Gordon: Rivalries needed to stir NASCAR's pot (cont'd)

Maybe it would help if someone could beat Johnson.

He's already got two victories, leaving him one away from a 50th career win, and is doing his best to snuff out any hope for the rest of the garage before the weather heats up.

"We got into this position by not letting up," Johnsons said. "We're keeping our heads down. We don't pay attention to the outside stuff."

Gordon said the sport needs some riveting rivalries, but it's hard for anyone to get too mad at Johnson. He comes across as a genuinely nice guy who goes about his business in a workmanlike fashion, failing to stir either over-the-top support or raging animosity.

"I just think it depends on the rivalries and the stories," Gordon said. "If you're dominating, but you're battling a Dale Earnhardt Jr. or a Tony Stewart, maybe a Kevin Harvick, then you can build that rivalry. The good guy-bad guy kind of thing, the Ford-Chevy thing, all that stuff.

"I think the stories are still there, the interest is still there," he added. "But when you're out there dominating and no one is really you're enemy, then it pulls away from it a little bit. What we need is Kyle Busch and Stewart to be butting heads, banging one another and talking trash. That would be good television."

With eight Cup championships between them, a Johnson-Gordon rivalry would appear to have some potential. After all, shouldn't Gordon be jealous about bringing Johnson into the sport as a teammate, then watching him race right on by to become NASCAR's most dominant driver?

Apparently not.

"The problem with me and Jimmie is that, yes, we are rivals, but we are friends, as well," Gordon said. "We never cross that line. That's good -- and bad."

Through the years, NASCAR attempted to spruce up its image by cracking down on salty language, nasty behavior and rough racing, but it may have turned off its traditional fan base in the process. The governing body seemed to signal that it went too far by encouraging its drivers to go back to bumping and banging -- "Boys, have at it," vice president Robin Pemberton famously commanded at the start of the season -- and hopes for even closer racing by going back to spoilers in place of wings within the next couple of weeks.

Those steps are helping, by all accounts.

"The quality of racing has been really good," Jeff Burton said. "No one is complaining about that."

Now that the Olympics are over, the TV ratings are sure to rise. Those vacant seats might take a little longer to fill.

"We've had a little recession," Burton said. "We're going to have some empty seats. People are going to have some decisions to make, and they're going to be harder decisions than when we weren't in a recession."

He isn't complaining about Johnson's dominance, either -- he just wants to end it.

"I don't race Jimmie with animosity, I don't race him with jealousy," Burton said. "I'm envious of him, no question. Who wouldn't be?"