Gordon, Johnson Missing The Hate

The Nextel Cup championship may well come down to two accomplished drivers who are teammates and friends and so much alike in demeanor that when one looks in the mirror, he's practically staring at the other.

Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson: an ugly rivalry it isn't.

Gordon and Johnson have gone on vacations together. Their wives, Ingrid and Chandra, are friends. The couples go to dinner together.

OK, so it has changed a little now that the Gordon has a daughter.

'With him being a father, our social scenes have ventured in different directions,' Johnson says. 'But we still are very close with Jeff and Ingrid.

'As time has gone on, he's helped me get on my feet and I haven't needed as much help with driving the car or with some of the business stuff. So our conversation is probably less on the work side and more on the personal side. The friendship is still there, and it's as strong as ever.'

Gordon's and Johnson's cars are housed in the same shop at the Hendrick Motorsports campus in Concord, N.C. Their crew chiefs and engineers share secrets. The drivers help each other on and off the track.

Competitive juices get flowing, but there's no burning desire between the two drivers to crush each other. When one can't win, he pulls for the other. And in Gordon's case, why not? He wins even when Johnson wins, because he owns Johnson's cars.

Still Storylines Nonetheless

This isn't to say there's nothing compelling about Gordon trying to win his fifth championship after a five-year drought, or Johnson trying to become the first driver to repeat since Gordon in 1997-98.

It's just that there is no contrast here. No good guy against bad guy. Nobody to pull against.

Even their respective fans get along. Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans can barely stand to be at the same racetrack together. Gordon and Johnson fans wear each other's clothes.

Andrew Giangola, NASCAR's New York-based director of business communications, argues that a showdown of friends could be intriguing.

'When teammates are vying for a championship - or even a distinction within a sport like MVP or home run champ - it creates drama and storylines,' he said. 'When those athletes are close friends, it adds to the intrigue.

'Will they stop talking to one another and quit joking around? Will they put on their game face in each other's presence? Will Ingrid give Chandra the cold shoulder, or vice versa?

'It may be more intriguing to watch best friends, rather than archrivals, go at it.'

A Tiff At Martinsville

Only once have things gotten really heated between Gordon and Johnson. That was this spring at Martinsville, where Johnson won and Gordon, who did everything but put his teammate into the wall trying to get by, fumed afterward about Johnson's blocking.

But there's little carryover heading into this weekend's return trip to Martinsville, where Gordon will try to protect the 68-point lead he has over Johnson halfway through the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

'Yeah, I was mad at Martinsville,' Gordon says now. 'But I was probably more mad that he beat me. He did everything he should have done. No matter who that would have been, I probably felt it would have been the same way.'

Five races remain, and the championship appears to be down to Gordon, Johnson and upstart Clint Bowyer. As the races click off, the intensity will ratchet up. The pressure could test the friendship.

But Johnson doesn't think so.

'Because our relationship has been competitive even though we've been friends,' he said. 'There's no doubt he wants to beat me. We saw that at Talladega. He made a move and got it done.

'But it's not that he hates me and wants to pass me, or I hate him and want to pass him. We're friends and we have respect for one another. ... It would take a lot to jeopardize this friendship, and it's just not in either one of us to do that.'