Three-wide with ... Vickers, Kahne and Kurt Busch

The panel:

• Brian Vickers: A six-year veteran in the Cup Series, Vickers has two wins, 18 top-fives, 47 top-10s and 11 poles in 208 starts. Vickers had a career year in 2009 with Red Bull Racing as he made the Chase for the first time with a career-high 13 top-10s.

• Kasey Kahne: One of NASCAR's more popular drivers, Kahne has been in the Cup Series for six years, all in the No. 9. He has 11 wins, 42 top-fives, 77 top-10s and 16 poles in 218 starts. Kahne has made the Chase twice in his career (2006 and 2009).

• Kurt Busch: The 2004 Cup Series champion, Busch has 20 wins, 71 top-fives, 136 top-10s and 10 poles in his nine-year career. Busch has won at least one race in each of the past eight seasons and in 2009 he finished fourth in points.

Q: Does NASCAR need a driver other than Jimmie Johnson to win the 2010 championship?

Vickers: I'd definitely like to knock him off his throne, but I don't think the sport needs another champion. I think he's a good ambassador for the sport. The only thing I'd like to see him do different is cut loose a little more.

Busch: We all want to see someone different win because we're all competitors, and we all want to beat the best. If it's someone different than Jimmie Johnson in 2010, they did something special.

Kahne: When you see him [at the champion's table] and his wife and the car owner and his wife and the team, the engine builders -- the guys that are such a big part of that -- it gives you drive. That's what each one of us wants to do. We want to figure out how to beat Jimmie Johnson.

Q: Now that the awards banquet has moved to Las Vegas, which is the better place to celebrate the championship -- Las Vegas or New York?

Vickers: That's a tough one -- Monaco wouldn't be so bad. I love New York, but that doesn't mean it's still the logical choice. It's the emotional choice, but, logically, Las Vegas is the better place for it.

Busch: Las Vegas. The city itself, all the activities, the restaurants, the people -- just the excitement. You can see it, the pep in the step.

Kahne: It's so much easier doing it [in Las Vegas] vs. New York, where everything is so tight and difficult to get around. I feel like it's been an awesome change.

Q: What's at the top of your 2009 highlight reel?

Vickers: The highlights are the [career-high six] poles, the win [at Michigan] and making the Chase. For me personally, I'd say probably the Chase because I've won before.

Busch: To start off as strong as we did, especially in Atlanta, and then to carry that into the spring and summer months, it was a breath of fresh air. It kept our team upbeat all year long that we were running fourth in points most of the year.

Kahne: The first win at Sonoma with Richard Petty, seeing the smile on his face and the smiles on our team's faces.