Sprinting for awards

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Jimmie Johnson will collect yet another championship trophy following Sunday’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but he’s not the only person worthy of some hardware this season.

Some made significant strides this season that should be commended, while others could be condemned for their failure to perform. Fans often complain that the creation of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship led to a total lack of attention to anyone not racing for the title, so here’s those drivers’ chance for some recognition, both good and bad.

Most Valuable Driver: Mark Martin

This award isn’t going to Johnson, who’s all but certain to win his record fourth straight Cup title, but instead to his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. After two years of racing limited schedules, Martin came back this year to run full-time for a No. 5 team that had seen a drop in performance following Kyle Busch’s 2007 firing.

The team was a Chase contender with Busch but finished 20th last season with Casey Mears and eagerly welcomed Martin to the open seat this season. With Alan Gustafson, who grew up a Martin fan, determined to get Martin the championship that has eluded him, the team returned to its level of high performance.

It wasn’t immediate, as mechanical problems and bad luck dropped Martin to 34th in the standings early in the season. But Martin pulled the team out of the cellar and returned to victory lane along the way. He won five races, made the Chase, led the points standings and hung with Johnson all the way into Homestead, proving Martin was the missing link needed to bring the No. 5 team back to the front.

Most Improved Driver: Juan Pablo Montoya

There was a time during the season when this might have gone to Sam Hornish Jr., the other former open-wheel driver who has made some strides in his second full season in stock cars.

But while Hornish still has his struggles, and wrecking Johnson two weeks ago in Texas was one of many late-season bumps, Montoya has made significant strides.

Driving for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, a two-car team that had undergone major offseason upheaval in the merger of Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing, he and crew chief Brian Pattie set a plan aimed solely at making the Chase.

OK, so by racing conservatively he got his spot. Then he turned it up a notch. Or 10.

Montoya, who had two top-five finishes this season when the Chase began, grabbed four top-five finishes in the first four Chase races. His unraveling came at Charlotte, where he was stacked up in traffic on a midrace restart that sunk his championship chances.

It already was over when he ran out of gas at Talladega and wrecked at Texas, so Montoya’s final results won’t show nearly how well he ran this season.

Biggest disappointment: Carl Edwards

What in the world happened to you, Carl? The preseason pick to dethrone Johnson is winless heading into the finale, and instead of contending for his first Cup championship, he’s a distant 11th in the standings and in danger of not even making the stage at next month’s awards ceremony.

A nine-race winner last season, Edwards has only 13 top-10 finishes this year.

Granted, the entire Roush-Fenway Racing organization seemed to fall off the map after Matt Kenseth’s back-to-back wins opened the season. But who thought Edwards wouldn’t get to victory lane even once this season?

The broken foot suffered in a September game of Frisbee didn’t help, and even though it since has healed, Edwards still has a ways to go to get back to his 2008 level.

Biggest surprise: Kyle Busch not making the Chase

Busch was good at the start of the year but couldn’t maintain the pace during a summer swoon that took him right out of championship contention.

The flop cost crew chief Steve Addington his job and took one of the most exciting drivers in the series out of the title hunt. In the end, it could be what’s needed to help Busch overcome the personal faults that hindered his progression as much as his ill-handling cars.

He has been better in the two races since Dave Rogers replaced Addington, but he’s not the Rowdy we all either love or hate.

Never fear, though. Shrub will be back.

Head-scratcher of the season: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s year

He drives for the best team in NASCAR, and his teammates are 1-2-3 in the standings. But Junior hasn’t been at their level all year, and nobody knows why.

There were early-season mistakes, mechanical failures and several finishes that could be chalked up simply as bad days. Although there have been signs of progress lately, Earnhardt doesn’t have the results to show for it and has admitted more than once that his confidence has been shaken by this poor season.

Rick Hendrick has vowed not to stop working until he gets Earnhardt’s team back on track, and that’s a promise that will be fulfilled. But first they have to get a grasp on just what the problem is, and it’s not clear that they have.

Who to watch in 2010: Denny Hamlin, for starters

He sincerely could have been the guy to beat Johnson if not for the driver error that caused him to crash, while leading, at California, plus a handful of mechanical problems that followed.

Those hiccups all derailed Hamlin on days when he could keep pace with Johnson, proving his team can compete with the champion. Hamlin also has taken steps this year to play a larger role in the garage, and he is determined to be a more consistent performer.

David Reutimann is another threat. The driver known as “The Franchise” hung around the top 12 deep into the season, a huge step for Michael Waltrip’s improving race team. I’m not suggesting Reutimann might challenge for the title next year, but it’s not far-fetched to think he could get MWR its first Chase berth.

He sure is fun to watch: Brad Keselowski

This feud with Hamlin has been wildly entertaining, particularly as Keselowski so clearly has rattled his rival through their recent Nationwide Series run-ins.

But there are more than a few drivers who aren’t all that thrilled with Keselowski, and many eagerly await his first full season in the Cup Series next year as an opportunity to dole out a payback or two.

He’s brash and fearless and won’t back down to anyone, and that’s exactly what NASCAR needs right now.

Team we miss the most: Richard Childress Racing

Their companywide drop-off took Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick out of the weekly spotlight, and that’s bad for everyone.

Burton is one of the most interesting drivers in the garage, while Bowyer has a sharp wit and Harvick, well, you never know what you’re going to get from him. But their struggles made them irrelevant at times this season, and we’ll all be glad when Childress gets it figured out and gets his guys back up front.

You sure proved us wrong: Stewart-Haas Racing

Tony Stewart did what nobody thought he could do in turning a backmarker team into a championship contender. He won races, put two cars into the Chase and led the points for a huge chunk of the season.

Although he fell short in his goal of becoming the first owner/driver since Alan Kulwicki in 1992 to win a championship, he has plenty of chances left to pull it off.

As an added bonus, the transformation got Newman back out front, giving him ample opportunities to offer his insight on a variety of topics.

What in the world is going on?: Richard Petty Motorsports

It’s been a season of never-ending twists and turns for this team, which is working on its second merger in a year. The constant changes, layoffs and uncertainty have been interesting to watch, and there’s no end in sight.

On top of everything else RPM must get figured out in the next few months, it now appears the team will have the added stress of free agency with Kasey Kahne.

Headed into the final year of his contract, Kahne said Friday at Homestead he has had enough and will look at all his options for 2011. We all know that RPM’s probably not real high on his list, just as long as he can find a way to take crew chief Kenny Francis with him.