Johnson doing just fine without help from NASCAR (cont'd)

Since 2001, Hendrick drivers and crew chiefs have been penalized a minimum of 17 times by NASCAR, ranging from nickel-and-dime infractions to whoppers like the $25,000 fine levied against former crew chief Robbie Loomis after Jeff Gordon's car was found to be too low at Rockingham. The $60,000 fine levied against former Hendrick crew chief Ray Evernham in 1995 stood as the largest in NASCAR history until February, when David Hyder was charged $100,000 for tampering with Michael Waltrip's fuel at Daytona.

Overcoming trouble a staple of 48 team

Time and time again, Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus and the No. 48 team find their way out of a hole and into Victory Lane. The secret could be in the team's mindset.

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NASCAR has parked Gordon during practice for being late to inspection, fined Kyle Busch for bumping another car in the Busch series, and busted former crew chiefs Peter Sospenzo, Gary DeHart, Lance McGrew and Tony Furr. NASCAR has fined Gordon for shoving another driver, penalized Loomis for an unapproved manifold, and confiscated the car in which Busch was slated to make his Nextel Cup debut. If Hendrick has NASCAR in his pocket, then he must be wearing the wrong pair of pants.

And then there was Sunday, when Johnson's near-penalty on pit road was preceded by a real one that sent him to the end of the lead lap. By rule, a team must remove all four tires from the outer half of the pit box before a stop is completed and the car leaves its assigned stall. The first time, Johnson drove away with a tire still on the outside half, and was penalized as a result. The second time, the tire was returned to the inside half -- where it can roll as far away as it wants without a violation occurring -- before the driver sped off.

Ah, but there was a second shooter on the grassy knoll, in the form of a NASCAR official who on the second stop grabbed the errant tire before it could roll away. There is it, the smoking gun! Proof that NASCAR is fixed so Jimmie Johnson can win every race!

Please. Anyone who's watched NASCAR for more than a month knows that officials do that all the time. They'll stop runaway tires for Kirk Shelmerdine, Kenny Wallace, Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson. Part of their job is to police pit road, and part of their job is to keep equipment from getting out into traffic and causing an accident. And that's exactly what would have happened had the official let the tire keep rolling.

But to the 48 haters -- so termed by Johnson himself after his Daytona 500 victory last season -- it only adds more unleaded fuel to the fire. Sure, he wins a lot. Yes, he's often bloodlessly efficient in the way he does it. Granted, he has a crew chief with a reputation for stretching the rules to their breaking point, and sometimes beyond. But he's also exceptionally talented, frighteningly consistent, and surrounded by one of the top support groups in the sport.

Maybe one day the 48 haters will realize that. And in the process, maybe they'll realize that Jimmie Johnson doesn't need NASCAR's help to win a race.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.