Jimmie Johnson is the driver to beat in Sunday's 600-mile, day-into-night Nextel Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C. Johnson is the defending champion in this race, won the pole position Thursday night and he runs as well as anyone at the 1.5-mile quad oval.

Working in Johnson's favor
History for one thing.

A year ago Johnson posted an impressive double win at LMS when he swept the All-Star race and the 600-miler a week later.

That made him one of five drivers to achieve that feat, the others being Jeff Gordon (1997), Dale Earnhardt (1993), Davey Allison (1991) and Darrell Waltrip (1985).

And in 2002 Johnson won the pole for this race and pretty much dominated the race before Mark Martin used some keen pit strategy to take the win with Johnson finishing seventh.

Johnson had the fastest practice time (182.334 mph) for last week's Nextel All-Star Challenge and with Lowe's as the primary sponsor of his car, he has added incentive to win.

Drivers to watch

Racing at Lowe's last weekend in the NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge, Matt Kenseth finished first and Ryan Newman took second.

Kenseth finished runner-up to Johnson in this race a year ago and was eighth last year in the fall event at Charlotte.

And his first-ever Cup win came in 2000 in the 600-miler.

Newman was even better than Kenseth at LMS in 2003, coming in fifth in the spring and second in the fall.

Like Kenseth and Newman, I think Tony Stewart will also be fast and have a car to be reckoned with.

Even though Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a problem with his brakes and took 41st in the 600-miler last year, given the outstanding season he is enjoying, he must be included among the favorites.

A preview for a race at LMS has to mention Jeff Gordon, who is the top all-time money winner at the Charlotte track, where he has four wins and 14 top-10 results in 22 Cup starts.

Veterans Sterling Marlin, Mark Martin and Michael Waltrip are drivers who despite struggling this year would not shock me if they won this race.

All had impressive cars last week at LMS.

Normally Bobby Labonte runs well at Charlotte -- last year he was my driver to beat in this race -- but he had a rough performance last Saturday night in the All-Star race and given his struggles of a week ago, I don't feel he is among the top contenders this time around.

Greg Biffle's my darkhorse and he's hoping that the Jack Roush-Robert Yates engine-building alliance provides his No. 16 car with the new cylinder head NASCAR approved for Ford this year.

Those cylinder heads have been distributed to Roush and Yates drivers by order of where they stand in the championship points standings as they haven't yet manufactured enough of them for all the drivers in both organizations.

Biffle, who is 21st in points, is hoping the alliance can build him a cylinder head in time for Sunday.

Keys to success at Lowe's
Since the first part of the race is run in daylight and the second part at night, a major key is being able to adjust to the changing track conditions.

The track will change radically over the time it takes to run 600 miles.

It's a good bet that a car can run real well, maybe even lead for the first 100 or 200 miles, but not be in the thick of things come the end of the race.

Getting a car to run best for the last 300 miles rather than the first 300 miles is crucial.

The teams that run well will be the ones that have the most versatility when it comes to making the necessary chassis changes.

A driver and crew chief must have excellent communication in order to deal with the changes nightfall brings to the racing.

Patience is much needed to succeed at LMS and patience is not the strong suit of many a driver, but the importance of it in this event can't be overstated.

Also look for the cars to use a softer shock package since the corners at LMS have some bumps in them.