Winners, losers: Childress Racing out the gate like gangbusters

Two races do not a Sprint Cup Series season make, but even in the early going of 2010 there are definite successes and failures in the garage area.

The 26-race regular season race to make the Chase has put much more of an emphasis on even the first few races of the campaign and digging out of a big hole has proven to be a nearly impossible task since the new playoff format made its debut.

On the other hand, we've seen drivers get out of the gate fast only to fade as the Chase field was being finalized, so even the fastest start doesn't always guarantee overall achievement.

Taking that into consideration as we head to race No. 3 this weekend in Las Vegas, here are the preliminary returns:

Winners

• Jimmie Johnson hasn't fared well in the Daytona 500 since he won "The Great American Race" in 2006 so his 35th-place finish in this year's edition shouldn't have been much of a surprise. Nor should the way he bounced back last Sunday in Fontana when a stroke of luck helped pave his way to Johnson's fifth career win at the California native's home track. Having good fortune doesn't always equate to success, it's what you do with the luck that matters most. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have made a career out of capitalizing on every break they receive, and Sunday was the latest example. The 2010 championship will have to be wrestled away from the 48 team because it isn't going to simply hand it over.

Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, owner Richard Childress and Jeff Burton are determined to have a strong year. (Getty Images)

• Richard Childress Racing was a shell of its former self a year ago at this time and suffered through a 2009 season without any of its drivers making the Chase. Despite that disappointment there were flashes in the second half of last year's schedule that the team was improving and Jeff Burton's two straight runner-up finishes to end the campaign provided a great deal of confidence over the winter. RCR has picked up right where it left off through this year's first pair of races with all three drivers in the top 10 last week at Fontana after a solid showing in Daytona. The loss of a fourth team due to the lack of sponsorship may not have been the worst thing to happen at RCR and the more streamlined effort could be a key to the improved performance.

• Brian Vickers scored Team Red Bull's first Cup win last year and slipped into the Chase to cap an impressive campaign for the Toyota team. But his rookie teammate Scott Speed struggled mightily and could not stay above the Top 35 cutoff line. But both drivers have gotten off to good starts with Speed leading both at Daytona and Fontana. They sit 14th and 15th in the points standings and although it may be premature there are signs that Speed may finally be catching up to his teammate Vickers.

Losers

• Denny Hamlin was the preseason pick by many to unseat Johnson for this year's championship. But he's stumbled out of the gate in a big way and has an average finish of 23rd. After a dismal Daytona 500 performance, he ended up 29th last Sunday at Fontana.

• Brad Keselowski came to Penske Racing with much fanfare and the hope from management to turn around the fortunes of the No. 12 entry. But an early race crash at Daytona and a non-competitive day in Fontana has added up to a 28th-place position in the standings.

• Kasey Kahne looked like the move by Richard Petty Motorsports from Dodge to Ford would pay dividends early when he was one of the most dominant cars during Speedweeks. That was until the Daytona 500 when he was swept up in an accident to finish 30th and his slide off Turn 4 and through the infield grass last week in Fontana, which handed him a 34th-place finish. Kahne is one of the most frustrated drivers in the garage area and his 33rd-place spot in the standings should explain why.

Garage chatter

• Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s broken axle at Fontana might be a sign of bigger problems within Hendrick Motorsports. Jimmie Johnson's rear axle was reportedly five or six laps away from suffering the same fate and team officials are monitoring the issue closely with a potential change in suppliers being considered this weekend in Las Vegas.

• Television ratings for the Auto Club Speedway Sprint Cup race were off about six percent from a year ago, not bad considering the race went head to head with Winter Olympic coverage.

• Danica Patrick's presence in Saturday's Nationwide race no doubt helped bump that TV rating up from a 1.4 to a 1.7 ... This week marks Patrick's final NASCAR race until mid-June as she returns to her full-time Indy Car Series ride.

• The Wagner Companies will co-sponsor Bobby Labonte's TRG Motorsports entry this week in Vegas. The company produces a variety of metal products including the "Festivus" pole, made popular from the classic Seinfeld television show episode. No word if Labonte will participate in a pre-race "Feats of Strength" competition.