Jimmie Johnson didn't win the Winston Cup championship he vied for. He didn't even win the Rookie of the Year award he set out to before the season.

And yet, he may be the biggest winner of all.

	Jimmie Johnson steered his car to the front of the pack in 2002 -- and learned a lot from the other top drivers.

Coaches in other sports say it all the time -- you can always learn from a loss; the best is when you can learn from a win.

And though Johnson lost both titles he competed for in 2002, he finished fifth in the standings, winning a modern-era rookie record-tying three races and posting 21 top-10s. To learn a lesson from a season like that is a blessing.

"I think it was a great season," Johnson said. "There at the end, we wish we had been able to stay in the championship battle. At the end of the season, I with we could have had some of those races back to take up some of the small mistakes that we've made. But all in all, it's been a great season.

"It seems like five years ago that we won our first race in California. So much happens on a weekly basis here that your memory bank can only hang on to so much. It's been an incredible season and a surprising one to say the least."

Although it's been tough to keep everything he's learned straight in his mind through the grueling 38-week season, Johnson won't forget the lessons he's learned. And he's learned most of the lessons by racing at the front of the pack and being around the best.

"You learn all kinds of things (like) how long the season is and what it takes to be in the championship week in and week out," he said. "I think I'm learning and developing. There are a lot of things you learn by running up front."

One of the first lessons, and one he says was the most important to know, Johnson said was how to race the other drivers. He's heard stories about rookie seasons being made tougher by how other drivers treat and race you -- but he said once you learn how to race others, there's no problem.

"You need to race everyone clean and treat them with respect," Johnson said. "You can't go in there and rough people up in our sport because we're traveling 200 mph and you start hitting the wall. It's different in our sport in that you come in with a good attitude and respect the guys you're racing with they'll treat you with respect. But you've got to take that initiative to step off on the right foot to give that respect and race them cleanly and treat them right.

"Once that happens, you're in good shape. These guys all respect everything that I've been able to accomplish and my team and everything that goes along. This whole rookie vision-thing I don't really think exists. Any rookie problems I've had have been self-induced from mistakes that I've made -- not necessarily anything from the other drivers."

Johnson learned that lesson early in the season, and he says it's helped gain some respect for him from his fellow competitors. For him, that's been the most satisfying thing to come out of the year.

"Just making my mark in the sport and getting the respect from the drivers and the team members and the team owners (has meant a lot)," he said. "When you come into the sport, you don't know how long it's going to take to gain that respect from everyone. I might not have it from everyone I know, but I know I have it from the drivers and team members and owners."

Johnson said he had more trouble handling the busy schedule and appearances than he did handling other racers.

"The time you spend in the car isn't the thing that wears you down the most," he said. "It's the travel, and the obligations out of the race car for 38 weekends of the season is pretty intense. Really, we only have three off-weekends. During those off-weekends, there are still obligations. It's the schedule and all the stuff that goes into it that's the hard thing."

Johnson's taken notes on how to handle that grind better, and he believes it will help him notch another top-five finish in the standings next year. Hopefully, it may lead to a championship.

"We're just going to go out and do what we can next year and try to improve our finish at each race track over what we did the last time," Johnson said. "Looking back, there are some mechanical things and some mistakes that I've made at some tracks. I feel a lot smarter and feel we'll be in a lot better situation to hopefully run better at some of these tracks where we didn't run so well. Hopefully we can finish higher than we did this year."

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for The Raleigh News & Observer and a regular contributor to ESPN.com.