Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus check out the scoring monitor during practice for the NASCAR Banking 500 only from Bank of America at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Johnson is starting the NASCAR Banking 500 only from Bank of America from the pole and topped the charts in all three practice sessions (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

 

CONCORD - When the NASCAR Banking 500 takes the green flag tonight, the great bulk of the 43 drivers will be in need of relief.

Not because they’re ill. Not because their houses are flooded or their children are failing in school.

Five drivers - in order of Sprint Cup points, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon - are running the rest ragged.

Not even the Chase - that 10-race postseason that determines the champion - tells the story of how narrowly dominated NASCAR has become. But let’s start with the Chase.

In the four races to date, the five drivers listed above have collected 14 of a possible 20 top-five finishes and 18 of a possible 20 slots in the top 10. (Although there are 40 top-10 positions in four races, five drivers are capable only of securing 20 of them.)

"All we can do is be optimistic about our programs and try to figure out a way to beat them each week," said Greg Biffle. "Whether we can beat the ‘48′ (Johnson) or the ‘5′ (Martin) or the ‘24′ (Gordon), whoever it is, we’ll just wait and see what happens, but that’s all we can do every week is our best."

The also-ran holding up best is Kurt Busch, who is in sixth place, only 121 points behind Johnson. Busch has finished 11th or better in all four Chase races, but only one was a top five.

"It seems like they just have all the weapons," he said. "For the rest of us, it’s going to take some luck. It’s going to take some hard work."

Johnson, blazing his usual trail, seems to be growing more and more dominant as the Chase winds its way to November. On the other hand, Stewart is the overall dominator of the season. By the old, season-long point system legislated out of existence at the end of 2003, Stewart would now lead Gordon by 180 points and Johnson by 188. But even under the old system, all five drivers at the head of the Chase standings would be in the top six.

All five at the top drive generic cars branded Chevrolet. Four drive cars powered and constructed at Hendrick Motorsports.

It’s not exactly parity. Four races into the Chase, Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers are already more than 300 points behind the leader, Johnson.

"We’re competing against Jimmie Johnson and (crew chief) Chad Knaus, and Jeff Gordon and Steve Letarte, who have been together for so long," said Ryan Newman, who is currently ranked 10th. "Obviously Darian (Grubb) and Tony (Stewart) are new together, but I think their group jelled a little quicker than our group (Newman and Stewart are teammates) and that happens in racing."

Carl Edwards was Johnson’s closest competition a year ago, winning nine races. This year he hasn’t won any.

"A year ago, at this time, I felt like, head to head, we could beat that ‘48′ team 55 percent of the time," said Edwards. "I felt like we were very close, but we had a slight edge on the race track. … What we have to do is get that back, and even more importantly, we have to figure out what about our operation, our problem-solving, our testing, what allows them to be ahead more in the curve than the rest of us?

"Not to take anything away from Jimmie (Johnson) as a driver, but they are always on top of it with strategy, equipment, failure rates, qualifying, all the things that make an entire package, they’re very good."

About the only common ingredient between tonight’s race and the same race a year ago is Johnson’s spot at the top of the standings. Entering the fifth race of the Chase, in 2008, Stewart ranked seventh and Gordon eighth. Martin and Montoya weren’t in the Chase at all.

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