Sir Jimmie, Squire Chad, Lord Rick

            BRISTOL, Tenn. – Everyone in NASCAR says Jimmie Johnson can be beaten. That’s because the alternative would be to give up.

            Bristol Motor Speedway, the maddening short track, was supposed to be the perennial Sprint Cup champion’s Achilles heel. By his own admission, he didn’t have the “rhythm” and timing that Bristol supposedly requires.

            By the end of the Food City 500, Johnson was humming around with the timing of a marching band and the rhythm of jazz ensemble.

            In fact, Johnson’s post-race remarks could’ve almost been sung to the tune of “The Impossible Dream”:

            “I mean, it’s one thing to have some success,” he said, “but to continue it year after year, to find tracks that really are our weakest tracks, focus on them, get stronger and better at them, is a cool thing to experience.”

            This is my quest / To follow that star / No matter how hopeless / No matter how far.

            The all-conquering Knight Errant of NASCAR, accompanied by his trusty squire Chad Knaus and in service to his majesty, “Mr.” Rick Hendrick, is pitiless in his resolve to smite the enemy.

            Tony Stewart finished second, but there was little desperation in the two-time champion, who knew the end of the race was merely a matter managing the latest setback as painlessly as possible.

            “We got lucky on the (final) restart (lap 491 of 500),” he said. “Matt (Kenseth) spun the tires, and I was able to get second there, get underneath Greg (Biffle), get by.

            “But I wasn’t able to hold off Jimmie (Johnson). So, you know, they did a great job. He was fast all day. It wasn’t like it was somebody that backed into it.”

            Oh, no, backing isn’t Johnson’s style. Seizing riches as if he were a pirate, rampaging the seven seas, is his style.

            Kurt Busch, NASCAR’s only recent winner not named Johnson, led 278, or 277 more than Stewart. It was also 194 more than Johnson, but last-second plunder is Johnson’s stock in trade.

            The winner at Atlanta on March 7 – Johnson has won the other three of the last four – Busch said “to come home second, to lead a lot of laps … felt good …” but his heart wasn’t in the perfunctory sportsmanship.

            “To pour my heart and soul into this race to beat the ‘48’ car (Johnson) … I was trying to hit my marks every lap. I feel exhausted. I feel disappointed …
            He felt third.

            Knaus said, for roughly the 50^th time (this was Johnson’s 50^th career victory), “This one’s pretty incredible, to be honest with you.”

            Nothing incredible happens three times in the space of four events. Three out of four, not to mention four out of four (championships), isn’t incredible. It’s habitual. It’s normal. It’s expected.

            As of Sunday, this is the case for Johnson at Bristol. Another one bites the dust.

You may contact Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.