"The level of competition in these cars has never been greater. At the end of the Brainerd event, you'll have some pretty unhappy people outside of the Countdown, and our goal is to just make it to that point. We'll do everything we can to get our cars consistent and not get beat early. That's going to take some hard work and consistency and hopefully we have that
pocketed. I'm concerned about winning rounds, not races, until we get to the Countdown, then it will be, okay bar the door."

Wilkerson's son, Daniel Wilkerson, earned his Funny Car license in 2008 and walked away uninjured from a spectacular crash in Memphis last season when the rear wheels came off of his Levi, Ray & Shoup Mustang. The baptism by fire didn't cause him to shy away from competing, and he will likely join his father at some point in the season, potentially as a blocker during the final leg of the Countdown, after graduating from University of Illinois -- Springfield in May.

Tasca III, a third-generation Ford racer, scored his first win last year in Gainesville. He will race with a new Murf McKinney chassis along with his new aerodynamically-improved Mustang body, and his crew will remain in tact, including crew chiefs Chris Cunningham and Marc Denner.

Competing out of the Don Schumacher Racing stable, Jack Beckman and Capps, who finished fifth and third in the points standings respectively last season, will both be aiming high right out of the gate, along with teammate Matt Hagan. Capps, who has been a serious contender for the world title and has finished second three times, led the points through the first 10 races last season but then fell off. He will again be tuned by Ed McCulloch and will pilot his trusty Napa Auto Parts Charger.

"Nowadays, with the Countdown, there's not such an emphasis on the past when you had to just get the season started off well," Capps said. "Now, the approach is to try to win every race and do the best you can for your sponsors at every event.

"I feel like we always have a good chance of winning, if not a great chance. I feel now like we have a more complete team that can contend for a win any weekend and a championship."

Beckman is optimistic in the face of major change stepping into the 2010 season with Rahn Tobler on the wrenches in place of former crew chief Johnny West.

"We have new paint schemes for the year, a new fire suit, new crew outfits, and five of the same crew members from last year. We've added crew chief Rahn Tobler and three others, so the entire unit hadn't worked together before this year. But in preseason testing within two and a half days I could already see everybody was on the same page and working well together. And I've talked to Tobler, assistant crew chief John Collins and several of the crew guys many times at the test session, and everybody is so excited about getting the season started.

"I think, right out of the box, we're going to be a contender. I think every pro team has a couple of races during every season where they stumble or lose the handle on the combination. And I'm not saying that we won't be in that position one or two times this year, but I feel, with the talent on our team, and on DSR's other five nitro teams, with whom we can sound ideas back and forth, we're going to be phenomenal this year."

One to watch will most certainly be Del Worsham, who enjoyed his best finish since 2004 and claimed the No. 7 position at the conclusion of last season. This year, Worsham will again be wheeling the Al-Anabi Racing Toyota, and he'll have the added asset of former Tony Pedregon Racing crew chief Dickie Venables as lead tuner aided by Kurt Elliott and Aaron Brooks. Venables joined the team last fall after parting ways with Pedregon. Worsham picked up three wins last season, one of which was claimed after Venables came on board.

Pedregon won three races in eight final rounds last season and entered the Countdown as the regular season champion leading the points but was unable to keep up the momentum and finished the season in sixth, a somewhat disappointing end to the season for the two-time world champion. Though concrete plans for the entire 2010 season have yet to be defined, Pedregon is ready to go racing with most of his crew still in place. A new car is waiting in the wings, but the Indiana-based driver plans to race in Pomona with the Chevy Impala that he finished with last season.