Survival of the youngest: a supportive owner, top-notch equipment and a turning point in Texas helped Brian Vickers, 20, capture the Busch Series championship.(NASCAR)

If Ricky Hendrick had listened to his dad, who would have blamed him? Certainly, Rick Hendrick's credentials as a car owner--five Winston Cup championships--qualify him as an expert.

But you know how kids are ...

"I pretty much told him that these were my cars and my deal and that if he wanted me to be a part of it, then this was what I wanted to do," Ricky says. "I said, 'If not, and you want to choose your own driver, then you can go ahead, but it'll be your deal? Either I was going to get written out of the will and written out of my job, or he was going to go with it."

He went with it--and that's why Brian Vickers is now the Busch Series champion.

It's more complicated than that, of course, but if Ricky Hendrick hadn't convinced his dad that Vickers was the right driver for the No. 5 Chevrolet, nothing else would have mattered.

Vickers wrapped up the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the last race of the season. He rallied from the early loss of a lap and finished 11th, edging David Green for the Busch Series championship by 14 points.

Green, who finished ninth at Homestead, made a valiant run for the title, recovering three laps after cutting a tire and drawing a drive-through penalty for not using the proper entrance to pit road. But Green wasn't able to pick up the positions he needed in the closing laps, and Vickers kept him in sight.