Johnson doing just fine without help from NASCAR

You can almost envision them gathered on some remote hilltop under cover of darkness, their angry faces illuminated by torchlight. You can almost see them brandishing pitchforks and ranting about how they're mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. You can almost feel the rage of this minority demographic within NASCAR Nation, a roiling mob ready to storm the castle gates.

Yes, the 48 haters are at it again.

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It doesn't take much to set them off. The spark this time was a pit stop late in Sunday's event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Jimmie Johnson won for the third straight year. A tire gets away from the No. 48 crew, a NASCAR official stops it from rolling onto pit road, Johnson zooms away from his stall without receiving a penalty, and there's an outcry as if the whole thing had been orchestrated by the bookies at the MGM Grand.

Whether Johnson actually committed a violation is immaterial. There's that one segment of the Nextel Cup fan base that's always going to dislike the guy, simply because he's too clean-cut, too media-savvy, too sponsor-friendly, too good. These are the same people who think Johnson cheated to win last year's Daytona 500, that crew chief Chad Knaus is some evil genius, and that NASCAR is beholden to car owner Rick Hendrick, who can get away with anything he wants.

It's an uninformed mindset that neglects some basic truths. It overlooks the fact that Johnson, now with 24 career victories, has been the best driver in NASCAR the last five years. It overlooks the fact that Knaus has been consistently ahead of the curve, going as far as to use hand signals and notes rather than pass strategic information over open radio channels during a race. And it overlooks the fact that Hendrick Motorsports gets busted more often than a shoplifter out on bail.

Think the No. 48 team is bulletproof? It didn't seem that way last year, when Knaus was suspended four weeks for violations at the Daytona 500. Or in 2005, when Knaus was fined $35,000 and Johnson docked 25 points for violations at Las Vegas. Or in 2004, when Johnson was fined $10,000 for knocking a PowerAde bottle off the top of his car at Pocono. Or in 2003, when Knaus was fined $2,500 for violations at Charlotte. Or in 2002, when Knaus was fined $25,000 for violations at the Pepsi 400, and another $5,000 for using foul language during a TV interview at Dover.

Clearly, there's favoritism at work.

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.