Heavy traffic on Victory Lane?

LAS VEGAS -- Only four weeks ago, before the season-opening Daytona 500, NASCAR talk centered on the potential dominance of two teams: Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing.

Hendrick had won 16 of last year’s 36 races in the premier Sprint Cup Series, including 10 by reigning champion Jimmie Johnson. And Gibbs had added the hard-charging Kyle Busch to its team of two-time title winner Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin.

But after three races neither team has made it to Victory Lane. Instead, it’s been Carl Edwards of Roush Fenway Racing who’s won two of the three events.

That included his win Sunday in the UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which followed by six days his victory at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Ryan Newman of Penske Racing won the Daytona 500.

And other Roush Fenway cars have been strong. At Las Vegas, the team’s Greg Biffle finished third and David Ragan was seventh.

However, there is the prospect that Edwards’ latest win could be tainted.

In post-race inspection, NASCAR found that the lid was off the oil tank in Edwards’ No. 99 Ford. The car was impounded for further inspection by officials. NASCAR said if any action is taken it probably would be announced this week.

Last month at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR found that the oil-tank lids were loose on five cars in its second-tier Nationwide series. The cars’ drivers were each docked 25 points and their crew chiefs were suspended for six races.

Unlike conventional cars, where the oil is stored in the main engine compartment, Cup cars use a dry-sump system with the extra oil stored in a square steel reservoir tank behind the driver’s seat.

Generally speaking, a missing lid would enable more air to flow into that area of the car, which, at speeds of nearly 200 mph, could provide a slight aerodynamic advantage and more power.

Setting that issue aside, the season’s start underlines how, at least for now, the competition is wide open in NASCAR’s premier series. That’s not lost on Roush Fenway’s veteran co-owner Jack Roush.

“We aren’t as good as it would appear to be for having won the last two races, and we weren’t as bad as it looked like we were when we couldn’t win a race for part of last year,” Roush said.

He knows how winning seasons in NASCAR, as in most every sport, can move in cycles.

It was only three years ago that Roush Fenway drivers won 15 races, including six by Biffle, and all five of its drivers made the series’ Chase for the Cup playoff. (Gibbs’ Stewart won the title that year.)

Then the team’s dominance tailed off in 2006-07 as Hendrick and Gibbs flexed their muscles. One reason: Roush Fenway was slow to develop its version of NASCAR’s new Car of Tomorrow, which was phased in at 16 races last year before becoming the only Cup car in 2008.

Many NASCAR watchers agree that Hendrick adapted to the new car better than most, and more quickly, which contributed to its stellar year.

Roush conceded that his team lagged for a while, but believes that the gap has been closed.

“I think we’re caught up. I certainly don’t feel that we have an advantage. I think on any given Sunday, there’s probably 20 cars that could win the race. Four or five of them are our cars,” Roush said.

Edwards has proved that. “We are close to the form that we were in 2005, where it just seemed like a Roush Fenway car would win every week,” Edwards said. “That’s what I’m really excited about.”

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james.peltz@latimes.com