Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the choice of RACER magazine readers as the overall Racer of the Year for 2004, but when it came to choosing the top oval driver for the season past, the Daytona 500 champ was eclipsed by Nextel Cups most successful driver of the season, Jimmie Johnson. The Hendrick Motorsports star, who led the Nextel Cup ranks with eight wins, bested IRL IndyCar champ Tony Kanaan in the voting, as tabulated via an online ballot here at SpeedTV.com. Jimmie has always understood racing very well, noted his crew chief, Chad Knaus, who offers his impressions of how his driver hit his stride so quickly in the feature article revealing all of this years Racers of the Year, in the March issue of RACER that goes on sale Feb. 22. In fact, RACER readers gave credit to Knaus, too, for Johnsons outstanding season, by selecting him as the Crew Chief/Team Manager of the Year. Ferrari chief Jean Todt was a distant second in voting for this category. The Most Promising Oval Racer of the Year category was the biggest runaway of the nine categories, as Nextel Cup rookie Kasey Kahne gathered no less than 55 percent of the vote. No surprise to his boss, Ray Evernham: How can you not be impressed with him, asked Evernham, who compares his new phenoms progress with that of his former charge, Jeff Gordon, elsewhere in the issue.(Speed Chanel)(2-11-2005)
