Over the past couple seasons, as Jimmie Johnson's reign has extended to back-to-back-to-back-to-back Sprint Cup championships, some drivers have said JJ's dominance hasn't hurt the sport.
↵Many fans and media have disagreed. And recently, Jeff Gordon indicated that he recognizes one driver's repeated winning may be not be interesting to fans.
↵"To me, Jimmie is a fantastic race car driver with a great personality who brings a lot to this sport," Gordon said in Atlanta. "But if it doesn't resonate with a new fan base or the media, then it's not going to really stir up some of the uniqueness that we need to keep our fans coming and growing."
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Gordon cited Danica Patrick's arrival in NASCAR as something that injected a new storyline and media coverage into the sport, drawing new eyes. Johnson's run of four straight Cups has been without a rival, so people may not be as interested.
↵"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 Tony Stewart, you build that rivalry – the good guy/bad guy kind of thing, the Ford vs. Chevy and all that sort of thing.
↵"But when you're out there dominating and nobody is really your enemy, then I think it pulls away from you a little bit."
↵So what's the solution?
↵"What we need is Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart to be butting heads and banging and trying to beat one another and talking trash – that's going to be good television," he said. "The problem is that Jimmie and I are friends. So we never cross that line. And that's good and bad."
↵But does it bother Gordon and the other drivers that Johnson wins so much?
↵"Hell, yeah," he said. "When you win that much, it ticks everybody else off and they all have to work harder and they all get fired up to go out there and try to knock that guy off."