Just as most people cannot recall who won last year’s World Series, you may not remember who won the 2006 Nextel Cup – Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet. Johnson is on the fast track to winning his second Cup in two seasons.

The last driver to win back-to-back Cups was Johnson’s teammate Jeff Gordon in the 1997-1998 season, but it looks inevitable that Johnson will earn his second crown with only two major threats at his backdoor, Gordon, in the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, and Tony Stewart, cruising in the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet.

For those of you who don’t know how the NASCAR postseason works, there are only 12 cars that make up the post-season field and those 12 cars are made up of the top 12 finishers of the regular season figured out by the point’s standings.

The points are calculated by a number of stats, the most crucial being how many laps were led, how many top 10 finishes and polls were earned. After the regular season the top 12 finishers in the point standings will be eligible to win the Nextel Cup, which includes 10 races.

Johnson is on the fast track to win his second Cup because he has won the last two races and has by far the best car and crew, which is headed by crew chief Chad Knaus. At this point in NASCAR no one can match up to Chevrolet and having the best crew in the sport is going to make it even that much more difficult for anyone to compete with Johnson.

The one driver to look out for is Johnson’s teammate Gordon because, frankly, he has the experience needed to knock Johnson out having won four NASCAR championships. Gordon has won 29 races at the tracks that they will end the season on, compared to Johnson’s 16.

Johnson does have a season high six victories under his belt and is doing better right now than he was a year ago, which was good enough for him to win his first championship.

My sleeper pick to make his way up through the standings is Matt Kenseth in the No. 17 DeWalt Ford. Ford has had an off year with Chevrolet dominating almost every aspect of the race track, but with his skill and consistency Kenseth has what it takes to move his way up the standings slowly.

There is no way Kenseth will shock the world and completely dominate the Cup chase with the dominant Chevrolets, but watch out for the No. 17 creeping up the standings come November 18.

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