Jimmie Johnson's fourth straight Sprint Cup championship declares his greatness to the ungrateful

(Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

There's no pleasing some people.

In the case of NASCAR, a lot of people.

The last time someone in any major sport won four or more championships in a row was when Roger Federer won five straight at Wimbledon from 2003 through 2007. He lost in 2008, then won again this year. For this and his other accomplishments Federer is considered to be the greatest men's tennis player of all time.

Jimmie Johnson has now won four straight NASCAR Sprint Cup championships, the first driver in the sport's history to do so. Ever. Not Richard Petty. Not David Pearson. Not Cale Yarborough. Not Dale Earnhardt. Not Jeff Gordon. Only Johnson.

For this and his other accomplishments Johnson is considered to be a putz.

Why? Why?

Is he faulted for being a genuinely nice guy? Blamed for driving hard but not stupid à la Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya yesterday? Criticized for being demonstrably better than everyone else in the sport today?

Okay, hit it with that one.

As is the case with Dale Earnhardt Jr., far too many dinosaurs in the lamestream media love to slag on Johnson because he... well... has this habit of stinking up the show by stomping everyone and everything in his path. Remember, had it not been for the Texas misstep yesterday's race at Homestead would have been a complete instead of de facto formality. When most everyone else in the Chase stepped off the curb without looking, Johnson along with crew chief without peer Chad Knaus and the rest of the #48 team stepped up. Some nerve, huh.

Seriously, people. Isn't it high time all y'all got over it? Waiting for Johnson to slip down to the level of his competition is like waiting for Godot. Neither is showing up. Instead, the other drivers and teams need to come up to the rarefied atmosphere Johnson alone breathes. That would be the assorted oxygen and other molecules in a gaseous form swirling around the top of the mountain. You know, the place where Johnson has made his abode four years running?

Get over it, NASCAR nation. Jimmie Johnson is arguably the greatest driver in the sport's history. He has the hardware to prove it. And he's just getting started.