See the Toyota Camry at Daytona. See the Toyota Camry teams qualify, maybe. See the Toyota Camry eventually win a race. See Toyota win sooner and more often than Dodge when it made a comeback in 2001? Maybe.

2. The Car of Tomorrow Lands At Bristol

NASCAR has bet its future on a safer car that supposedly races better and holds down cost. It ostensibly should make rule-making easier as well. The key phrase: “NASCAR has bet its future… .”

3. Will The Chase Be Better With More Drivers?

The plan is to add drivers to the Chase, probably two. It remains to be seen if race winners get a bump in the points compared to the present system. Look for the championship name to include Sprint, parent company of Nextel.

4. Montoya Makes His Move

For many years, there’s been a sub rosa debate over whether Indy Car, Formula 1 or NASCAR drivers are better. Juan Montoya, a former Indy 500 winner and F1 race winner, may yet answer the question this season while driving for Chip Ganassi.

5. The TV Ratings And Attendance

Audiences went down in these two crucial categories in 2006. Theories abound as to why. One year does not make a pattern, but two straight years of declines would constitute a troublesome trend.

6. Will Dale Jr. Return to DEI In 2008?

Maybe the stepson, who happens to be NASCAR’s most popular driver four years running, and the stepmother, who runs the legacy team of “The Intimidator,” can sort out a new contract early this season. In any event, Dale Earnhardt Jr. can survive on his own far better than Dale Earnhardt Inc. can get along without him due to his talent, desire and popularity.

7. Will the legacy teams score more than 7 victories?

Richard Childress Racing bounced back with six victories in 2006 and two Chase contenders. Earnhardt Jr. scored one win with DEI. Left out in the cold: Robert Yates Racing, Petty Enterprises and the Wood Brothers, although all three managed to make the top 35 in owner points with each of their regular entries.

8. Busch Series To Continue As Major Minor League

NASCAR is hoping the Car of Tomorrow will eventualy diminish what amounts to tire testing in the Busch Series by Cup teams and drivers, which win all the races. In the short term, Cup teams will continue to have their younger drivers compete in all the Busch Series events that coincide with Cup races.

9. Does The Chase Always Produce A New Champ?

It was tough enough to produce back-to-back titles under the Latford points system, but Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt each did it three times. Cale Yarborough won three straight Winston Cups. The last driver to repeat was Jeff Gordon in 1997-98. This year, Jimmie Johnson has a chance to be the first back-to-back winner under the Chase format.

10. Who can beat Hendrick, Gibbs or Roush?

You have to go back to 1999, when Dale Jarrett clinched the championship for Robert Yates Racing, to find a title winner who didn’t belong to Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Racing or Joe Gibbs Racing.

Likely contenders to beat the big three: Ray Evernham Motorsports or Richard Childress Racing.

(Jonathan Ingram is in his 31st year of writing about NASCAR. He can be reached at jingram666@cs.com.)