DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Nightmares aside, two-time defending Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is confident that this season he can equal Cale Yarborough's historic run of three consecutive championships.

"I'd love to -- that would be awesome -- unbelievable," Johnson said. "I look at things to motivate me, at making history [and] I think I've got a good shot, I really do.

"I really feel that we're getting stronger as a team and I don't think we've hit the peak yet of what we can do. I look at the 10 wins we had [last] year and a few that slipped away, thinking it could have been a 13-[win] season so I still feel we can do a better job."

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Since Yarborough achieved consecutive championships in 1976-78, Johnson is the fourth driver to have a chance to "go for three," and his effort will be the sixth, following Darrell Waltrip (1983), Dale Earnhardt (1988, 1992 and 1995) and Jeff Gordon (1999).

Earnhardt came closest, lacking 34 points of winning three in a row when he finished second to Gordon in 1995. Gordon himself lacked only 37 points of winning four consecutive titles, when he finished second to Hendrick teammate Terry Labonte in 1996.

Johnson said his team, led by crew chief Chad Knaus, had already made radical changes to its over-the-wall pit crew to facilitate achieving its third title, including new front- and rear-tire changers and a new front-tire carrier, plus a new jack man who was merged into the crew midway through 2007.

Johnson said his rear-tire changer had actually transferred to teammate Gordon's crew; the three replacements were brought in from outside the organization.

"We have made some adjustments [and] it wasn't easy, by any stretch of the imagination because we've had the same group of guys together, really, for a long, long time -- we've won two championships with these guys, so it was a tough thing," Johnson said. "But we just felt like we could be a little faster. It didn't go over easily with everybody, but Chad's got to make those decisions and feels he's making the team stronger, so in trying to look to the future we made some changes and hopefully those will pan out and work out as we hope -- and it should.

"We've put some great guys back in place to go over the wall and change tires and stuff like that. There have been some small changes, but the core group of guys is really the same, especially the guys on the early crew that come out and prep the car and get all the mechanical stuff together."

Johnson won't be having nightmares about pit stops but, incredibly, fear of failure -- or being "just average" -- is something that drives him even as 2008 opens.

"I really think that's what keeps me motivated -- I'm afraid that I'm going to wake up someday and forget how to drive, or our cars aren't going to be right," Johnson said, laughing despite himself. "I mean, the stuff that went through my head during the Chase -- I mean, I'd get in the car for the first practice and I'm like, 'Oh God, did I forget how to do this?'

"But I really feel that keeps me in check."

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Sometimes Johnson feels like he's living in a dream world.

"I was at first, but I keep waking up and all the stuff happens," Johnson said. "So I'm accepting it, I'm enjoying it and I'm trying to focus on the things that have taken us to this place and helped us have this success.

"I really think Chad is doing the same, looking at why and how we got here and how we can stay here. It's a tough place to be and it really doesn't last long for anybody in sports. We hope that we can keep it going for our team. We only feel like we're getting stronger and better, so hopefully we can keep getting the same results."

The Californian Johnson is certainly the preseason favorite to achieve his goal, after winning a league-leading 10 races last season in his No. 48 Chevrolets, including five in the Car of Tomorrow.

And while he and two of his HMS teammates, 2007 runner-up Gordon and Casey Mears, had their cars in the garage area Monday morning for the first day of Preseason Thunder, their fourth teammate, Hendrick newcomer Dale Earnhardt Jr., was also at the speedway, which is an unprecedented move for a driver not actually testing. (read more)

"It's a huge credit to his commitment, that he's here," Johnson said of Earnhardt's attendance a week ahead of his scheduled appearance on Jan. 14. "It's painful watching other cars go around the track, particularly here."

Before he saw Earnhardt on Monday, Johnson said he was particularly thrilled about his new teammate because of their similar tastes in car setups, on the loose side as opposed to Gordon and Mears' tendency to a tighter car.

"I can see the way that it's helped already," Johnson said. "Having a clean sheet of paper for those two [Mears' and Earnhardt's] teams to start over and rebuild and regroup is good.

"With Kyle [Busch] leaving and Casey changing teams [from the 25 to the 5] and Junior coming in -- it's not like we had any big problems over there -- but now we can start over again and make it better yet, and I've already seen a lot of positives coming from it.

"I'm really looking forward to testing and spending time with Junior and learning his driving style, because after the Atlanta test session, his driving style and mine are very close -- and I don't have anyone that I have a close style with, currently, at Hendrick Motorsports -- so I'm excited about this and hopefully we can help each other and make each other better."

Johnson's ready to put in the time he knows it will take to achieve a cooperative, thriving synergy with Earnhardt and his crew chief and cousin, Tony Eury Jr., who also came over this past fall from Dale Earnhardt Inc.

"It's going to be tough and it's going to be a couple months -- really the Vegas and California tests we'll learn a lot more about that -- but then we can start working into it as the season goes on," Johnson said. "We'll never leave that relationship that Jeff [Gordon] and I have together and the way that Stevie [Letarte, Gordon's crew chief] and Chad work together, but if we can bring in Tony Jr.'s ideas and also validate that our styles are that close and we do look for the same sensations, we can start building into that and in some of our debriefs the night before the race, we can say, 'Let's try what the 88 is doing.'

"It's going to take a couple months to get it all worked in."

As that takes place, Johnson will enjoy the favorite's role, based on what his team and organization achieved in 2007. HMS cars won 18 races, half of the 36-race schedule, and nine of 16 COT races.

"I think we do have the favorite's role, in some ways, but I think it's going to be short-lived," Johnson said. "I think that the momentum we had will carry us a month or two, but then teams are always working, and a lot of teams have been working hard over the offseason, as it is, now.

"It's really tough to stay up there too long but I think as preseason favorites, Hendrick is, the 48 and 24 [Gordon] are favorites, but we've got a lot of racing left, so it's tough to say."

As far as Daytona goes, Johnson's looking forward to the start of drafting practice, which in the past has been on the test's third day.

"I'm hopeful that more people will want to draft," Johnson said. "Otherwise there's not a lot to learn [because] single-car runs with the rules that NASCAR has and the templates and stuff, there isn't anywhere to work.

"I think the days of puffs you'd see on the sides of the cars and people adapting new noses or side panels [during test sessions] -- those days are gone. One of our cars is painted, so there's really not a lot to do.

"We're hopeful we can get out there and get into race mode and understand this car, because this track is so abrasive, whoever gets it handling right is going to win the [Daytona] 500.

"With this car and the splitter, the real important stuff is in that setup, because the geometry is so much different we can spend a lot of time in the draft trying to pinpoint what we need."

Due to the adjustment limitations of the COT, which is the only NASCAR chassis in use this season, Johnson's really looking forward to four days of testing at the end of this month, when all the Sprint Cup teams will test for two days apiece at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and California Speedway -- especially since he didn't test the car this past fall at Atlanta in its first mass test on a 1.5-mile track.

One thing he's not concerned about is fan reaction after his second consecutive title.

"I feel that fans support their driver and I'll probably hear the same amount of boos -- maybe more noise in general," Johnson said. "I think hardcore racers respect what we've done. They may not be a fan of myself or the team, but it's hard to frown on what we've done as a race team, because we've done a lot of great things.

"So I think it will probably be similar to what it's been, just a lot more noise."

The bottom line is that Johnson is thrilled to be back in the seat, even if it is a less-than-scintillating superspeedway test.

"I'm glad to have testing get started and I'm looking forward to the California and Vegas tests that are coming up [at the end of the month], because I'm looking forward to getting focused back on driving racecars again," Johnson said. "I've had a great offseason, but if I would have spent much more time away from the track, I probably would have ended up with another broken bone or something -- I was starting to get bored, wanting something to do."

In December 2006, Johnson broke his wrist when he fell from a golf cart at a charity event, but it didn't impede his 2007 test schedule.

"I feel that our team did a lot of growing again in '06 and '07 -- even if I look back at our rookie years, I think we've grown more and learned more about ourselves through the '06 and '07 seasons and hopefully it's going to make us stronger and better for the years to come."

Johnson said his 2006 title, which came after his first four years in the series finishing in the top five in points, was a watershed moment.

"I think the confidence has been when I think big picture. I really try not to focus on too many small things through the course of the season, I need to learn from mistakes, but move on and celebrate and enjoy the good times, but move on," Johnson said. "I think, in the big picture winning the '06 championship helped me recognize the team's got it, I've got it and we can do it -- if we just do our jobs and do it in a harmonious way, not trying to kill each other -- we'll be competitive, we'll have a shot at it."