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There were no surprises at Homestead. Jimmy Johnson came and left as champion of the Nextel Cup Series for the second time in-a-row. Johnson finished seventh in the Homestead/Miami race and capped off a season that featured better numbers on his report card than last year.

Ten wins, 20 top-five and 25 top-ten finishes adorned the scorecard of Johnson as he crossed the finish line seventh in the season finale at Homestead/Miami. Johnson repeats as champion for Hendrick Motorsports, but the only competition category where he excelled beyond his teammate and boss, Jeff Gordon, was in the number of races won during the season.

Johnson claimed ten wins and he won four in-a-row during the ten-race playoff series. Gordon only had six victories, but he out-drove Johnson if you compare the number of top-five and top-ten finishes. Gordon registered 21 top-five and 30 top-ten finishes in the 36-race season.

Johnson had 20 top-five and 24 top-ten finishes in 2007.

Gordon was also ahead of the champion in three other areas. Gordon led the most laps, scored the most bonus points for leading laps and had the most poles.

The No. 24 only failed to finish one event in the 2007 season, while Johnson was out of the race early four times during the year.

The Rick Hendrick racing empire dominated the stat sheet for the season in all categories except for the number of laps completed. There was no driver able to complete every lap of every race this year, but Kevin Harvick came the closest.

Harvick completed 10,431 of the 10,582 laps run this season. He and his Richard Childress Racing teammate, Clint Bowyer, were the only two drivers able to finish every race this year.

Less than three months will expire before the return of NASCAR to our televisions, but it will all have a different look and sound. The Nextel Cup will become the Sprint Cup, at least for the time being. Rumors ran rampant in the garage that the name change could happen again if Google buys out Sprint.

What has been called the Busch Series will be called the Nationwide Series next season, but not because of the more than 30 races held across the nation. The series new sponsor next year is Nationwide Insurance, since the beer giant decided to relinquish their role as the sponsor of the series and of the pole position award in what will be the Sprint Series next year.

Georgia Boys: David Ragan was the shining star for Georgia in Homestead/Miami. Ragan claimed the pole position for the Busch Series race and claimed a tenth place finish in the Nextel Cup race.

Ragan secured his third top-10 finish of the 2007 season and was declared the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie in the Ford 400. The Unadilla driver finished the season 23rd in points and as the runner up to the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title.

“My rookie season has been a year of ups and downs and many lessons learned. Some were learned the hard way, but the mistakes I made will make me a better race car driver in the future. I can not thank my team, my sponsors and Roush Fenway Racing enough for the opportunity to do what I love for a living. I am definitely looking forward to the 50th running of the Daytona 500 and my 2008 sophomore season,” said Ragan following his final ride of the year in the No. 6 Ford.

A late-race crash ruined Ragan’s chances of another top-five finish in the Busch Series race at Homestead/Miami. Ragan finished 33rd, but still held onto a fifth-place ranking for his first full season of Busch competition. His report card was good enough to win him the title of Rookie of the Year for the Busch Series.

Peachtree City’s Reed Sorenson finishes out his second full season of Nextel Cup competition with a 22nd place ranking in the points. He finished 24th in the 2006 point standings. Reed started 27th and finished 22nd in the Homestead/Miami race.

He scored three top-five and six top-ten finishes in his Chip Ganassi Dodge during the 2007 season.

Bill Elliott started 43rd and finished 28th in the Florida event. The Dawsonville driver ran 20 of the 36 races this season for the Woods Brothers’ team. Elliott was attempting to get the team a top-35 position in owner’s points to help the No. 21 have guaranteed starting spots at the beginning of the season next year. That goal was not accomplished.

Richard Johns, of Lawrenceville, started 37th and finished 35th in the Busch Series race at Homestead/Miami. It was his first year on the NASCAR circuit and he ran 15 Busch events this year.

Joey Clanton was the only Georgia representative in the final Craftsman Truck race of the season. Clanton started 11th and finished 26th. The Fayette County resident only ran 15 of the 25 truck races, but was still able to finish 20th in the point standings.

The WSB 120 racing program will return Saturday, December 1 on Newstalk 750 WSB Radio and www.wsbradio.com and plan to visit us Saturday, December 8 for our annual Toys For Tots live broadcast at The Bar-B-Que House in Lithia Springs. For more race information visit our Fastcar Newsdesk at www.captainherb.net.