Weekend That Was: RIR (cont'd)

Knaus said that he does not think it is possible for any one team or racing organization to stretch their dominance over a sustained period of time in the current climate of Nextel Cup.

"You've got to realize that the 24 car [of Gordon], just not too long ago, was winning 10 or 11 races a year," Knaus said. "The likelihood of that happening again is probably pretty slim. So I don't think it's going to be quite like it used to be."

Let's hope not. Of course that's exactly the way it's been so far this season.

While no one can begrudge the Hendrick teams for savoring the fruits of all their obvious hard work, what the sport really needs right now is for someone else to win a couple races. Otherwise, the danger of boredom setting in on this season before the Chase for the Nextel Cup phase of the campaign even begins becomes very real.

What the sport needs is for Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and / or someone like colorful and controversial rookie Juan Montoya to jump up and win a race.

In other words, some driver who isn't employed by Hendrick Motorsports needs to get to Victory Lane for more than a congenial visit -- and fast. Then the Cup Series will get real interesting real quick again. But until the other guys figure out what is making Hendrick so good and then quickly devise a way to match that group's overall excellence, it doesn't seem likely to happen with any kind of regularity.

And while that bodes well for Hendrick, it might not be so great for the overall health of the sport itself.

Adding 'em up

Kyle Busch was asked over the weekend if he thought anyone could ever match or top the 77 career race victories now owned by Gordon.

"I don't think it'll happen. I really don't. I mean, Jimmie is probably the closest one who could do it. He's won the most races over the last three or four years. But I don't think you'll see Jimmie Johnson with 70 wins by the time he retires," Busch said.

"I don't think you'll see another driver get to 70. Guys won't drive as long, and guys can't win 13 races in a season anymore. Jeff had three seasons there where he won 13, 11 [actually 10], 10. He was just a dominant force every week. The most I think you can put together in a season now is about five."

Johnson's win at Richmond was the 27th of his Cup career (watch video), now in its seventh year. Of course, he now has four wins with 26 races left in the season. So if he can continue at his present pace, the drama of this season may end up being in his pursuit of matching or surpassing Gordon's total of 13 wins during the 1998 season.

Gordon had a three-year stretch, beginning in 1996, where he won a total of 33 races. His seasons of 10, 10 and 13 victories also were bracketed by seasons during which he won seven apiece -- meaning 47 of his career total, or 61 percent, came during those five seasons. Forty-two of those came during the first seven seasons of his career, though, meaning Johnson would need to win 15 of the remaining 26 races this season just to draw even with the remarkable pace that Gordon set at the beginning of his Cup career. (Continued)