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Charlotte gets yet another race shop: Petty Enterprises.

The question isn't, "Why not?" The question is, "What took you so long?" Here's hoping that the move will give them a little bit more than they have now.

Here's the official release. Dustin Long, as always, is all over this story.

So one more sucker leaves the IRL for NASCAR. This time, it's Sam Hornish, who will take the cover off the No. 77 Penske ride that Travis Kvapil did absolutely nothing with but stink. Considering that Hornish is 0-for-6 in Cup qualifying, no one should expect the latest guy with an Indy 500 trophy in his garage to do much better than the last driver.

The person happiest about the move: Danica Patrick. Now that enough drivers have defected, maybe she'll finally win an IRL race.

(Credit for the Danica crack one goes to my boss, whose sense of humor runs more toward this than this.)

Now that Jimmie Johnson has won four straight and lapped the Chase field, you might as well cancel Sunday's race - who really wants to see Greg Biffle win his fourth straight Homestead race - and give Johnson the 2007 trophy.

Assuming Johnson comes into Sunday (a) alive and (b) breathing, he'll win his second straight Cup championship. That puts him in pretty elite company - only 14 drivers have multiple NASCAR titles. Of those, nine have gone back to back: Buck Baker (1956-57), Lee Petty (1958-59), Joe Weatherly (1962-63), David Pearson (1968-69), Richard Petty (1971-72 and 1974-75), Cale Yarborough (threepeat: 1976-78), DW (1981-82), Dale Earnhardt (1986-87, 1990-91 and 1993-94) Jeff Gordon (1997-98).

It's way too early to enter Johnson into the is-he-the-greatest-driver-of-all-time sweepstakes. Among active drivers, the debate begins and ends with Four Time and his 81 Cup wins.

But is Johnson the best clutch driver of all time?

I'm rooting for Jeff Gordon on Sunday.

... My hands cramped, but my fingers didn't burst into flames for typing the sentence above. Whew.

Look, I'm no Gordon fan -- I rooted for Senior, now pull for Junior and am troubled to no end that Junior will be joining the Evil Hendrick Empire next season. (Does Denny Hamlin need fans? I might could be persuaded.)

Anyway, Gordon hatred among Senior and Junior fans is well documented - he's too slick, too pretty, too good, too young, too too. But the reason I'm pulllig for him is easy:

He's not leading the Chase by 86 points, and he's the only driver who can catch the guy who is.

I don't really care whether Gordon or Gordon Jr. wins the 2007 championship. It was clear by Talladega that Four Time or Soon-to-be Two Time was going to win this thing. Never has a pack of championship contenders faltered so badly - everyone from Stewart on back has blown or blown up.

What I want Sunday is a good fun race, one I can have a few canyoubelievehwhathappened?! conversations at work Monday. Nothing would bore me (and most everyone else) more than a 267-lap Jimmie Johnson coronation parade. A Gordon win would be big - not App State-over-Michigan big, but somewhere north of a Patriots-finally-lose-a-game big.

I'm not asking for much, just maybe a pit-road speeding penalty or a loose lug nut or maybe a scrape with the wall. How 'bout a little suspense, huh?

It's hard to believe that Mr. 81 Cup Wins is an underdog, but he is. Everyone loves an underdog, especially me on Sunday.