Deal with it, NASCAR fans: Jimmie Johnson is one race from winning a record-tying seventh Cup championship. Whether you like it or not.
Johnson has his detractors, especially those who compare him unfavorably to Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. But that doesn't detract from this: Johnson is the most successful driver of the Chase era.
Period.
He proved it at Martinsville, where on Sunday he won for the ninth time to match pal and teammate Jeff Gordon. He did it by overcoming penalties and the expected banging and the dominance of Toyota rivals who threatened to run away with the race.