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RICHMOND, Va. -- Forget the race. Let the debates begin.

Jimmie Johnson's victory Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway ended NASCAR's regular season and gives fans a chance to analyze the Chase for the Nextel Cup before it begins Sunday at New Hampshire.

The key question is where to start the debate.

Consider some of the topics from Saturday's race:

l Did Johnson's victory, giving him 10 bonus points and a 20-point lead on his nearest competitor, all but give him his second title?

l The points standings, reset after Richmond, show former champions in four of the top five spots (Carl Edwards is the lone exception). How will this impact the Chase?

l How could Dale Earnhardt Jr. miss the Chase for the second time in three years?

Johnson's victory Saturday night could deflate his foes because it extends his points lead.

The points total for every driver in the top 12 was reset to 5,000, and they earned 10 bonus points for each win through Richmond.

A season-high six wins give Johnson 5,060 points. Only four drivers are within 40 points heading into the season's final 10 races -- Jeff Gordon (20 points back), Tony Stewart (30), Edwards (40) and Kurt Busch (40).

"It can come down to 10 points, two points, five points. We've seen championships lost by that," said Kevin Harvick, who is 50 points behind Johnson. "Fifty points, it's hard to make up among guys that are running good."

Twice in the Chase's three-year history, the eventual champion has started the 10-race sprint no further back than 30 points. Johnson is the exception. He rallied from 156 points back with six races to go to win last year's crown.

Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, says a top-heavy standings of former champions, could force title contenders to be more aggressive. Knaus says he figures the champion will need to average no worse than a sixth-place finish to win the Chase.

Johnson averaged a 10.8 finish en route to last year's title.

"You have to go out there and try to win races and finish in the top five," Knaus says of this season, a departure from the conventional thinking of stringing together top-10 finishes to win the title. "The top-fives just don't fall on your lap. You have to go out there and be spot-on and make a strategic call, and you may have to have the driver step up a bit and ... your pit crew."

Racing some of the sport's top drivers doesn't bother Stewart. He relishes the challenge, especially after missing last year's Chase.

Stewart, who finished second to Johnson on Saturday night, says he won't get caught up in worrying too much about who is where in the Chase.

"Anything can happen," Stewart says.

Stewart also admits "it seems like that if your program has been pretty good the last four or five weeks, you've probably got the best shot of anybody at winning the championship."

That would make Johnson the favorite. His Richmond victory -- he swept both Cup races there this season -- was his fifth top-five finish in the last six races.

Earnhardt needed such a stretch run just to get in. Instead, he'll miss the Chase again.

The culprit this time was a blown engine with less than 10 laps left as he ran third. It's the fifth time a blown engine has ended his race early.

No Chase driver has failed to finish more than four races.

"We've been a top-five car and a top-five team almost every week and yet we struggled with engines that wouldn't get us to the finish line," Earnhardt said.

So, what now as he heads into his final 10 races with Dale Earnhardt Inc.?

"We'll try to get in there and spoil a couple of races and win some," he said.

That might be difficult against this Chase group.

Contact Dustin Long at dlong@news-record.com