Johnson quite capable of pulling off Cup three-peat

It isn't easy to win three consecutive championships in anything.

Sure, Takeri "Tsunami" Kobayashi won the Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest a remarkable six times in a row from 2001 through 2006. But if you ask him, he probably would say the third championship -- when his closest competitor pulled to within 14 hot dogs of him at the finish -- was one of the toughest.

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• Johnson wins convincingly

That was in 2003, and by then the Hot Dog contest had come a long way since 1981 when American winner Thomas DeBerry retired after five minutes, and a mere 11 hot dogs consumed, to attend a family barbecue.

Well, driver Jimmie Johnson is no hot dog -- but he did barbecue the rest of the field in Sunday night's Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway. Johnson's win was so decisive that it revived spirited discussion of his chances of successfully defending back-to-back titles when the Chase for the Sprint Cup commences in less than two weeks.

Johnson led 228 of 250 laps and when he did fall back because of varying pit strategies or whatever, it usually took him all of about five seconds to get back to the front.

After laying low for much of this season, Johnson is gaining momentum at just the right time. He now has three victories, trailing only points-leader Kyle Busch, who has eight, and Carl Edwards, who has six, heading into this Saturday night's finale of the 26-race "regular season" at Richmond.

Edwards keeps saying he doesn't believe in momentum, but it's obvious, at least on some level, that Johnson does. As he heads into a race where he is the defending champion, he appears to be building it at precisely the right time.

History lessons

How hard is it to win three championships in a row?

Well, it's only been done once at what is now the Sprint Cup level in NASCAR. The legendary Cale Yarborough accomplished it, winning titles in 1976, 1977 and 1978 while driving for the even more legendary Junior Johnson.

Yarborough was so fired up after wrapping up the championship with two races left in the 1978 season (and by finishing two laps in front of everyone else at Rockingham) that he announced a bold goal.

"I'd like to win more championships than any other driver," Yarborough told reporters. (Continued)