Surging Johnson leaves Chase rivals in dust

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Whatever Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson have figured out with NASCAR's winged car, they're certainly not sharing any secrets.They're one-two in the standings heading this week to Eddie Gossage's Texas Motor Speedway, where a full house is expected for Round Eight of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Johnson's 183-point lead seems to be turning this Chase into a rout -- and raising questions about how to make next year's playoffs a bit more exciting.Edwards and Kyle Busch had it all figured out right from the start of the season, back when Johnson was fielding almost weekly questions about what was wrong with the Rick Hendrick camp, after 2007's stunning championship charge.Busch has collapsed in the playoffs, sitting 12th and last, a whopping 465 points down; that means that Busch, who held a stunning 369-point lead against Johnson going into Richmond near the end of the regular season, has lost 505 points to Johnson during the seven Chase races so far.But then maybe wily Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief, just played the game a little differently this time around than last year. After all, the real goal is simply to be one of the top 12 in the standings the week after Labor Day. Only then does the championship season really begin.Evaluating what went wrong in this season's NASCAR playoffs is easy -- Johnson and Knaus are just a knockout of a team.What to do to make the playoffs more exciting next year?Well, maybe Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has an interesting idea. In determining the champion, only each week's first, second- and third-place finishers get any championship points. For title contenders, finishing fourth is no better than finishing 40th.A one-two-three rule would give title contenders plenty of incentive to run hard.So, what would things look like right now, with three Chase races to go? (Figuring, say, three points for a win, two points for second, one point for third.)At this point, for Johnson, his wins at Martinsville and Kansas, and his seconds at Hampton and Loudon would be all that count. He would have 10 championship points.For Edwards: the Hampton win, the second at Kansas, and thirds at Martinsville, Dover and Loudon. Eight points.Greg Biffle: Two wins at Loudon and Dover, and a third at Kansas. Seven points.Jeff Burton: His win at Concord. Three points.Tony Stewart: His win at Talladega. Three points.Dale Earnhardt Jr.: A second at Martinsville. Two points.Matt Kenseth: His second at Dover. Two points.Denny Hamlin: His third at Hampton. One point.Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, and Kevin Harvick: no points.So with three races to go, and a possible nine-point swing, the title race would still be wide open, with even Kenseth and Earnhardt still in it, if they could keep Johnson, Edwards and Biffle from any top-three finishes.Edwards and Johnson were the show down the stretch Sunday, and Kenseth struck out again, after leading much of Sunday's race.Johnson stretched his championship lead against second place, now held by Edwards after his seventh win of the season. And that's the biggest spread he has held, as he heads toward what looks like a third straight title.And the rest of the NASCAR gang?The jabbering on the radio between irate drivers and their crew chiefs told the story.One particular exchange between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. was memorable. Earnhardt was complaining, again, about his ill-handling car, and Eury -- typically mild-mannered, and the guy who has to keep his volatile driver cool -- went wild, with a tirade about how the driver needed to start offering some suggestions instead of just griping. After Eury's 30-second rip, there was a long pause, and then Earnhardt came back with "I think you need to calm down a bit.''Quite the twist.(Contact Mike Mulhern at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)