Track Smack: So much to give thanks for this season

1) It's Thanksgiving week, so who in NASCAR has the most to be thankful for?

David Caraviello: Jimmie Johnson should be thankful that Hendrick team management saw greatness where no one else did -- in Chad Knaus. And sure, the guy is a heck of a driver -- he's on the brink of being one of the greats -- but Knaus is the glue that holds that 48 team together.

Joe Menzer: I think Dale Earnhardt Jr. may have the most to be thankful for. He's thankful that he's leaving this season of bitter disappointment behind at DEI, and going to Hendrick next season.

Dave Rodman: Maybe Brian France. It's been an abysmal year for his family, and as we saw on Sunday, there's a bunch of questions about the sport. Good to let it rest -- at least for a week.

David Caraviello: Joe, I think Rick Hendrick should be thankful. He has the best team in the sport, and he's adding Dale Jr. And Kyle Busch should be thankful that a ride at a solid Gibbs team was available.

Joe Menzer: It's been a rough year for Brian France. I guess he's thankful it's over -- sort of like Junior.

Dave Rodman: All of HMS is thankful for Rick Hendrick. They've been able to promote from within, as they did when they got Chad back. And having people in place who could see Jimmie's potential in the face of minimal achievement on asphalt was, DC as you opined on -- maybe the coup of the era.

David Caraviello: Who knows how they saw greatness in the guy, Dave. What a find.

Joe Menzer: And then there is Jeff Gordon, of course. With a little baby girl and six wins, there's lots to be thankful for there.

David Caraviello: Hendrick should be thankful that he has Gordon in his organization. After all, Gordon is the guy who fought to sign Johnson. He's the guy who made the big promises to Lowe's. He's the guy who urged Rick to combine the 48 and 24 operations.

Dave Rodman: Unfortunately for him, this year Gordon has to balance "thanks" with a lot of "what ifs?"

David Caraviello: Gordon is the guy who created this monster, and now he's getting beat by it.

Dave Rodman: Since that's the case, Jeff may be the coup of two eras; since he had his own big time in the sport and he was a big part of getting Jimmie in place for his -- but that goes back to Rick securing JG from Bill Davis and Ford. Talk about priceless.

Joe Menzer: And you know who seems to have had an absolute blast this year? Mark Martin. That guy ran the schedule he wanted and was pretty darn competitive, despite a lot going on around him.

Dave Rodman: Of course, Bill Davis Racing is thankful for its strong late season with Dave Blaney, which got them back into the top 35 for next season.

David Caraviello: Matt Kenseth and Robbie Reiser should be, and certainly are, thankful that they've been able to work together for so long. And surely Reiser is thankful that he's able to leave the pit box under his own terms. Not many crew chiefs can say that.

Joe Menzer: How about Michael Waltrip? He should be thankful for Rob Kauffman, whose dollars may deliver his operation from mediocrity -- or worse.

Dave Rodman: Michael still needs to be thankful for his salesmanship, because he needs to keep backing in place for all those cars while they continue to bring the performance up. And he can be thankful some good young kids like Michael McDowell and Josh Wise want to be there.

Joe Menzer: And while we're talking about a Toyota operation, Toyota itself is mighty thankful for Joe Gibbs Racing. They give them some instant credibility in the Cup Series that the manufacturer desperately needs.

David Caraviello: Golf course superintendents and orthopedic surgeons should be thankful that Johnson has sworn off cart surfing.

Joe Menzer: Amen, brother.

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.

3) What will be the biggest stories of 2008?

David Caraviello: Junior. Junior. Junior. Junior. Junior. Junior. Junior. Now, you got that?

Dave Rodman: Right off the bat, in the truest sense of the history of the sport, it'll be Jimmie Johnson's drive to attempt to tie Cale Yarborough's mark of three consecutive titles.

Joe Menzer: Well, Junior's certainly in a position where he better produce. There can be no excuses now. And I think he will, by the way.

David Caraviello: You thought he was big at DEI? Wait until this new Hendrick version launches -- Junior 2.0. It's going to be crazy.

Joe Menzer: Right off the bat, the story will be Junior. Roadman, that JJ chasing Cale thing won't be a serious story until the Chase begins.

Dave Rodman: You can see I am trying to get a head start on not being consumed with the hysteria.

David Caraviello: Dave, Junior is going to eclipse everybody next year. Richard Petty could climb back into a racecar, and Junior would dwarf it all.

Dave Rodman: But in an environment where Junior picking his nose is front page news, for better or worse that will be the story all season long.

Joe Menzer: Another big story will be how well -- or not so well -- the Gibbs guys do in their Toyotas. If they struggle out the gate, which they very well might, Tony Stewart is not going to take long to blow up.

David Caraviello: Dave, this is not about Junior "picking his nose." This is about the biggest name in the sport finally getting a chance to show whether he can win a title. In our little bubble, that is serious stuff.

Dave Rodman: That was a comparative statement, DC. Obviously Junior's move is big stuff -- but I'm willing to have a little patience and give him a chance to get settled. I kind of hate it for Junior. If he thought he was in a fishbowl at DEI, he ain't seen nothing yet.

Joe Menzer: Come on, Roadman. Junior is a big boy. In fact, he's not a boy any longer. He's a man. He's welcomed this challenge, embraced it. Now it's time to see if he can do it. No excuses.

David Caraviello: The expectations on the kid ... I can't imagine what they're like, from outside and within. This is going to be the NASCAR equivalent of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. How big is Junior in a Hendrick car? Huge -- make that HUGE.

Dave Rodman: Junior will not get any rest. He didn't ask to be in the position he's in, and obviously he's done a great job of dealing with it.

David Caraviello: He most certainly did ask to be in the position he's in, Dave. He left DEI of his own volition. He knew what would happen if he linked up with Rick. He's a smart, savvy kid. He sees the big picture.

Dave Rodman: Again, David, that was a big-picture statement -- not just referring to the step to Hendrick. He didn't ask to be under a microscope every waking second.

Joe Menzer: The one thing that has amazed me a little bit about the Junior stuff is that when Darrell Waltrip said he will win the 2008 Daytona 500 and six races overall -- and neither Junior nor Rick Hendrick backed off those figures.

Dave Rodman: The funny thing was how Rick said how lucky they were to win a lot of the races they won in 2007. But he's adamant that they've paid to be where they are -- and he's right.

Joe Menzer: Six wins and the Daytona 500 is a lot for anyone -- considering he'll be competing with the likes of Johnson and Gordon for them.

Dave Rodman: And you know Rick, after being asked to quantify winning half the schedule's races this year, didn't want to go into much detail about where he thought Junior's six wins might come from.

Joe Menzer: But the thing about Junior next year is that when he puts himself in position to challenge for a win late in a race, you've got to figure his engines won't blow up time and time again like they did at DEI this year.

Dave Rodman: Looks like we ought to do a Junior day-by-day diary next year. This topic has been engulfed by the hysteria and it's barely Thanksgiving. God help us all -- and the rest of the Sprint Cup troops.

Joe Menzer: The Junior rules, in effect.

Dave Rodman: As long as we don't have to illustrate it with some of those 2008 car shots. They are heinous.

Joe Menzer: You don't like Junior's 2008 cars?

Dave Rodman: The red-white-and-blue one is OK. The green one I really didn't like.

David Caraviello: They are a little ... garish, to be kind. Nothing like that nice, clean white No. 88 Busch car he unveiled the other day.

Dave Rodman: You mean Nationwide car? Sorry guys, I need to start on getting sharp for 2008 right now. Practice makes perfect. But anyways, nice and clean has kind of been Junior's mark -- pure red car, plain black helmet. Solid.

Joe Menzer: Guys, guys -- I disagree totally. I liked the green one better than the blue one -- and I thought they both looked sharp.

Dave Rodman: But you saw them in person. Does that make a big difference?

Joe Menzer: I guess you had to be there in Dallas that day to see them in person, to really appreciate them.

Dave Rodman: That could be -- but that's what perspectives are all about. People have buying the stuff like crazy, so it's all good.

David Caraviello: Besides Junior, what else to look for in '08?

Dave Rodman: Face it: It will be a fascinating year to cover. I was only half-kidding about Junior's daily diary; but at least through the first short-track race that will be huge.

Joe Menzer: Well, I want to get off the Junior train for a minute here, too. But I can't believe you guys don't like the look of his new cars! ... I already threw out the Gibbs-in-Toyotas angle. That will be another biggie.

Dave Rodman: I think Gibbs' guys will threaten -- seriously threaten -- to win a race within the first three; make the first short-track race No. 4 -- but I don't think we'll have to wait that long.

Joe Menzer: How about how the open-wheelers will do? That will be another.

Dave Rodman: I think the open-wheel thing will be painful.

David Caraviello: I'm expecting a lot of these former open-wheel guys to struggle. Thus far, guys like Sam Hornish Jr. and Patrick Carpentier have given us little reason to believe they can be competitive. In contrast, we're going to learn how impressive Juan Montoya's rookie year really was.

Dave Rodman: Exactly.

Joe Menzer: I tend to think Montoya is going to do really well. But then I think I said I thought he would win three races this year. Maybe I meant 2008.

Dave Rodman: The guys will be a lot of fun to work with, but man, when you talk about what they'll be -- Joe, I'll hark you back to something I bet you heard a bunch while on the NBA beat: They are projects.

Joe Menzer: The COT, which can't be called the COT, I guess anymore after today, being used full-time will be a pretty big storyline early on. Then it will slowly be forgotten as the year goes on.

Dave Rodman: Since it is what is going to be, "it" should already be off the burner -- dealing with it, however, is going to be another story. Or 10-15 stories, maybe. And BTW, I will never call it anything but the COT. Hope that doesn't get me on some kind of blacklist.

Joe Menzer: It might be too late for that.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.