Edwards, as did Johnson, will benefit from shortfalls (cont'd)

The tremendous success enjoyed by the No. 48 team in the past three seasons glosses over the reminders that this was once a fractured outfit struggling to find its way, an experience paying dividends today. "I think you learn about your fight, and who you are and what you want to accomplish," Johnson said. "You just learn a lot about yourself and the fight and character that you have and that your team has. You know, I personally learn more when I make mistakes than I ever have when things go well. It doesn't matter if it's personal life or professional life. When you make mistakes and things slip through your fingers, that's when I learn the most."

Hendrick has seen the evolution up close. Johnson was once too quiet of a driver, Knaus once too domineering of a crew chief. The fire-and-ice quality that makes them so complementary was once almost too combustible for them to work together. It's no coincidence that they only began winning championships together after they were nearly broken up.

"The longer you've got good people working together, the better they become," said Hendrick, on the brink of his eighth championship in NASCAR's premier division. "They just keep refining what they do every year. So I think the chemistry has just been better, but nothing beats experience. Being there fighting for a championship and losing one will motivate you when you lose one close. All you can do is put yourself in that position and they've done a good job of doing that."

For Edwards, such words certainly bring hope. While he and crew chief Bob Osborne haven't reached the near-crisis stage that Johnson and Knaus did, Edwards has certainly endured his share of upheaval -- from having Osborne moved to help strengthen a teammate, to penalties and contract renegotiations, to a couple of very public spats with other drivers. But the strongest parallels between Johnson and Edwards have been on the racetrack, where the Roush Fenway driver is on the verge of continuing a spate of near misses quite comparable to what his Hendrick Motorsports counterpart endured only a few years ago.

Johnson, four years older than Edwards, finished second in the final standings in his third and fourth full-time seasons on NASCAR's top series. Edwards finished tied for second in points (Greg Biffle technically took the spot on a race-win tiebreaker) in his first full-time season in 2005, and will almost certainly place second again Sunday at Homestead. Any concerns over the strength of the No. 48 car after its poor qualifying effort were allayed on Saturday, when the blue and silver Chevrolet was a rocket in practice (watch video). While Johnson may be the superstitious sort -- he'll set his microwave for 48 seconds, for example, instead of a full minute -- and Knaus is surely fretting over the resilience of every $2 part, the numbers are just too overwhelming.

This is simply Johnson's time. Edwards' will come. Johnson spent years slamming against that invisible wall separating him from a championship, a fact now lost in so much confetti and sprayed champagne, only to smash through it in his fifth full-time season. Next year will be Edwards' fifth as a full-time Cup driver. His shortcomings will only make him more dangerous, a fact he's already beginning to realize.

"Whether or not we win it, either way, I have learned a couple of things about where to put the effort, where to be cautious, not to underestimate your opponents," Edwards said. "All of these things I kind of already knew, but this kind of galvanizes those things. It makes me realize, 'hey, we have to really fine-tune the way we compete.' So, I have learned some things I think will help, regardless of what happens. I can't wait for next season and the season after that. I think we've got a team now that can compete at a very high level."

And eventually, he'll have his moment, just as Johnson is enjoying his now.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.

Beyond Pit Road
• Video: Johnson, Hendrick discuss what makes 48 team tick