Will Hendrick's 'Dream Team' set new standard? (cont'd)

For his part, Gustafson is thrilled at the prospect of working with a driver with Martin's talent and pedigree.

"I think he's as talented a race car driver as there is on the race track," Gustafson said. "When you talk about raw talent, he's as good as anybody. He's as smart as anybody. He's in as good shape as anybody. Mark brings everything, and we know that. People can talk about him being 50 years old all they want. That does not matter. I know 30-year-olds that can't hold a candle to him."

The Hendrick teams have a secret weapon, too. As suppliers of engines and chassis to Stewart-Haas Racing, they'll have a source of feedback that should prove considerably more valuable than the information Hendrick got from Stewart-Haas predecessor, Haas CNC Racing. Both Stewart-Haas crew chiefs, Darian Grubb (Tony Stewart) and Tony Gibson (Ryan Newman), have strong ties to Hendrick Motorsports.

Grubb, who was Casey Mears' crew chief at Hendrick in 2007 and coordinated race engineering in 2008, described the Hendrick-Stewart affiliation as a "six-car team" when it comes to engines and chassis.

"You've got people over there where we can understand how they think," Eury said. "Tony Gibson ... I kind of know where he's coming from, and Darian ... we kind of know what his thoughts are, and he knows what we run over here. That information is going to be a lot closer to the setups that we run.

"We'll be getting a lot of information out of it, and that's going to be a big benefit."

If Rick Hendrick is right, and the organization has the talent and the tools to put four cars in the Chase, that leaves eight spots for the rest of the Cup garage.

Wait a minute. Roush Fenway owner Jack Roush also said he'll be disappointed if all five of his drivers don't qualify for NASCAR's postseason. Given key personnel changes that should help Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray, given David Ragan's growth as a driver and given Greg Biffle's consistent speed, it's hard to argue with Roush.

If both organizations live up to the expectations of their owners, the rest of the Cup teams will be fighting for table scraps in 2009.