Uh-oh, Jimmie 'Four-time' Johnson is winning again, and on a pretty dismal Dover day for title rivals.

   JJ, here with new daughter Genevieve Marie, is looking good for another title run....(Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  
  
  By Mike Mulhern
  mikemulhern.net
 
  DOVER, Del.

   Ford's AJ Allmendinger dominated early, but a tire problems midway doomed his bid. He did rally to finish 10th.

   In the Joe Gibbs versus Richard Childress battle of team owners, Sunday was a split decision: Burton ran second, in a good bid for the win, for Childress, but teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer both floundered. On the Gibbs' side, Joey Logano, though not in the playoffs, had the best finish, third, just ahead of teammate Kyle Busch (sixth), and Denny Hamlin (ninth).

   However title chasers Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth all had bad days.

   The three-hour race was quite uneventful, with no fireworks, no door-to-door duels, and no histrionics. And that may have been surprising, given the angry comments from Bowyer and Hamlin here Friday about that Loudon controversy, and given Saturday's bumping between Harvick and Hamlin.

   Childress and J. D. Gibbs held a pre-race pow wow, but it's unclear if they were trying to make a truce or just cool things off. Gibbs said he had asked Hamlin to tone down his comments about rivals.

   Wherever all that goes next is unclear. Childress and Bowyer have a planned appeals hearing with a three-man NASCAR Wednesday, and Childress has vowed to take it to a second appeal if that one isn't successful.

   Out on the track here things were generally rather tentative throughout the field, with little of the action this concrete one-mile is known for. The race came down to fuel mileage, with a long run of green at the end, but every driver had to stop for fuel, so no one ran out, unlike last weekend's finish in New Hampshire.

   "We had a good car, I just didn't do a good job qualifying," Burton, two seconds behind at the line, said. "It's been one of those years where we've been really good, and just haven't got the finishes.

   "Jimmie was the class of the field. We put some pressure on them, but they were just too fast."

   Hamlin said he was hoping to finish at least eighth, at a track he doesn't typically run well at.

   "This track has bitten us in the chase the last four years, so to get out of here and still hold the points lead is pretty good."

   "I thought we had something for Jimmie with 100 to go," Kyle Busch said. "We had a legitimate second-place car. But the car tightened up late."
  

  
  
   Hey, how about ol' AJ: Allmendinger came close to putting Richard Petty's famous 43 into Dover's winner's circle (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   The day's big surprise was Allmendinger, who led 143 of the 400 laps. Prior to Sunday, he'd only led 43 laps in his NASCAR career.

   But if not for an unexpected tire problem midway through the three-hour event Allmendinger certainly had enough to handle Johnson. And that would have been quite an upset.

   Allmendinger, who rallied back to 10th, is one of the sport's newcomers, and his wit is a pleasant change from his sometimes grumpy rivals.

   "It was fun to lead. No wonder Jimmie is smiling so much," Allmendinger said.

   "...just a stupid five-cent washer got inside the tire. I'm not sure when. It must have been right when we left the pits.

   "As that run went on, the car started 'freeing up' and I asked how long before I was supposed to pit. '20 laps.' And I'm like 'I'm not going to make it.'

   "I knew something was wrong. I knew the right-rear was going down."

   The green flag stop put him in a big hole. "After that, you're just fighting back the rest of the day," he said.

   "But we're getting really good at fighting back and making good finishes out of a problem.

   "We've got fast race cars, and we're getting there. They saw us lead. They saw that we had the speed.

   "It was a good day...but it could have been a great day."
  
  
  

                                                
The results of Sunday's Dover 400