The era of the wing is over, now what?

Sunday's race at Bristol Motor Speedway was the 93rd and final Cup race with the rear wing.  For many fans, this was a day to celebrate -- even for those who dislike  Jimmie Johnson after he won for the first time at that track and for the 50th time in his Cup career.

So, now what?

Five races into the season, it's clear who the top drivers are with Kevin Harvick leading the points, Jimmie Johnson winning three times, Matt Kenseth running consistently and Greg Biffle not far off the leaders.

Well, all that looks good on paper but now comes the rear spoiler. Some crew chiefs think it could change things. Now, don't expect it to change much at Martinsville this week. The slow speeds there mean it's more about muscle than aero so count on Johnson -- winner of 5 of the last 7 there -- to be strong along with Denny Hamlin -- the only other driver to win during Johnson's Martinsville dominance -- Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Johnson said he'd even count on Juan Pablo Montoya as one to watch.

Where you're really going to see how the spoiler might change things will be at Texas in a few weeks. The open test Tuesday and Wednesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway could give some clues but with so many people trying so many different things, it might be hard to get an accurate picture.

Here's a few things to watch as we look ahead:

# Kevin Harvick had an up-and-down day but the points leader (he leads Matt Kenseth by 1 point) finished Sunday's race 11th. He needs to keep getting good finishes on when things don't go as well. .They did the same thing at Atlanta two weeks ago, pulling out a top 10 when they didn't run that well. Harvick admits the next few weeks could tell much about his team and other teams, though.

"The most important thing to me is that we take the next step as far as making the cars better, making the engines better, making everything better in order to keep the competitiveness of the team at the level that it needs to be because everybody is going to continuously get bettter,'' he said Friday. "We can't always play catch-up. At some point, you have to be ahead to win a championship.''

That's what many are facing.

# Denny Hamlin, a preseason favorite to challenge Jimmie Johnson for the title (I picked him to win the title)  finished 19th on Sunday and is 19th in the points. He is 86 points out of a Chase spot, so it's not like he's doomed to miss the Chase or anything at this point, but he certainly needs to get better results. With his succes, he'll be looking for a strong run at Martinsville.

"I'm not embarrassed about the way we're running,'' Hamlin said Friday. "Let's say we get out of here and Martinsville with 20-something-place finishes, I'm going to be scratching my head wondering, "OK, I know what I'm capable of on these short tracks, we need to get to work.' I have no doubt performance-wise. Things happen.''

This time it was another tire issue. Hamlin noted on his Twitter account it was the third time in five races he's had tire issues this season. While that has held him back, they've got to figure it out because not everybody is having those issues.

# Dale Earnhardt Jr. For the first time since 2008, he's in the top 10 in points. He heads to Martinsville 8th in the season standings. He's making progress and this is what folks wanted to see in gauging this team. Now with the spoiler coming on, will that help Earnhardt or not? One of the key things about his struggles last season was how he seemingly lost confidence. To be in the top 10 in points certainly has to give him a boost and that's what he needs. The more confidence he builds, the better it will help him if he happens to falter or carry him even further. The key now is to see what happens these next few races and how he does.

# Ryan Newman. He moved up to 26th in the points, gaining three spots after his 16th-place finish. He needs more. He did make the Chase after a poor start last year so he can do it, but he' s another that will be one to watch in these next few races with a lot on the line.

# Matt Kensth. He finished fifth and is 2nd in the points, one point behind Kevin Harvick. What to watch with him in the next few weeks is how he runs. Crew chief Todd Parrott will start to get his hands more around the cars and build them and shape them the way he wants. Can Kenseth's strong start continue -- remember he was doing so with cars prepared under former crew chief Drew Blickensderfer before Drew was replaced after the Daytona 500.

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ODDS AND ENDS

# Paul Menard remains 9th in the points after finishing 18th on Sunday.

# Kurt Busch finished third and left frustrated about giving one away to Jimmie Johnson. Busch led 278 of the 500 laps.  He took four tires on the last pit stop (as Johnson did) but he restarted in fifth in the inside line while Johnson was beside him on the outside line. when Matt Kenseth, at the front of the inside line, got a slow restart, it bottled all those cars up and allowed Johnson to go from 6th to 1st in just a few laps and score the win.

# Brad Keselowski finished a season-high 13th.  He hadn't finished better than 21st in the first four races because of various issues.

# Carl Edwards climbed 7 spots to 13th in the points after finishing sixth.

# Mark Martin fell nine spots in the points to 16th after Greg Biffle forced him into the wall and then when Martin slowed he was collected by others, resulting in a 13-car crash. Martin was not pleased with Biffle but was diplomatic in his TV interview. Said Biffle after the race: "I owe an apology to Mark Martin. It sounds stupid because everybody makes an excuse, but I was having trouble with my radio. That whole run I didn't have a radio and I didn't know he was on the outside of me and I ran him into the fence.''

# Kyle Busch finished 9th after earlier in the race hitting the wall and telling his crew on the radio that the contact felt so hard "I killed the wall.''

# Bristol had 138,000 - about 20,000 less than capacity - ending the track's streak of 55 consecutive sellouts.

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HISTORY

Jimmie Johnson's win was his 50th in Cup, putting him into a tie for 10th on the all-time wins list with Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett. Jimmie Johnson scored his 50th win in his 296th start. Only three drivers have posted their 50th Cup win in a shorter time: Jeff Gordon (232 starts), Darrell Waltrip (278) and David  Pearson (293).

OK, that will do for now. Gotta hit the road. Charlotte spoiler test on Tuesday and Wednesday and Martinsville this weekend. Will have lots of stuff for you. Also for more, follow me on Twitter at Twitter.com/dustinlong

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