Jimmie Johnson clearly had the best race team last season in the Sprint Cup Series, but was he the best driver?

Tony Stewart won two championships with Joe Gibbs Racing, so was it a good decision to leave to become part-owner of a company that's never won a race?

Indianapolis Motor Speedway remains stock car racing's biggest stage with more than 250,000 fans, but does it offer the best racing?

These questions, and more, are part of a year-end report looking at the best and worst story lines from the 2008 season.

BEST DRIVER: Carl Edwards.

Edwards won a series-best nine races in the Sprint Cup Series, including three of the final four, to finish second to Johnson in the championship. He also won seven times in the Nationwide Series to finish second in that championship.

Kyle Busch won a record 21 races - eight in Cup, 10 in Nationwide and three in the Craftsman Truck Series - but he struggled during the playoffs to finish 10th in the Cup standings. While his overall body of work may be impressive, he only had two top-five finishes and no victories in the 10-race Chase for the Championship.

BEST TEAM: Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports).

Johnson tied Cale Yarborough's record with his third consecutive title. The way his No. 48 team continued to excel in the playoffs, it's a very real possibility the record could be re-written next season.

Three of Johnson's seven victories and six of his 15 top-five finishes came in the playoffs. Just as important, his worst finish in the Chase was 15th.

BEST RACE: Stewart's win at Talladega Superspeedway.

Although the Car of Tomorrow continued to baffle most teams at many racetracks, Talladega Superspeedway provided the kind of race that, at long last, put the focus back on the drivers, not their cars.

Stewart won after two laps of overtime. Regan Smith made a daring pass on the track apron to take the checkered flag, but he eventually was put back to an 18th-place finish after NASCAR ruled he went out of bounds in the final 300 yards.

Ryan Newman's last-lap pass of Stewart to win the Daytona 500 provided the best finish, but the 480 miles of racing leading up to that pass lacked any real excitement.

WORST RACE: Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. A quarter of a million people were treated to one of the worst races in NASCAR history when the Goodyear Rubber and Tire Co. brought a tire that couldn't last 15 laps.

Johnson won the race, but pace car driver Brett Bodine led the second-most laps. The race was slowed down 11 times for 57 of 160 laps.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: David Ragan.

In 2006, Stewart called Ragan a "dart without feathers" after his erratic performance at Martinsville Speedway. In 2008, Stewart said Ragan deserved consideration for driver of the year after finishing 13th in the point standings with 14 top-10 finishes.

More important, Ragan earned the respect of his fellow drivers by being both smart and competitive. Ragan will return for his third full season in the No. 6 Ford at Roush Fenway Racing in 2009.

BIGGEST LETDOWNS: Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth.

Gordon finished second in the championship in 2007 and he was winless in 2008. Kenseth finished fourth in the 2007 championship and he was winless in 2008.

For Gordon, his winless season snapped a string of 14 years in a row with at least one victory. For Kenseth, his string of six seasons with at least one win ended.

Reach Don Coble at don.coble@morris.com.