. The hugs lasted longer. Still, employment was foremost on everyone's mind.

"The real risk is race teams folding," Jack Roush said. "As long as we've got 48 or 50 entries for the Cup series' 43 spots, there's a lot of jobs out there.

"In our case, we haven't had a lot of extra people. We've got a model for how we run our teams and build our cars and it is fairly frugal. We don't have a reduction plan for any of our programs.

Roush said that 99 to 95 percent of his staff are set for 2009 and not "subject to dislocation."

NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter called the current economic situation in the sport "a correction" and added he knew of just one team, Bill Davis Racing, that did not have some sort of sponsorship next year.

Raybestos rookie honors

Regan Smith lost the Talladega winner's trophy, but received one hell of a consolation prize after being named Raybestos Rookie of the Year.

Youngster Regan Smith is the Rookie of the Year. (Todd Warshaw / Getty Images)

The driver of the No. 01 Principal Financial Group Chevrolet was the first Raybestos rookie in the 52-year program to complete an entire season without a DNF. At the end of his 34 races (Dale Earnhardt Inc. opted to run Ron Fellows for the road-course events) Smith had bested two champions — Jacques Villeneuve and Sam Hornish Jr. — for the title.

"There were a lot of big names that I was racing against and look at the stuff at the beginning of the year, not very many people had me charted as one of them that was going to contend for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year championship," Smith said. "So definitely had a little bit of a chip on the should about that and wanted to go out there and prove that there is still a good ol' stock car path to get to this series.

"I feel like we did that to a certain extent."

Ironically, NASCAR's top freshman could be on the unemployment line soon. Without sponsorship for the No. 01 Chevrolet and the merging of DEI with Chip Ganassi Racing, Smith could be the odd man out. Certainly, Smith's shown he deserves a shot.