DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- This year's Daytona 500 is shaping up to be a Goliath vs. Goliath battle.

In one corner stands the reigning champion Hendrick Motorsports, led by back-to-back Cup title winner Jimmie Johnson, four-time champion Jeff Gordon, newcomer Dale Earnhardt Jr. and up-and-coming Casey Mears. In the other is Joe Gibbs Racing, with two-time champ Tony Stewart, third-year star Denny Hamlin and a newcomer of its own, Kyle Busch.

Jimmie Johnson begins defense of his two straight Cup titles on the Daytona 500 pole. (AP)

Six of the top 10 spots in Sunday's starting lineup are taken by Hendrick and JGR drivers. Earnhardt won the Budweiser Shootout and one of the twin qualifying races. Teammate Johnson took the 500 pole. Hamlin won a qualifier with Stewart taking second in the Shootout and his qualifying race.

All that dominance points to a 500 showdown between the two mega teams.

"Yeah, it's going to be an epic battle," Stewart laughed. "It could be the battle of a lifetime, of the century. May not be another battle of this proportion for the rest of my life, career or for this century."

Stewart might have been joking, but he's no doubt in a jovial mood knowing how fast his Home Depot Toyota has been this week. With two equally competitive teammates in Hamlin and Busch around to draft with him, Stewart believes teamwork will be key to JGR beating Hendrick in Sunday's 500.

"Yesterday (in the qualifying races) was proof; you give us 3-to-1 odds and it works in our favor just as easily as it works in theirs," Stewart said Friday.

Stewart helped "push" Hamlin to his qualifying race win with drafting help, a favor he knows would be returned if the roles were reversed.

"Absolutely. I wasn't as happy as I would have been had I been in victory lane yesterday, but I was proud because I helped my teammate win the race," he said.

"Now if it were the last lap of the Daytona 500, I might have done something different to try to win, but if you end up being a part of somebody winning the race like that, especially if it's your teammate, it's hard not to take some sort of satisfaction and some sense of accomplishment, knowing with it being such a team aspect and relying on somebody else, you had something to do with that."

"It might not be your name on the trophy but if we're in a situation, even if we finish third and Denny or Kyle win ... if there's an outside line (passing) and we finish fifth, if we're able to help push one of them to the win, it's hard not to feel some sense of satisfaction about that."

Having teammates that can actually help him in the draft is a new feeling for Earnhardt, who struggled to find assistance at restrictor plate races his past couple of years with DEI.

But that's not a problem any longer. With the likes of stars like Johnson and Gordon at his disposal, Earnhardt likes his chances come Sunday.

"We already got a push from Jimmie to win the Shootout last week," Junior said. "You have to have help here in the draft, although with these new cars you can run a little bit by yourself. But you still need someone to line up with you when you're battling in a pack and having good teammates who understand that is a must."

Even after going two-for-two so far this week in his Hendrick debut, Earnhardt isn't convinced he's the odds-on favorite to win the 500 as many have predicted. Junior has been successful at Daytona before and knows how quickly it can all go away.

"When we were down here a couple years ago winning a lot, you could look at each other and see that me and the team were sort of like, 'OK, what's going to happen?'" Earnhardt said. "'When is something going to happen that keeps us from winning the next one?' I don't know what happened. We've done that a couple times. We've come down here and won a couple things, felt like the favorite, and either finished well in the 500, top five, or had blown tires and stuff like that happen to us, too."

However, whether it's because of his recent success at his new address or because he just feels reenergized by his whole fresh experience with Hendrick, Junior doesn't feel any pressure going into Sunday.

"But the 500, I don't feel like that this time. ... I don't feel pressure as we continue to have success this week," he said. "I don't feel that pressure mounting because I know how tough it is to win that race, and I just have to go in there when the race starts and do what we need to do and, hopefully, we have good luck."