Johnson picks up new season where he left off in '07

Each week SI.com's Tom Bowles will evaluate and rank the 10 best drivers in NASCAR.

NASCAR Power Rankings Rank '07 Points Rank   Driver 1 1 Jimmie Johnson There's no better way to start a bid for your third straight championship than capturing the pole for NASCAR's Super Bowl: The Daytona 500. That came one day after Johnson took his short track backup car -- made for Martinsville, not restrictor plates -- to a third place finish in the Bud Shootout, making it clear he and crew chief Chad Knaus haven't skipped a beat. But speaking of the Super Bowl, perhaps the No. 48 team's biggest challenge this year will be avoiding a fate similar to the 2007 Patriots. At the top of their game, they must avoid dominating early to the point they reach their peak before the Chase; otherwise, they're in jeopardy of becoming a footnote instead of rewriting the history books. 2 2 Jeff Gordon Coming off a season when he would have won his sixth title under the "old" points system, Gordon needs to figure out a way to outshine teammate Johnson in the Chase. His two wins and average finish of 5.1 would have been good for a title most years; but when your teammate is ripping off four wins in the final five races, all that's left to do is stop and stare. One problem for Gordon is Hendrick's "all-for-one" information sharing policy: he lets Johnson and Knaus in on whatever secrets they don't have, then watch hopelessly as they utilize those tips just a little bit better. At least Gordon's crew has remained loose throughout all the disappointment: the Hendrick teams are staying at my hotel in Daytona, and I've seen Gordon's guys laughing and hanging out together more than anyone else. Staying that cool is a necessity for the No. 24 team to get over the hump. 3 4 Matt Kenseth Kenseth hasn't made much noise during Speedweeks, but come Sunday, don't be surprised if the No. 17 is a contender in this year's 500. Much was made of crew chief Robbie Reiser being promoted to Roush GM in the offseason; he and Kenseth had worked together since their Busch Series days in the mid-1990s. But the man who replaced him, Chip Bolin, has also been with Kenseth for the better part of a decade; the two combined for a California win last February when Reiser was sidelined with a NASCAR suspension. Ford's best hope for a title should come out of the box just fine; the fact that he's come to the track with a smile and his usual deadpan sense of humor is a good sign. 4 16 Dale Earnhardt Jr. I'll be honest; I had Junior ranked much lower to start the season, worried the pressure of being with NASCAR's biggest team might get to him early on. But he made a statement Saturday night, coming out of the box and winning the Bud Shootout in dominating fashion. From the drop of the green, the No. 88 was shot out of a cannon: it was Junior's race to lose, and he led 47 of 70 laps, using a well-timed push by Jimmie Johnson to hold off friend Tony Stewart at the end. Afterwards, fans were climbing all over each other at the fences to see their driver's first burnout in a Hendrick Chevrolet; and if you took one look at the crowd for the five minutes after the checkered flag, that's all you needed to know to understand what newfound success for Junior could do to boost the popularity of this sport. 5 6 Tony Stewart Last month, I became concerned Tony would stop being Tony after he made some off-the-cuff comments about how it's not worth it to be controversial anymore -- it gets too many people all riled up. Turns out I had no reason to worry; in the last week, Stewart's arrived in Daytona experiencing the equivalent of male PMS, culminating in an ugly Friday incident in which he wrecked Kurt Busch on the back straightaway in practice. Busch retaliated by slamming his totaled race car into Stewart's on pit road, leading to an ugly confrontation in the NASCAR hauler in which Stewart reportedly threw a punch. But bigger than the fines and penalties to come is the shock surrounding Tony's new "haircut" -- as in, he stopped going to the barber sometime around mid-October. Remember when Tony bet Kevin Harvick he'd wax his chest and back for charity? Can't they do another bet that involves the hair? Let's work on it. 6 7 Kurt Busch Talk about a buzzkill. During the offseason, Kurt Busch saw his owner points taken away by Roger Penske -- part of a swap designed to lock new teammate Sam Hornish Jr. in the field for the first five races -- then headed into Speedweeks with a serious case of the flu. It was so bad Busch was laid up in the infield care center with an IV; and that's before Stewart allegedly threw a punch at him Friday night. It's clear that after their third incident in a year, Stewart and Busch are on the verge of becoming the sport's new hot rivalry. Here's the thing that would bother me if I were Kurt: Ryan Newman coming up to Stewart after the wreck and sharing a laugh. Call me crazy, but isn't your teammate supposed to be on your side? And if he's not ... 7 5 Kyle Busch My lasting memory of Kyle Busch this offseason: I asked what he thought of the Car of Tomorrow. His answer? Too R-rated to print, a full nine months after NASCAR officials were all over him when he said, "The CoT sucks" after he took it to Victory Lane at Bristol in its very first race. But it's that type of blunt honesty that should make him a better fit at NASCAR's "Bad Boy" operation of Joe Gibbs Racing. There's no question Busch feels like former employer Hendrick did him wrong, and he has both the fire and talent necessary to become the lead driver of Toyota's assault on that team's dominance. It's just whether Busch can keep that aggressiveness in check enough to keep from alienating both his teammates and his crew. 8 9 Carl Edwards Once looked at as the sport's "G-rated personality," Edwards' Disneylike image took a hit last October with an incident in which he looked like he was ready to punch teammate Matt Kenseth. The video was posted on YouTube and immediately sparked controversy as to whether Edwards will play nice with his teammates; now, with Kenseth's crew chief Robbie Reiser rising up to the Roush Fenway GM position, the question for 2008 is whether Edwards' teammates have put that incident behind them. Hopefully, the RFR organization as a whole learned from those mistakes; Hendrick's teamwork philosophy has made the difference in unseating them as the sport's No. 1 threat. 9 3 Clint Bowyer NASCAR's Chase Cinderella begins his third full season with far different expectations after being the sole challenger to Johnson's and Gordon's '07 Chase dominance. For Bowyer, the question is how he'll respond to both the pressure and a busier schedule; he'll also challenge Carl Edwards for the title in the newly-minted Nationwide Series in '08. Still young, Bowyer may have to deal with other issues in the RCR stable; technically, veteran drivers Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick should be ahead of him on the pecking order, except they were out to lunch throughout the Chase. Will Childress' push to get them back on track leave Bowyer scrambling for the equipment he needs? Finishing the Daytona 500 on all four wheels would certainly help; Bowyer's last-lap crash here in '07 left him eating dirt and his team in an early hole. 10 15 Casey Mears Many people are discounting Mears, saying that he's the token fourth driver in the Hendrick stable, but what they're forgetting is who he's paired with : Alan Gustafson. This is a guy who handled the temper tantrums of young Kyle Busch and molded him into a top-five driver, providing him with first-rate equipment along the way. The laid-back Mears will be a welcome relief for him, and it's not like he's going to stop building good race cars; if the two hit it off, this team will be the surprise of the first few races. When it's all said and done, Hendrick Motorsports is a good bet to get all four teams in the Chase this season for the first time in its history.