Associated Press

The NASCAR notebook ...

Jeff Gordon lost the championship to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, but his No. 24 over-the-wall crew beat Mark Martin's No. 01 crew in a tiebreaker to capture the 2007 pit crew championship.

Gordon's and Martin's crews ended the season with four wins apiece in the contest to have the fastest times during the races, with the No. 24 winning because of a higher finish in the Nextel Cup point standings. Gordon was second and part-time Cup driver Martin wound up 27th.

The winning crew will split winnings of $155,150 from sponsors Checkers/Rally's.

The No. 24 crew consists of jackman Jeff Cook, front tire carrier Mike "Tiny" Houston, front tire changer Clay Robinson, rear tire carrier Jeff Knight, rear tire changer Kevin Gilman, gasman Caleb Hurd, catch can man Jamie Frady and eighth man Andy Kruep. The pit crew coach is Matt Clark, and Mike Atwell was also listed after filling in for Gilman for several races.

"The No. 24 DuPont pit crew did an amazing job all year," crew chief Steve Letarte said. "They were consistently fast and didn't miss a beat when changes were made to the lineup due to injuries."

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TOP ROOKIES: David Ragan gave car owner Jack Roush his third straight rookie title and fourth since 2001 in the NASCAR Busch Series.

Ragan beat out Australian Marcos Ambrose by just 27 points to join Roush drivers Danny O'Quinn Jr. (2006), Carl Edwards (2005) and Greg Biffle (2001) in taking rookie honors in the developmental series.

Ragan finished the Busch season with two poles, four top-five and nine top-10 finishes, including a career-best third-place run at Memphis. He finished fifth in the series standings while also racing full-time in Nextel Cup, where he was 23rd overall for what is now Roush Fenway Racing.

Ambrose wound up eighth in the Busch points, becoming the first non-North American driver to finish in the top 10 in any of NASCAR's three national championship divisions.

The last non-United States driver to achieve the feat was Canadian Earl Ross, who finished eighth in the Cup standings in 1974.

Ragan also finished second, 24 points behind Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia in the rookie standings in Cup.

In the Craftsman Truck Series, the top rookie was Willie Allen, who finished just eight points ahead of Tim Sauter.

Allen's best finish was a sixth at Talladega. He finished the season 15th in the standings, best of any Raybestos rookie.

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BIG WINNER: Jimmie Johnson's championship was worth $1 million to an insurance claims adjuster from Las Vegas.

When Johnson finished seventh last Sunday in Homestead, Fla., wrapping up his second straight Nextel Cup title, he made Terri Randall an instant millionaire in the SprintSpeed Million presented by Motorola.

Randall selected Johnson as the driver she thought would win the Chase for the championship in the online contest. Following the race at Richmond on Sept. 8, she was randomly chosen as one of 12 finalists to be paired with each driver in the Chase.

In addition to winning $1 million, Randall received VIP trips to two Chase races and a $10,000 check presented by Johnson.

Randall said she plans to use her winnings to pay off her mortgage and donate to the Jimmie Johnson Foundation.

"I still can't believe this is real," said Randall, whose husband is an avid NASCAR fan. "One minute I'm playing around online and the next Sprint is giving me a million bucks."