The season is over, and I wound up second. It would have been great to win, but we can't hang our heads over second place.

Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team did a great job in the second half of the Chase, and they deserve the championship. They simply outperformed us.

Really, if you look at that team, they've consistently been the team to beat for the last three or four years. They're always in the top two or three in points and wins, so they've definitely earned it.

We just got off our setups at the wrong time of the year. Looking back, I know we weren't as good as we were the first three-quarters of the year, but I don't think we were that bad down the stretch, either. We just weren't quite good enough to win it.

I think it just seemed a lot worse than what it was compared to our performance earlier in the year and compared to the ridiculous pace that Jimmie set down the stretch.

Winning a championship isn't easy, and you have to turn out top 10s and top fives in those last 10 races. We ended up with a lot of top 15s, which got us close. But, obviously, it wasn't good enough to get the job done in the end.

I'm proud of our team this year. Even when things weren't really going our way at the end of the year, and our cars were off a little bit, they didn't quit or hang their heads. They kept fighting to make the car better and did an awesome job on pit road to keep and gain track position. Robbie Reiser, as usual, had this team operating at a championship level all season long.

I had as much fun this year as I ever have driving a Cup car. We won four races and came close to winning about four or five more.

The guys on the team were hungry all year and kept working hard and with enthusiasm. It's a great group of guys to be around, and I'm confident we'll come back as strong as ever in 2007.

Thanks for having me these past 11 weeks, I've enjoyed it. Have a good holiday season, and I hope to see you at the track real soon.

___

Kenseth's Q&A with Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer:

Q: Well, the season is over, and you made a run at it but fell 56 points of the title. Are you disappointed?

A: ``Yes and no. If I really sit back and look at the whole season and how we ran and the things we accomplished, it was a good year. We finished second in points, won four races, led a lot of laps and were in contention for several other wins. But in the kind of business we are in, where every little bit counts, we agonize over the wins we didn't get and the points we didn't get _ just all the things we lost. It would have been a great year to win it, but Jimmie and the 48 was just better. We'll try again next year.''

Q: There's been a lot of recent grumbling about how long the season is. Maybe it should be shortened and maybe some of the races should be shortened. What's your take?

A: ``I think that it is long, calendar-wise. But I think there would be a huge difference in how everybody feels if we just had one more weekend off somewhere. Somewhere September-ish, maybe right before the Chase starts. It's the long stretches that really get to everyone. I think one more off weekend would really help, because it is very long. But nobody is forcing us to do it. All of us, including the crew guys, are making a good living. Truth be told, I'd race two more weeks if we didn't have to go to New York for the banquet. I'd much rather be at the track than doing any of the other stuff.

``As for the races, some of them are too long. Some of them should only be 400 miles. There are certain tracks that are good for 500 miles. Pocono is not one of them. But places like Atlanta, where every lap is exciting, 500 laps is a great race.''

Q: Got any big plans for the off-season? Thanksgiving? You're an outdoorsman, so do you plan to shoot your own turkey?

A: ``I haven't made any real big plans. I am not one of the guys who really like going to New York, so I never really plan much until after we get that out of the way. Once I get back, we'll probably take a couple of weeks in December to get away a little bit.

``For Thanksgiving, we're going to go to the cabin in Wisconsin. My family is up there, and (wife) Katie's family is from up there. Along with Easter, it's the only other time all year we can get both families together. Negative on the bird. Katie will take care of that. Her and her mom are really awesome cooks, so it's going to be a great meal.''

Q: This is probably the last fantasy football update I'm going to get for the season. How are things looking?

A: ``I did good last week. I'm on a two-game winning streak, because Chad Johnson is finally putting up some numbers. Right now, I'm in sixth, and if I win one more game I should make the playoffs. But my team isn't really that good, so it's not looking too good for me.''

Q: OK, so this diary and Q&A was something new for you, but you lasted all 11 weeks. How did you like it?

A: ``It was OK. If I could have done it with somebody else instead of you it would have been better. But seriously, it was kind of cool letting people read what was going on with me, and how the Chase was going. I didn't mind it at all.

Q: So are you sorry it ended? Do you want to keep calling me during the off-season?

A: ``I think I'll be OK until Daytona.''

© The Canadian Press, 2007