JOLIET, Ill. -- A year ago, Kyle Busch came to Chicagoland Speedway eighth in points and upset about how his soon-to-be ex-teammates at Hendrick Motorsports raced him the week before at Daytona.

A year ago, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 12th in points and discussed the news that Budweiser would not follow him from Dale Earnhardt Inc. to Hendrick.

Today, Busch leads the points with different teammates, and Earnhardt is second with a different sponsor. They'll both start on the front row for tonight's LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway after rain canceled qualifying Thursday. They both offer hope for others not happy with their seasons that a turnaround might not be far away.

Both Busch and Earnhardt are more relaxed today -- although wary of what the upcoming Chase for the title holds. Busch, still a target of fan hatred, hears cheers sprinkled among the boos.

"As long as we are winning over some more fans each and every day, that's all you can ask for," said Busch, who has won six of the first 18 races this season.

Cheers have never been an issue for Earnhardt, the sport's most popular driver.

He sounded as excited as one of his fans Thursday when he talked about a recent endeavor. He downloaded his favorite western mini-series "Lonesome Dove," starring Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones and Danny Glover.

"I've got it on VHS but the picture is horrible, it's so old," Earnhardt said. "I watch that because I like Augustus McCrae (Duvall's character) and Woodrow Call (Jones' character). Those are my two heroes."

Talking about fan reaction and an old movie. That's how far both have come since last season.

Busch was shoved aside at Hendrick to make way for Earnhardt, who left DEI -- the team started by his late father -- after a simmering fight with his stepmother for control.

Busch, aided by Toyota horsepower and Joe Gibbs Racing know-how, has dominated the series this season. His performance would make car owner Rick Hendrick look foolish for letting Busch go, except Earnhardt has been nearly as strong -- just without all the wins.

Earnhardt's victory at Michigan last month broke a two-year Cup winless streak. His confidence, he admits, is up, but he remains critical of his performance -- that despite three top-10s in the last five races.

"I ain't run that good since I won, as good as I expected," Earnhardt said. "I sort of got what I could in Sonoma [12th]. I had a good car last week [at Daytona]; I didn't get myself the right opportunities last week at the end."

Maybe so, but his eighth-place finish at Daytona moved Earnhardt to second in the points. This is the first time he's been this high in the season standings since 2004.

Busch is having by far his best year. He had four Cup wins entering this season, and the idea of him tripling his career total this season is not unrealistic. While he is calmer this week than a year ago, where his accusations had his teammates issuing denials that they were brushing him aside, Busch is focused on what's ahead.

His six victories this season give him 60 bonus points for when the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins at New Hampshire in September. No other driver has more than 20 bonus points so far. Busch admits he could need an even bigger cushion because he's worried about some of the tracks in the Chase.

Busch notes that he has not run as well on the flat tracks and the Chase features three such speedways -- New Hampshire, Martinsville and Phoenix. He did not lead a lap at any of those three tracks earlier this year. His average finish in those events of 24.3 is nearly 15 positions worse than his average finish for the season so far.

"Those three races in the Chase are going to be tough on us, and we have work to do there," Busch said. "We feel like we won't be too bad at Charlotte, Texas and Atlanta, Homestead -- those types of places are similar to this one. We've got some work cut out for us and we're going to try to work on some more stuff and make our cars better."

But looking at the big picture, things are already better for both Busch and Earnhardt this season than a year ago.