Is there another sport that turns on its winners so?
And cheering against the New York Yankees doesn't count.
Another superb run in NASCAR's Chase for the Championship has put Jimmie Johnson in position for a historic fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title. He's on the verge of accomplishing something Richard Petty, the late Dale Earnhardt, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Gordon never did.
And for all his hard work and performance under pressure here's the thanks he gets: people are accusing him of stinking up the show.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Denny Hamlin didn't need to do anything funny to exact his revenge from Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville Speedway. He just drove right by him.
And then he drove away with ease on three restarts over the final 52 laps, ending the three-time defending series champion's remarkable run of five trips to Victory Lane in the previous six races at the shortest circuit in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series.
Hamlin used an out-of-sequence pit stops after about 160 laps to move to the front, then held on up there until the entire leaderboard headed for pit road about 20 laps later.
"Once we got that track position, our car just kind of took off," he said.
NASCAR has warned the teams of championship leaders Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson that their Chevrolets were dangerously close to failing post-race inspection last week at Dover, Del., where the three-time defending series champion Johnson won the race and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Martin finished runner-up.
Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus cautioned that there was no wrong-doing, no intent to do wrong and that the attention this is receiving is mostly media sensationalism.
"The cars were legal, that's the thing everybody has to understand,'' Knaus said Friday from this week's Sprint Cup Series venue, Kansas Speedway. "It's turned into a bigger issue than what it really should."
Two hour-long practice sessions Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway eased the minds of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams concerned with tire wear for Sunday's AllState 400 at the Brickyard.
"It is done, they have created a great tire,'' said four-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon, who, following a June tire test, promised fans that Goodyear had fixed the problems that wreaked havoc on last year's race when tire wear forced drivers to pit every 10-15 laps.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The celebratory Fourth of July pyrotechnics going off along the backstretch following Saturday night's NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway were nothing compared to the last-lap fireworks show minutes earlier on the frontstretch.
Two-time NASCAR champ Tony Stewart muscled his way by Kyle Busch about 100 yards before the finish line -- holding his line as Busch tried to block him. Ultimately, Stewart was able to get his nose in position for the pass. When Busch tried to stop Stewart's final push, the two cars collided and Busch's car spun out, hitting the wall and paving the way for Stewart to capture the victory.
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- The most surprised person to find Mark Martin in Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway was the driver himself.
The 50-year-old NASCAR star has run well but has had to deal with considerable bad luck this season. It looked like more of the same Sunday when the battery in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet began to fail before the halfway mark in the LifeLock 400 Sprint Cup race.
Martin turned off everything in the car that he could, nursing it as best he could. Then he realized the race was going to be a fuel economy run.
Where:Lowe's Motor Speedway Time: Saturday 7:00 p.m./EDT TV/Radio: SPEED, MRN Radio Twitter: Updates at FanHouseRacing Forecast: 63 degrees, 80% chance of rain Distance: 4 segments, 100 laps (150 miles) Pole Winner:Jimmie Johnson 2008 Winner:Kasey Kahne
The Storylines
The last time rain affected the All-Star event at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon walled his primary No. 24 in a 2001 first-turn crash thanks to rain on the track and later won the event in his backup. While that's a legendary story, the rain isn't -- and it might take center stage tonight.
If NASCAR's looking for a good way to spice up qualifying, they've already got the format ready to roll.
But before we tackle that issue, Jimmie Johnson will lead off Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint All-Star Challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway after he and his team dropped a fast time of 121.416 seconds in the three lap and four-tire pit stop qualifying process.
Johnson will lead Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth to the green flag for the first segment after one of the most-enjoyable ways to qualifying for a race the sport has come up with.
As comforting as it is to see NASCAR's new drug policy work, it makes you wonder what was going on before the stricter enforcement.
This weekend Jeremy Mayfield became the first Sprint Cup Series driver suspended indefinitely under the tougher random drug testing policy instituted this year. Two other crew members from other teams also tested positive, bringing the total to five suspensions in the first four months of the season.
Unlike the "wink-wink" slaps on the wrist NASCAR gives its drivers for in-race offenses, stock car's sanctioning body is proving itself serious about its new drug testing policy.
Where:Darlington Raceway Time: Saturday 7:20 p.m./EDT TV/Radio: FOX Sports, MRN Radio Twitter: In-race updates at FanHouseRacing Forecast: 64 degrees, 20% chance of storms Distance: 367 laps (500.1 miles) Pole Winner:Matt Kenseth 2008 Winner:Kyle Busch
The Storylines
NASCAR's gettin' used to this two day show format, it would seem. Both this weekend's action at Darlington Raceway and last weekend's run at Richmond have been run in a quick and simple two day pattern.
Is there another sport that turns on its winners so?
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) -- Denny Hamlin didn't need to do anything funny to exact his revenge from Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville Speedway. He just drove right by him.
NASCAR has warned the teams of championship leaders 
INDIANAPOLIS -- So far, so good.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The celebratory Fourth of July pyrotechnics going off along the backstretch following Saturday night's NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway were nothing compared to the last-lap fireworks show minutes earlier on the frontstretch.
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) -- The most surprised person to find 
Race: 
If NASCAR's looking for a good way to spice up qualifying, they've already got the format ready to roll.
As comforting as it is to see NASCAR's new drug policy work, it makes you wonder what was going on before the stricter enforcement.
Race: 
