Hendrick, JJ becoming afterthoughts in 2008 season

Despite a penalty that dropped him to 17th in the points, Carl Edwards' two wins this year prove he will be a force all season long. Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Four races into 2008, here are the four developing themes of the NASCAR season:

1. Two drivers have emerged as the Cup favorites: Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch.

It's only taken a month for everyone's attention in the garage to shift from Jimmie Johnson, the two-time defending champ, to Edwards and Busch. If he hadn't suffered a blown engine last week in Atlanta, Edwards would likely be riding a three-race winning streak right now. His No. 99 Ford has handled better through the corners than any other car in the series, and while his team was tagged with a 100-point penalty for a rules violation in Las Vegas, it's clear that this team has found something in the CoT that no one else in the garage has.

Busch, meanwhile, has led laps in every race and he's currently the points leader (Edwards, largely because of that Vegas penalty, is in 17th, which is the most deceiving stat in NASCAR right now). Busch excels at driving ill-handling, loose racecars. He always appears to be on the edge of wrecking, but so far he's been able to maintain control and this has given him an advantage over the drivers who ease off the gas when their cars start sliding through the corners. Busch rarely throttles back, and as long he can continue to avoid slamming into the wall, he'll be tough to beat week in and week out.

2. Parity among the manufacturers has arrived on the Sprint Cup circuit.

Last year Chevrolet dominated NASCAR's highest series, winning a record 26 races while Dodges took three checkered flags, Fords 10, and Toyotas zero. But so far in '08 Chevy has been shut out of Victory Lane, as a Dodge won at Daytona, a Toyota in Atlanta and a Ford in California and Las Vegas.

How to account for this? It's the Car of Today, which leads us to ...

3. The Car of Today has been a success.

While drivers still complain that the CoT is a handling nightmare, it's hard to argue with the car's results. There's been far more passing and more lead changes through four races than there was at this juncture last season. Why? The CoT's common template has narrowed the gap between the haves and have-nots in the sport -- there's simply not many places on the car where crew chiefs can tinker around to find speed -- and it's no longer a pipe dream for an under-funded team to run in the lead pack.

But most impressive about the new car has been this: it's a far safer vehicle than the previous generation of stock cars. Through four races there have been a few horrifying wrecks -- Casey Mears at Fontana and Jeff Gordon at Las Vegas come to mind -- and no serious injuries. Would Mears and Gordon have walked away from their accidents if they'd been piloting last year's car? We'll never know, but in both instances, the CoT did its job.

4. Hendrick Motorsports hasn't been the force everyone expected.

Last year Hendrick's dominance of the sport was total: The team's four drivers won half of the races and Hendrick's Johnson and Gordon finished first and second, respectively, in the final standings. But in '08 the Hendrick Chevys have failed to reach Victory Lane, and if the Chase started today only one Hendrick driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., would qualify for NASCAR's postseason.

There's little question that Hendrick, which is NASCAR's biggest and richest team, will eventually get up to speed in the Car of Tomorrow, but over the first month of the season Hendrick's drivers and crew chiefs have struggled making mid-race adjustments in the new car, which is reflected in the current standings.

Decisive Factors Food City 500 Three key elements to watch for at this weekend's Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway The two top drivers of '08 should again excel on Sunday. Kyle Busch won this event last year in the race that marked the debut of the CoT; Carl Edwards reached Victory Lane at Bristol last summer. One of the keys to winning at Bristol is avoiding the early wreck that usually erupts. Traffic will thin out on the .533-mile oval as the laps add up, but a few cars could be in the garage before the race is even 30 minutes old. Keep an eye on Dale Earnhardt Jr. Bristol is one of his favorite tracks and he's developed into a top-flight short track racer. In 16 starts at Bristol, Little E has nine top 10 finishes and one win.