Credit for dominant performances in NASCAR is usually given to drivers. Jeff Gordon’s 13 wins in 1998 are always “Jeff Gordon’s 13 wins” not the “No. 24 car’s 13 wins with Ray Evernham as crew chief.” Drivers win the series, not the crew.

Get ready for a paradigm shift.

One car with one crew has won nine NASCAR Nationwide Series races of the 19 raced in the 2008 season. The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 is on pace to win 17 races.

Four different drivers have combined for those wins. Of those four drivers — Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano — none has a chance at winning the series championship. Rules are rules.

There is an owners’ championship every year and the majority of owners’ champions also win the drivers’ title. With the way the 20 car is running, the difference between the two championships should have people looking at how this could happen.

Following the Camping World RV Sales 200, Clint Bowyer led the Nationwide standings by 182 points. Kyle Busch — who has also won Nationwide races this season in the 18 and 32 cars — is seventh, 386 points behind Bowyer.

The owners’ standing after the same race had the 20 car 173 points ahead of Bowyer’s No. 2 car, which is owned by Richard Childress. Halfway through the 2008 season, the No. 20 car has nine wins, 12 top five finishes and14 top 10 finishes. The results for the 2 car are: one, eight and 16.

The last two Nationwide seasons have been two of the best ever for drivers. Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards won the 2006 and 2007 championships in such commanding fashions that each could have skipped multiple races and still won the series title. Crew chief Dave Rogers and the rest of his team won’t be missing any races.

Having multiple drivers available gives the team a certain edge — an edge that precludes them from winning the drivers’ championship — but if they weren’t dialing that car in right every week, it wouldn’t matter. The Gibbs stable aren’t slouches. Even 18-year-old Logano has won a pole, finished in the top five and won a race in the 20. Without the crew building the engines, picking the gears, jumping the wall race after race and Rogers talking his drivers through every turn, the 20 would be just another car with a few good finishes.

Go to a track — any track, be it a dirt track in Ely, Nev., or Daytona — and the first people a great driver will thank is the crew. A good driver will thank himself.

The good driver and the bad driver will also blame the crew if something goes wrong. The great driver takes the blame first.

Great and good drivers aside, the 2008 Nationwide season belongs to Rogers and the rest of the 20 car’s crew.

Now, I’m not saying you could put anybody in the car and it would win. Me, for example. Or a host of other Nationwide drivers. There are even some drivers in the Sprint Cup series that would drive Rogers’ best set-up into the wall.

Rogers deserves special honors for the performance he has gotten from the car, the drivers and the crew. It takes a special person to deal with the diverse personalities of the men who have driven his car to victory lane this season without a major problem.

Barring any such problems, the 20 should continue to win right up to the final race of the season. The only question will be who will get the winner’s circle celebration shower.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Saturday, LifeLock.com 400, Chicagoland Speedway, TNT, 6:30 p.m.
July 27, Allstate 400, The Brickyard Indianapolis Motor Speedway, ESPN, 1 p.m.
Aug. 3, Pennsylvania 500, Pocono Raceway, ESPN, 1 p.m.

NASCAR Nationwide Series
Friday, Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola, Chicagoland Speedway, ESPN, 7:30 p.m.
July 19, Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250, Gateway International Raceway (St. Louis), ESPN2, 9 p.m.
July 26, Kroger 200, O'Reilly Raceway Park (Indianapolis), ESPN, 7:30 p.m.

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