Here we are in mid-February already, and the Daytona 500 now looms less than a week away. But NASCAR Sprint Cup crews worked full bore in the offseason to gear up for the season-opening race. Not a lot of time left now to figure out how to stop the No. 48 juggernaut team of driver Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus, who just recently took home their fifth consecutive Sprint Cup title.

Sure, they came from behind and won the championship in the last race of the season. And yes, the team did have some genuine issues on pit stops in the last handful of races, but it's hard to argue with all that hardware and all those acceptance speeches at the year-end banquet in New York City.

The season starts with a shakeup at Hendrick Motorsports, where 2009 Chase runner-up Mark Martin couldn't crack the top 12 this year. Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. essentially switched crews and equipment for this year. Earnhardt, 21st in points in 2010, will be hearing a new voice in the headset come race day: Steve LeTarte, Gordon's former crew chief, will work strategy for the 88 team.

With a good chance to win the title, Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin couldn't avoid contact with Greg Biffle in the Sprint Cup finale, and ultimately finished 14th in the race, 39 points behind Johnson in the final standings.

But Hamlin, who won a series-high eight races in 2010, showed decent consistency all year, with 18 top-10 finishes and only two DNFs. He came on strong in the latter half of 2009, winning four times in the last 16 races and finishing fifth in the Chase. It's hard to believe he won't ride all that momentum and be right back at the top this year, maybe even increasing his top-10s to the mid-20s, like Johnson and Kevin Harvick.

Harvick and his Childress Racing team finished third, just 41 points behind Johnson, in 2010. It's not out of the realm of possibility you could throw a blanket over the three of them at the top of the standings again next fall. Who knows - maybe we'll actually crown a champion that doesn't have "Lowe's" plastered on his hood.

Roush drivers Carl Edwards, who won the final two 2010 races at Phoenix and Homestead, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle were fourth through sixth in the standings, but way back in points from the top three. Still a pretty impressive feat, but the Cat in the Hat (owner Jack Roush) may be able to pull a trick out of his sleeve and get his drivers a little more horsepower to play with.

Stewart-Haas actually slid backwards a tad in 2010. Team owner Tony Stewart finished sixth and seventh in points in his team's first two compaigns. Teammate Ryan Newman narrowly missed the Chase after finishing ninth in 2009. Can the two-car stable take off right out of the box this year?

Hamlin's Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch mirrored Hamlin's top 10s (18) but only won three times in 2010, following a six-win 2009. Busch showed more consistency, and was eighth in points last season, after missing the Chase the year before.

My underdog pick for this season shouldn't really be an underdog. Jamie McMurray grabbed the big headlines in 2010, winning the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 500, then mowed down the field at the Charlotte All-Star race. He was edged out of the Chase (due in no small part to his three DNFs and seven finishes worse than 30th), but the guy who got a break filling in for Sterling Marlin's Coors Light team years back might finally have found the right fit in his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing machine. I'd take the odds he'll make some noise in the 2011 Chase.

And you can bet the bigwigs at NASCAR are hoping for a NFL lockout this fall. With no football on Sundays, NASCAR could see its fan base and ratings swell up as the only "game" on TV.

But for now the Goodyear-shodden beasts are burning up the Florida track, and it'll take most of the season to see if anyone can slay the dragon in the No. 48 car. Should be an exciting year - Boogity, boogity, boogity!!!

Jerry Hitchcock is a copy editor for The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2017, or via e-mail at jhitchcock.cdapress.com