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In his 2003 debut season in the Cup series, Casey Mears struggled with wrecks and engine failures. But as a sophomore on the circuit, he made up for lost time, and was much more competitive and consistent. For that, he's my choice as the most improved driver in Nextel Cup.

A fast climb
The nephew of four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears, Casey Mears has racing in his blood.

But finding Cup success wasn't an immediate thing for the 26-year-old, who came to NASCAR to run in the Busch Series in 2002.

He had only one top-five finish that season, but got a surprise promotion to the Cup series in 2003 courtesy of team co-owners Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates.

It was a rookie Cup campaign to forget for Mears, who had 10 DNFs, and zero top-10 finishes.

In contrast, in 2004 Mears had only three DNFs, and cracked the top 10 in nine races, with his best finish a fourth at Watkins Glen.

The second-year driver moved up from 35th in the championship standings as a rookie to 22nd.

I think Mears improved in every aspect of his racing, and it seemed like in every race of 2004, I found myself thinking about how well Mears was running.

I believe the former open-wheel racer is poised to become a top-10 driver and a contender in the Chase for the Championship as early as next season.

Mears is still young enough to make mistakes, and put the nose of his race car somewhere it doesn't belong and end up crashing, but it appears like he's put the worst of his growing pains behind him.

All things being equal, and with luck on his side, Mears could be a tough driver to beat in 2005. 

Driver of the Year
I think it's Jimmie Johnson, even though Kurt Busch won the championship.

Johnson had eight wins in 2004, and in my mind, he's the driver to beat for the Cup title in 2005.

I think that after qualifying for the Chase, Johnson and his team tried some things to get even better for the end of the season, and it seemed like whatever they tried backfired on them.

That was the only stretch in which they struggled, the only blemish on an outstanding year.

What impresses me most about Johnson is his tremendous car control.

He's risen pretty quickly in Cup competition, but these days experience doesn't seem to be nearly the factor it was ten years ago in the sport.

Now rather than experience, the biggest factors in a driver's success seem to be car control, feel for a car, and the ability to effectively relate to the crew how a car is performing in a race.

Johnson scores very high marks in all those categories.

Crew Chief of the Year
My pick is Jimmy Fennig, who in 2004 took a relatively young driver in Kurt Busch and won a championship.

Busch won three times, and there were at least several races were Fennig put him in the best car of the day.

Fennig gave Busch a car that was very fast, very competitive, and mechanically sound.

A big part of being a top crew chief is the non-race day relationship with a driver.

In Richmond last September, Busch ran out of gas with nine laps to go after dominating the race.

After that huge disappointment somebody had to get Busch and the team of the No. 97 Ford calmed down, and ready to race the next weekend in New Hampshire -- the start of the Chase for the Championship.

Fennig was that guy, quickly righting the ship, and bringing Busch home a winner in Loudon.

To me that was one of the most impressive things Fennig did in 2004, and a clear example of his value to Busch and the team all through the week and not just on race day.

Pit Crew of the Year
Robby Gordon's crew on the No. 31 Chevrolet of Richard Childress Racing was consistently fast in the pits.

They were not exposed to the limelight nearly as much as the pit crews of the top teams, but they were really, really good.

The team was cocky, believing it was the best on pit road.

And when you go across that wall, it doesn't hurt to have that kind of an attitude.

They also communicated tremendously well.

When something happened that was bad, they sat down and constructively talked about it.

By talking about such a situation, they fixed it for next time.

Communication among the crew members is a huge factor in how well a team performs in the pits.

Gordon was not re-signed by Childress for the 2005 season, but members of his pit crew will have not problems finding work.

There's a huge demand for their services.

An example of that is Jimmie Johnson's team wasting no time in locking up Tim Ladyga, who was a tire changer for Gordon.

Owner of the Year
I'd have to go with Jack Roush, who had three of his drivers (Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, and Matt Kenseth) qualify for the inaugural Chase for the Championship.

Roush's other Cup driver, Greg Biffle, placed 17th and didn't make the playoff, but he won two races.

And when Jeff Burton left Roush Racing in August of 2004 to drive the No. 30 car for Richard Childress Racing, it would have be very easy for Roush to end the run of the No. 99 car, and thereby save millions of dollars.

But instead Roush put a rookie, Carl Edwards, in that car, and spent his own money as basically Roush Racing sponsored the No. 99 car for the remainder of the season.

Edwards performed well, showing he has a very bright future.

I think Roush deserves the credit for making that call, and it should payoff for him and his operation in the future.

Rookie of the Year
Kasey Kahne is the pick in what is obviously a no-brainer.

He's certainly the equal of some recent rookie of the year winners, impressive names like Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, and Jamie McMurray.

It's probably rushing things a bit to suggest a Cup championship for Kahne next season, but I think in 2005 he can easily get his much-awaited first Cup victory.

That's the first hurdle he has to clear as he came so close to winning on several occasions in 2004.

Credit the owner of Kahne's No. 9 Dodge, Ray Evernham, and his crew chief, Tommy Baldwin, with doing a very good job last winter of getting Kahne prepared for the 2004 season.

An example of how ready Kahne was for his rookie experience is that he came very close to winning the second race of the season.

Bad luck was his biggest problem, and had he had good luck instead, he could have won four or five races.

Kahne wound up 13th in the championship standings.

He nearly qualified for the Chase for the Championship, and there are really long odds against a rookie doing that.