Track Smack: So much to give thanks for this season (cont'd)

2) Jimmie Johnson is nowhere near finished, but where does his 10-win, back-to-back championship season of 2007 rank in Cup annals?

Joe Menzer: Well, Rusty Wallace said bluntly that JJ winning 10 this year is like someone winning 20 back in Wallace's hey-day, which wasn't that long ago.

Dave Rodman: I don't know about 20, Russell -- but it's damned impressive. And the scary thing, as I wrote in January; and, Joe -- predicted in our 2007 predictions, since I found that file we had to produce pre-season -- he's just getting started.

David Caraviello says Jimmie Johnson may be the sport's most impressive discovery.

• Complete story, click here
• How the Chase was won
• Johnson's '07 dominance
• Estes: From the champ's pit
• Cross: Face of Nextel Cup era

Joe Menzer: Rusty's prediction might be a bit of an overstatement, that's for sure. But it was quite a season, one of the best since the early 1970s.

Dave Rodman: Like those dinosaurs in Jurassic Park -- they learned and were just murderous after they did. Well, JJ has learned exactly what he has to do to replicate top finishes, wins and now, obviously, championships.

David Caraviello: Who knows what these guys are capable of? Johnson reminds me of F1 great Michael Schumacher, the way he just zeros in and decimates his opponents. Johnson's season is easily the most impressive feat we've seen in a decade, since Jeff Gordon was at the peak of his dominance, winning 13 races in 1998.

Dave Rodman: And again, it goes back to Rick Hendrick's organization, because Jeff Gordon's season wasn't chopped liver -- and Kyle Busch was also in the thick of a lot of things.

Joe Menzer: Yeah, you can't forget Gordon in 1998. The weird thing about that year was that Dale Earnhardt won only one race. But Mark Martin won seven, so that year he was like Gordon was to Johnson this year.

Dave Rodman: It gets scarier if you're Johnson foes. Those guys aren't going anywhere. Jeff Gordon's car chief, Jeff Meendering, who did a great job of stepping in when Steve Letarte was suspended, was seriously weighing offers to leave as we came to Homestead.

David Caraviello: The scary thing is, Johnson has been title-contender good since he rolled out as a rookie, and hasn't let up. His worst championship finish is what, fifth? And that came in a season where he and Knaus were carping at each other. Through six years now of rules changes and competition, they've been on top. That's just amazing.

Dave Rodman: That's against rules changes, competition, the COT and carping. Johnson and Knaus are now officially Cup's 900-pound gorillas.

Joe Menzer: No one is better right now, not even Gordon himself, by his own admission. And Johnson is only 32, just now reaching his driving prime. How many championships can he win?

Dave Rodman: But you know what? They have neither a gorilla's big teeth nor bad breath -- they are joys to work with. So I could stand a championship run, here.

David Caraviello: All right, Dave, you've reached your two-gorilla limit. We gotta cut you off. ... Not too long ago, people were saying we'd never see double-digit race winners again.

Joe Menzer: It will be interesting to see with the Car of Tomorrow going full-time next year if anyone can approach double-digit wins.

Dave Rodman: Jeff has the biggest challenge of his career next season: maintaining such a high level in the face of possible crew defections, while his teammate is the absolute boss. (Continued)