While no one ever wishes anything bad on a fellow competitor, for those drivers chasing Jimmie Johnson for the 2008 title, one slip up on the defending champion's part could tighten things up tremendously over the next five weekends.

Johnson has been Mr. Consistency over the last two months as he has climbed his way to the top of the points standings. Halfway through the ten-race Chase, Johnson has one win (Kansas), three top-5s and five top-10s - not to mention the No. 48 team headed into the Chase off back-to-back wins at California and Richmond. One of the most consistent drivers in the garage, the last time Johnson finished outside the top-10 was a 33rd-place finish at Bristol in August.

"As of now, I'm drawing great comfort in what we've done in the past and that's making it easier on us," Johnson explained. "From '06 to '07, I had fewer nightmares. From '07 to '08, less again. But we're performing and doing our jobs. If things change and our luck changes and we don't execute like we need to over the next five (races) I'm sure the nightmares would come back in a hurry. But experience and building confidence in the experience that we've had has helped me be much more relaxed."

With a 69-point advantage, it appears Johnson will need to stumble for others to catch him.

"Well I think you are hoping that happens but you can't expect it. You have to go out there and try to beat him. Try to do something to beat him," says fellow Chaser Clint Bowyer. Currently fifth in points, Bowyer is 185 points out of the lead. While he hasn't exactly had trouble during the first five Chase races, Bowyer knows it will take more than good runs to put himself back into contention.

"They've raised the bar and we have to answer that call, be better and run them down," Bowyer said of the No. 48 team. "A team like that is not gonna make a mistake. They're just not. And if they do it's out of their hands. It's not something that happens. But Martinsville is a place, as fast as they've been here, this is a place where they could be lapping somebody and get caught up in something. This is another wild card in my opinion. Not as much as Talladega but it is a wild card."

One driver that has suffered a string of tough luck over the last two weeks is Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards. While it looked like the championship was going to be a battle between Edwards and Johnson, Talladega and Lowe's completely changed that notion.

At Talladega, Edwards bump drafted teammate Greg Biffle into the corner late in the race and triggered the 'Big One' that took out five Chase contenders in all. Although he admitted fault, Edwards still took a good deal of heat from Kevin Harvick over the incident.

The next week at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Edwards' luck was no better. A shoving match with Harvick stole the spotlight on Friday afternoon, while a poor run overshadowed the weekend. Electrical problems left Edwards on pit road while the field raced around under green. In the end, Edwards finished 33rd and dropped two spots in the standings.

"I don't know where Jimmie gets his horseshoes, but he's got amazing luck, and they do everything right, too, so we just have to hope for something strange to happen," Edwards explained. "I say that, but I don't know if we really do have to have anything happen. We can run well enough. It's completely reasonable for us to run well enough in these last five races to just earn enough points to make it up. It's not gonna be easy, that's for sure, but we can do it."

For Biffle, the first five races of the Chase have been a bit of a roller coaster ride. After showing his strength by scoring victories in the first two Chase races (New Hampshire and Dover), Biffle was caught up in the 'Big One' at Talladega. Still third in the standings, Biffle is currently 86 points out of the lead.

"Something happened to Carl last week and something can happen to anyone of us at anytime," Biffle pointed out. "I'm not saying that something has to happen to Jimmie for us to catch him, but it's 86 points and we're just gonna have to finish in front of him obviously to be able to catch him, so we'll just continue to try not to make mistakes on the race track, which, knock on wood, I've been able to do so far - I haven't made any mistakes - so just keep after it. Hopefully, our tide will turn and it will come in our favor."

As most of these drivers have said, anything can and probably will happen over the next five races. With Johnson atop the points standings, the other eleven Chase contenders can do nothing but try and outperform one of the best performing teams in NASCAR. If last year is any indication (four wins in the last five races), the No. 48 team will not falter and will be tough to beat. Stranger things have happened and nothing is set in stone, so for those other eleven drivers all they can do is pull the straps tight and get to work.