Gordon extends Hendrick's run of fantastic finishes (cont'd)

"It just goes on and on every week. It's just the same story," lamented Hamlin, who before Sunday's pit-crew miscue saw strong chances of winning derailed by a bad fuel pump at Bristol and a cross-threaded lug nut at Martinsville. "We're at a different racetrack, and I'm here talking about the exact same things."

The Hendrick boys are well aware that their level of dominance over the series is much thinner than most perceive. "We keep saying, 'We're not dominating, we're not dominating,'" Gordon said. "We're just getting the wins."

But it's more than good timing. Week to week, the Hendrick cars are strong enough to run consistently up front, and are ready to pounce when other teams slip. Gordon is one of only two drivers, along with Matt Kenseth, to have completed every lap on the Nextel Cup circuit this season. In 11 starts, the four-time champion has finished outside of the top 10 only once -- that a 12th-place result at Atlanta.

Johnson stands second in points, 231 behind his teammate, after notching his eighth finish this season of fourth or better. His car was good enough Sunday to give up the lead on a late pit stop, restart back in the field with 19 laps remaining, and charge back to take third place.

"I think we've been solid. I haven't had any speeding penalties. We had an issue at the beginning of the year when we had a couple of tires get away from us, but we've been mistake-free for the most part, and I think that's helpful. Especially when you have so many cars that are so competitive," Johnson said.

"There were six or seven cars that had a chance to win [at Darlington]. I think in the end, we just put ourselves in position by not really making any mistakes, on top of the fact that we had a really good car. But I feel our cars are equal to the rest of the guys out there. We've just been a little cleaner throughout the race weekend."

And even when they're not, they're still often good enough to win. That much was evident Sunday at Darlington, when Gordon led only the final 22 laps, all of them with steam billowing from under his hood.

"We're going to be on and we're going to be off with racecars at times," Gordon said, "but when we can perform the way we did [Sunday] with a racecar that's not capable of winning, it's got me very, very excited about this entire season."