JIGSAW PUZZLE; With so many new pieces in play, Nextel Cup is tough to call.(Motorsports)

Byline: AL PEARCE

Other than its eight-race debut in 1949, NASCAR arguably has never headed into a season with this many compelling story lines: a new manufacturer that many fans simply don't like; a new points system that still doesn't reward winning enough; a new and radically different (read: controversial) car for 16 races, and a major international "crossover'' star added to the usual interesting cast of characters.

Finally, something to hold our attention all season.

The new manufacturer-NASCAR's first with foreign ownership-has its rollout during Speed Week in Daytona Beach. Toyota Racing Development will help Michael Waltrip Racing, Bill Davis Racing and Team Red Bull field Camrys for Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, David Reutimann, Jeremy Mayfield, Dave Blaney, Brian Vickers and A.J. Allmendinger. They won't win early on, but almost everyone within the sport expects at least some of them to become competitive. "This is a big step for [Toyota],'' says Roger Penske, who fields Dodges for Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch. "They want to build the brand, and they'll be very, very professional about it.''

The new points system will keep more stars-and their valued sponsors-in the title hunt. Under the old system, the top 10 after 26 races (plus anyone within 400 points of the leader) qualified for the 10-race Chase for the Championship. Now, NASCAR has expanded the field to 12 and dropped the 400-point exemption. The 12 Chase drivers start with 5000 points each and are seeded based on 10 bonus points for each regular-season victory. The 10-to-12 increase is designed to help ensure that stars like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (in '05) and Tony Stewart (last year) don't miss the Chase. Oh, yeah, and each race winner gets five more points this year, creating a spread of 10 to 25 points over second place. "We want to make winning more important,'' NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France says with a straight face. "This five-point increase gives us the intersection of winning and consistency.''

Sixteen of this year's 36 races and half of the Chase races will feature the Car of Tomorrow. The new machine makes its debut in the 500-lapper on March 25 at the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, a classic Southern bullring. It will race twice each at Bristol, Martinsville, Phoenix, Richmond, Dover and Loudon; once each at Darlington, Sonoma and Watkins Glen, and in the fall race at Talladega. It's safe to say that nobody from France down to the smallest team's part-time janitor knows what to expect from the bigger, boxier, winged cars. "I'm guardedly pessimistic,'' says team owner Jack Roush. "I guess I don't see any long-term ill effects to racing as we know it.''

For the most part, the cast of characters remains the same. Ricky Rudd has ended his one-year hiatus from Cup and returns for a second stint with Robert Yates Racing. After 19 years in Roush-owned Fords, fellow old-timer Mark Martin has moved to a limited-schedule Chevrolet at Ginn Racing. Former champion Dale Jarrett has jumped from Ford to Toyota, Brian Vickers from Chevy to Toyota and Jeremy Mayfield and Dave Blaney from Dodge to Toyota. With few exceptions, the driver/owner/crew chief sets from the 2006 season finale at Homestead last November remain intact. David Ragan, Paul Menard, Johnny Sauter and Reutimann move from the Busch Series into Cup.