In news that surprised exactly no one, Joey Logano has taken the Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year award, knocking off Max Papis and Scott Speed. Stiff competition there, huh?

Since rookies tend to have about as much success in NASCAR as turkeys on Thanksgiving, the rookie of the year award isn't quite the big deal it is in some other sports. Even so, the award is a harbinger of future success; in the last ten years, only two winners -- Regan Smith last year and Jamie McMurray in 2003 -- have not made the Chase at one point. Winners have included Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya and Denny Hamlin. (Not winners: Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr.)

Logano had a strong rookie season, notching one win  -- a rain-shortened one, but still -- along with three top-5s, seven top-10s and about 250,000 jokes about shaving and voice-cracking, half of which were made right here. He finished the year in 20th place, ahead of Casey Mears, McMurray, Earnhardt and many others.

Congratulations, Joey! And to honor your win, we promise not to make any more "little kid" jokes. Go ahead, have a chocolate milk to celebrate! (Whoops.)

NASCAR fans have a lot to say about everything in the sport. Sometimes it's positive, and sometimes it veers into foot-stomping, tantrum-throwing complaining. But are the fans legitimately mad, or are they just griping because it's not their guy holding up the trophy? Tough question, and that's where we come in. In the tradition of the great Urban Legends Reference Pages, we'll take on some of NASCAR fandom's most pervasive whines and decide whether there's any merit to them. First up: one of the many knocks on the four-time champ.

The complaint: Jimmie Johnson wouldn't have won four championships if we were under the old points system.

The reason behind the complaint: NASCAR fans worship at the altar of Earnhardt and Petty -- justifiably so, I might add -- but now that Jimmie Johnson is edging into their territory, many are getting nervous. The "new" championship format, with its end-of-regular-season points reset, provides an easy out. The thinking goes like this: the old guys won their championships under the equivalent of a full-season playoff, but Jimmie Johnson has won all his championships under the new, 10-race system. Therefore he only wins because of the new system, right? Not so fast.

The truth:  First off, it's called the "old" system for a reason -- it's old and it's done with. So on one level, the complaint is irrelevant. You race under the system you've got; we don't hear many people complaining that they should take away many of Richard Petty's wins because they came against less-than-full fields or against cars with far less technological muscle than his. Times change, like it or not.

But more importantly, this is something that can be easily disproven just by looking at statistics. Let's illustrate, for Johnson's four championships, the breakdown of points under both systems.

2009
Chase format: Johnson, Mark Martin (-141), Jeff Gordon (-179)
Old system: Johnson, Jeff Gordon (-66), Tony Stewart (-71)

2008
Chase format: Johnson, Carl Edwards (-69), Greg Biffle (-217)
Old system: Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson (-16), Kyle Busch (-252)

2007
Chase format: Johnson, Jeff Gordon (-77), Clint Bowyer (-346)
Old system: Jeff Gordon, Johnson (-353), Tony Stewart (-706)

2006
Chase format: Johnson, Matt Kenseth (-56), Denny Hamlin (-68)
Old system: Johnson, Matt Kenseth (-4), Kevin Harvick (-320)

So there you go. Johnson would have won two of his four championships outright, and he obviously wouldn't have raced the same way at Homestead last year (he casually cruised to a 15th-place finish while Edwards won) had the points been as tight under the old system. (Of course, the reverse holds true for 2006, where Kenseth was only four points back under the old system.) Only in 2007 did the Chase really benefit Johnson.

What you need to look at, though, isn't just the numbers, it's the names. Note that while there are twelve drivers named above, only one shows up in the top three -- heck, top two -- every year under both systems. After Johnson, only Gordon and Stewart even show up twice on those lists. And with the exception of this year, look how far back the third-place guy is under the old points scenario. It's been a two-man race every year since 2005, and Johnson's always been one of those two.

Whine verdict: Almost baseless. The Chase may have shuffled the competitors, but it doesn't change the fact that Johnson dominates under any scenario. At least two, and probably three, of the last four championships would still have been his under the season-long system.

Okay, your turn. Post your take below. Got a whine you want us to break down? Add  it below or email me at jay.busbee@yahoo.com. 

Time to put the 2009 season on the shelf once and for all. Were you ready for it to be done, or do you want a year-round schedule? (Bite your tongue, year-rounders. We need a breather!)

Anyway, even though the racing is done for the year, we're not going anywhere. We'll be posting plenty every single day, and we'll continue with our regular weekly chats throughout the offseason. We'll also be continuing the podcasts -- remember to call in and you too can get on the show. We'll also be kicking off a couple new features starting today, including our "Best of the Decade" series (one guess as to what that will focus on) and "Stale Whines," in which we take on the different complaints about NASCAR and its drivers and, one by one, put stakes through their hearts. (The complaints, not the drivers.) It's going to be just like the regular season, except without the races -- and considering the quality of some of the races this year, that might be a good thing. 

We'll do a complete season recap after Thanksgiving, but for now, post your thoughts below -- favorite moments of 2009? Least favorite? Best storylines? Have your say ... and then get ready. After all, it's less than three months to Daytona.

On Sunday night, Jimmie Johnson clinched his fourth straight Sprint Cup championship, and in so doing cemented his place among the greats of the sport. But he's done more than that; he's now propelled himself above and beyond NASCAR. He's the most successful athlete currently competing right now, and it's not even close. 

Were this Tiger Woods snagging his fourth straight Masters, or Kobe Bryant clinching his fourth straight ring, or Tom Brady capturing his fourth straight Super Bowl, you'd be getting their greatness rammed down your throat 24/7. But this is NASCAR; the sports fan public knows they can't throw a pass 50 yards or hit a golf ball 300, but they figure they know how to drive fast and turn left. How hard could it be for Johnson to win some of those little races, huh?

Answer: plenty. Put aside the physical demands -- the intense heat of the car's interior, the physical strength needed to wheel a car for 500 miles. Even running a race -- to say nothing of winning one, or winning an entire season -- requires the mental discipline, ultrafast-twitch reflexes and utter, stone-cold fearlessness that only the best athletes possess. (And don't even start the whole "the car's the star, not the driver" nonsense. Equipment is a key element of every sport. When's the last time you saw a baseball player succeed without a bat, or a football player succeed without pads?) 

So, with the playing field leveled, let's break down why Johnson is the top athlete at work today. For starters, you could argue that the level of competition in every single sport right now is the highest it's ever been. Kids train practically from birth to play one sport; sophisticated training techniques make today's marginal athletes the equivalent of yesterday's All-Stars.

Even so, Johnson has established a four-year gap between himself and his nearest competitors that's greater than any other athlete in any other sport. Nobody in any league is a prohibitive favorite; even Tiger is vulnerable these days.

Plenty of people both inside and outside NASCAR are dismissing Johnson's accomplishments, and that's too bad. They're missing out on history here. Nobody else is riding as high these days, in any sport, anywhere. And anybody who thinks it's certain to end in 2010 ... well, didn't we think that coming into 2007, 2008 and 2009?

Bandwagoners, here's a heads-up: push aside your Yankees caps, Patriots jerseys and Cowboys jackets and make room for some of Jimmie Johnson's gear. (He's the 48.) If you're the type of person who wants to jump on board a proven winning train, you've got one right here waiting for you, ready to roll.

For everyone else, take a moment -- just a moment, that's all -- to applaud what Johnson's doing here. You're not going to see anything like this again anytime soon. 

_______

For more daily NASCAR news & opinion, click here to bookmark Yahoo! Sports' From The Marbles, and follow us on Twitter. 

One of the bigger surprises of the 2009 Chase came when Pat Tryson, crew chief for Kurt Busch, announced in October that he would be leaving the No. 2 Dodge team to go crew Martin Truex Jr.'s new team. Sure, it was an unfortunately-timed split, but the team looked like it was going to make the best of an awkward situation, and even managed to win the Dickies 500 in Texas. The split was looking almost amicable.

And then came Sunday night.

After a race in which he was leading but lost ground on the final pit -- a stop where he took two tires where everyone else took four -- Kurt took time to offer congratulations to Jimmie Johnson and tipped his cap to all his sponsors. And then he smiled, the kind of grin which has a name that we can't repeat or describe here but the word "eating" is in the name -- stared straight in the camera, and unloaded more dirty laundry than a college freshman home for Thanksgiving break.

"Maybe this is my best opportunity to throw my crew chief under the bus for giving me two tires at the end instead of four," he said. "We probably had a shot at  winning, and I told him he had to keep an eye on the other guys ... Hey, I'm throwing him under the bus because we don't have him anymore and we're looking for a new crew chief."

Boy, with that guy in your ear every Sunday, the candidates have got to be just lining up out the door, right? Busch did throw some thanks Tryson's way -- "we worked great together" -- but finished by saying, "We'll find somebody great, somebody better, and we'll beat the 56 next year."

Between this and all the other little fights starting to break out around the track, it's almost a shame the season has to end, isn't it?

For those of you distraught at the accounting-firm state of much of NASCAR lately, you've got to love what's gone on this weekend at Homestead. First it was Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski throwing down at Saturday night's Nationwide race, bringing to an end -- for now -- 18 months of brawling and yapping, both on and off the track.

And Sunday night, Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart decided to get a little froggy with each other. First, Smoke turned into JPM, knocking him off the track and prompting Montoya to scream that NASCAR should kick Smoke out of the race altogether. But JPM's crew diligently worked to get their driver back on the track, and when they did, this happened:

Montoya got tagged with a two-lap penalty, but since he was dozens of laps down already, that was about as effective as tossing ice cubes in the ocean. Neither Stewart nor Montoya spoke immediately after the race, and chances are both are heading home to cool out. Any chance this will spill over into next season? Probably not, but the fact that drivers are getting saucy is a good way to close out the year, yes?

Special Saturday Nationwide version of Running Wide Open today, as we've got a fine little showdown later this afternoon in the season-ending Nationwide race. Sure, Kyle Busch has already locked up the championship, but that's not what everyone wants to see -- we're waiting to see what happens between Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. There's a bit of bad blood between them, as you may have heard. So, hang out here, place your bets, chat about the race. Have at it!

We're inside 48 hours from the final race of the season, and with the drama all but squeezed out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, we're forced to look elsewhere for our storylines of interest.

So thank you, Kasey Kahne, for giftwrapping this one for us. Kahne, as you know, is one of the most talented drivers on the track but one who's often suffered because of equipment that doesn't measure up to his skill level. He's entering the final year of his contract with Richard Petty Motorsports, and after this exchange during Friday's media session, it sure sounds like he'll be joining the coveted free agent class of 2010: 

How much will you try and stay in the loop with RPM management on what's going on?

Kahne: I use to try and stay in the loop and then things don't happen that they say will. At this point, I have one year left (on my RPM contract). I want to do the best job for Richard Petty Motorsports in my final year. It's up to them what happens. They do their thing and I'll do mine. All I can do is make myself better at driving race cars and communicating with Kenny Francis. If I do that, I'll be happy next season.

So you'll try and look elsewhere next year?

Kahne: Yeah.

Regardless of what happens next year, will next year be your last year with RPM?

Kahne: That's hard to say. Come January, I can start looking around; I can talk to other people. I would imagine the Gilletts are going to talk to me at that point. But as of right now, the Gilletts haven't talked to me and I'm just kind of doing my job, doing the best that I can through the end of the season. The ups and downs of the team has made it difficult for me to really say, 'Man, I'm going to be here for 10 more years.' I really don't know what's going to happen. Truthfully, I don't know what's going to happen right now.

Yeah, those don't sound like the words of a guy who's enamored of his current team, do they? If Kasey were to jump ship next year, he'd join the most stocked free-agent class in NASCAR history -- Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch all also have contracts expiring at the end of next year. And while several of those guys won't ever take a sniff at the open market, some will -- and that's going to make 2010 a yearlong Silly Season.

Plenty of NASCAR observers have said they'd love to see what Kahne could do in top-flight equipment. Before long, he might just get his chance.

We're back with a brand-spankin' new Chrome Horn podcast, this time featuring owner Richard Childress. He joins us for a quick visit to talk his team's disappointing seasons, his wine, his history with NASCAR and -- because these things often have a price -- his involvement with the Dial 811 program in connection with Shell to help those of you doing digging and whatnot to avoid hitting gas lines. The Dial 811 logo will adorn Kevin Harvick's ride this weekend, so you can check it out there as well.

As always, we welcome your thoughts, ideas, and recommendations on the podcast. Hit me up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com, or feel free to call our direct podcast line at 678-389-9173 and leave a comment or question for use on a future podcast. For now, though, click the little arrow below to play the podcast or right-click the link to download, and hit the iTunes site linked below to subscribe. Enjoy!

The Chrome Horn, episode 28: Richard Childress

Quick-hitter here -- we're going to give something a try that could be a lot of fun, or could crash and burn totally. Or both at once. As you (hopefully) know, we don't shut the doors here when the season ends, and one thing we'll be doing throughout the offseason is our podcasts. We'll have interviews with drivers, owners, media folks and other assorted NASCAR types, and now we're going to try something new -- a call-in segment. Here's the deal: call the Marbles Skype line at 678-389-9173 and leave us a message. You can ask a question, you can make a comment, whatever you like. (Try your best to keep it relatively clean, and remember to identify yourself.) We'll compile the best and respond to them in a special holiday podcast next week. So think up something interesting or clever to say, and you might just find yourself on a podcast. Have at it!