It's tough to ignore Johnson's run of victories (cont'd)

Some other stuff

You want some other stuff to chew on in the wake of Johnson's victory in Sunday's Shelby American 400-miler at LVMS? Actually, there is plenty.

It sounds as if perhaps that public memo issued by car owner Chip Ganassi at the Daytona 500 may not have filtered down to Juan Montoya. You know, the statement Ganassi made about how there are no No. 1 or No. 2 race cars at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing -- well, OK, there is the No. 1 Chevrolet driven by 500 winner Jamie McMurray, but you know what he meant.

Ganassi's point was that despite the fact that Montoya has been with EGR longer and made the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship last year, it wasn't like Montoya's No. 42 Chevy represented the top car in the EGR stable and McMurray, a newcomer this year (but not a first-timer with Ganassi), was relegated to second fiddle status.

Certainly McMurray has not raced that way, and obviously has no intention to go out of his way -- or even get out of the way -- to help Montoya build on last season's success. That led to interesting times indeed for the pair at LVMS, where Montoya was livid with McMurray for taking them both out of contention during an incident on Lap 93 of the 267-lap event.

Much of what Montoya said in the heat of the moment shortly afterward can be taken for what it was -- frustration in the heat of the moment. And while he shouldn't be criticized too much for speaking his mind in his usually highly entertaining manner, there are times when a little self-restraint might go a long way toward building a meaningful and mutually helpful relationship.

And after taking it all in from a distance and sitting on it for at least part of a day, it brought to mind something else.

True teammates

There clearly is a No. 1 car these days at Hendrick Motorsports, and it's the No. 48.

As the unprecedented four-time defending Cup champions, they've earned that status and no one disputes it. That doesn't mean the other three cars in the Hendrick stable won't share information with the 48, and vice versa. Sure they do.

But there is a glaring difference between what Hendrick has going on right now -- and to a lesser but increasingly more noticeable extent, Richard Childress Racing. These teammates are willing to work together and give each other room to race, and aren't foolish enough to race each other too hard for ninth place with more than half a race remaining.

Jeff Gordon had the dominant car for most of the day Sunday at Las Vegas. But when he made a bad bet on two tires on the final pit stop of the day, he said he knew he was "a sitting duck" down the stretch for Johnson, who took on four.

So Gordon raced him as hard as he could for as long as he could, and then he got out of the way. Eventually he finished third.

It's called being smart and mature, and neither Montoya nor McMurray displayed much wisdom or maturity in the way they did business Sunday. Becoming good teammates does not happen overnight and requires both time and patience. It is no coincidence that the teams with the most individuals experiencing success this season and in recent years are, for the most part, the ones who have worked together the longest.

And with that, we will leave all those 48 haters with these comforting thoughts heading into this Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway: Johnson hasn't won there since sweeping both races at AMS in 2007. Hey, that means he's on a four-race winless streak there. Plus he finished a woeful 36th at the venue in his last start.

Of course, Johnson finished 35th in the season-opening Daytona 500 this year, which was won by none other than the aforementioned McMurray. Since then, no one's been able to beat Double-J and life even in his own home shop suddenly has gone from euphoric to uncertain for the likeable McMurray.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.