Clint Bowyer: 2008 Nationwide Series Champ

Carl Edwards literally did all he could do in the Nationwide Series' final race Saturday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway to win the 2009 series title, but Clint Bowyer's 5th-place finish kept it out of the Ford driver's hands.

As a result, Bowyer, a native of Emporia, Kan., scored his first-career championship in NASCAR's second-tier series by a mere 21 points over the race-winning Edwards after beginning the Ford 300 with a 56-point advantage in the series standings.

Together with Johnny Benson's Craftsman Truck Series championship drive on Friday night, a grand total of 28 points have separated NASCAR's two champions in 2008 from their closest rivals in second place -- Edwards on Saturday night at Ron Hornaday Jr. on Friday night.

That small point difference trend isn't expected to continue with Sunday's Ford 400 Sprint Cup season-finale race as Jimmie Johnson has a 141-point lead over Edwards in the top level series. Johnson, however, doesn't have the championship quite in the bag yet because he does have to finish 36th or higher to guarantee the title -- but certainly the drawstring is closing.

Back to Bowyer's title, however, and you're certainly looking at a driver who has had a stressful go of it as he attempted to finish out a virtually impeccable season of Nationwide competition.

At both Texas and Phoenix a week and two weeks ago -- Phoenix especially due to a restart crash that forced the team to punt severely from the original race plan to still manage a Top-5 finish -- Bowyer lost points to Edwards as the Missouri driver totaled 9 Top-10s in the final 9 races, including four wins.

Bowyer, however, suffered a worst finish of 16th in that same final stretch among 8 Top-10 finishes to keep Edwards' surge somewhat at bay and to prevent a second-straight title for the Roush-Fenway Racing driver.

Richard Childress, Bowyer's team owner, also added another trophy to the mantle with his third car owner championship in the Nationwide Series since the series started in 1982.

The stats aren't an especially telling story for Bowyer's run to the title, as he totaled up just one win and 14 Top-5s compared to Edwards seven 2008 Nationwide victories, combined with 19 Top-5s. The biggest difference, though, appeared to be that Bowyer scored seven more Top-10 finishes.

Regardless of the way he did it, Bowyer finished the 2008 season with the most points and for that, he's deserving of the FanHouse nod and tip of the glass.

Here's to you, Clint Bowyer, congratulations on the championship.