Junior, Busch among Cup drivers winning "Loopies"

There are a few more awards to be handed out. So don't return those tuxes just yet. It's time for the second annual Loopie Awards, a ceremony commemorating the best -- and worst -- Loop Data performances of the 2008 season.

The envelopes please ...

The "Grass Is Always Greener" Award: Congrats to Dale Earnhardt Jr. Get it? Greener? Brilliant. Switching teams and colors breathed new life into Earnhardt, the clear winner of this award. With new team Hendrick Motorsports this season, Earnhardt nabbed his first win since 2006, made the Chase, and improved his Driver Rating by 5.8 points -- from 93.2 in 2007 to 99.0 this year.

The "Hey Conspiracy Theorists, Quiet Down" Award: Congrats to Dale Earnhardt Jr. again. Or perhaps this should go to Dale Earnhardt Inc. owner Teresa Earnhardt, which would make her the first NASCAR owner to win a coveted Loopie. Remember at the end of 2007, when conspiracy theorists assumed DEI intentionally gave Earnhardt shoddy engines? They had the stats to back it up: Earnhardt's "Closer" number -- the number of positions gained or lost in the final 10 percent of races -- was a dead-last -104. That poor figure was in large part due to engine failure in the closing laps. Well, the theory is ludicrous. This year, Earnhardt's Closer number was -103. Only one driver was worse than him -- Juan Montoya at -121.

The "I Didn't See That Coming" Award: This one is given to the driver who had a surprisingly bad year. (Name another award ceremony where the nominees don't always want to win.) This award goes to Kurt Busch. Busch had the largest drop in Driver Rating from 2007 -- 25.9 points. In '07, Busch had a strong Driver Rating of 99.7. This season, it plummeted to 73.8.

The "I Didn't See That Coming, But In A Good Way" Award: This one is given to the most improved driver -- and it's the least surprising winner in the bunch. The suspense killer goes to David Ragan, of course. Toward the end of the season, Tony Stewart went so far as recommending Ragan for driver of the year. Ragan certainly did impress. Finishing the season in 13th place, Ragan had by far the largest jump in Driver Rating. In 2007, Ragan had a Driver Rating of 56.1. This season, he earned an 81.8, an increase of 25.7 points. The second largest improvement was Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle with a 17.0 point jump. He went from a 76.4 in '07 to a 93.4 this season.

The "Coasting to the Finish" Award: Pit strategy played a hugely important role in a number of races this year -- and maybe more this season than any other in recent memory. The winner of this award is Carl Edwards, who stretched his fuel mileage to capture two of his three Chase victories. Loop Data shows many things, and one of them is lap speed of every car. In his win at Homestead, Edwards ran his final lap at 144.809 mph. The average speed of the field was 156.351 mph -- a difference of 11.542 mph. At Texas, his final lap speed was 156.586 mph. The average speed of the field was 165.825 mph -- a difference of 9.240 mph. But since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, the coast king is Tony Stewart. In his Kansas win in 2006, Stewart's final lap speed was 125.323 mph. The average speed of the field that lap was 155.365 mph, a difference of 30.042 mph. Since there were no Loopies back then, here's a Lifetime Achievement Award for Tony.

The "Tony Romo" Award: This one goes to the driver whose playoff performance was much, much worse than his regular season performance. Not to kick Kyle Busch when he's down, but the statistics are too lopsided to ignore. In the first 26 races, Busch had eight wins, an Average Running Position of 9.0 and a Driver Rating of 112.0. During the Chase, Busch had no wins, an Average Running Position of 17.6 and a Driver Rating of 83.4.

The "Number Two in the Standings, But Number One In Our Hearts ... And Fastest Laps Run" Award: Carl Edwards picks up another award. This one's a nod to his outstanding season that came up just short. Edwards ranked first in seven Loop Data categories, including Fastest Laps Run where he crushed the competition. Edwards ran the fastest lap on 1,091 of the 8,991 total green flag laps this season (12.1 percent). Second-most was Jimmie Johnson with 937, a difference of 154 laps -- or six laps short of an entire Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

The "Mr. September, October and Most of November" Award: This goes to our three-time Sprint Cup champion, Jimmie Johnson. What he does in the Chase, under playoff pressure, is simply astounding. His stats in the last three Chases:

Jimmie Johnson
Chase for the Sprint Cup ('06-'08)

Year Wins T5 T10 Avg. Fin. Avg. Running Pos. %Fastest Laps Run Laps Top 15% %Laps Led Driver Rating
2006 1 5 6 10.8 9.5 12.2% 85.8% 15.0% 108.8
2007 4 6 8 5.0 9.9 11.5% 82.6% 10.1% 114.1
2008 3 6 8 5.7 8.6 13.9% 81.3% 29.7% 116.2