Jimmie Johnson hatred is no shock

In the hours before what is surely going to be 400 miles of insomnia therapy at Indianapolis Motor Speedway today -- hint to NASCAR, please go back to Eldora, but don't make it the week of Indianapolis unless you want the Brickyard 400 to keep suffering in comparison -- I came across this on the Twitter machine.

@JennaFryer amazingly enough, JG is now less hated than 5-time.
— Adam Samrov (@asamrov) July 28, 2013

JJ is Jimmie Johnson, and JG is Jeff Gordon, but unlike Mr. Samrov, I'm not the least bit surprised that Johnson is not hated more than Gordon. In fact, it's only logical if you look at history.

Probably the primary complaint about Johnson is that he wins too much, much like Gordon back when he was dominating. Unless it's who you root for, what's the point of watching if you know who is going to win all the time? It's not as easy (or as much fun) to hate Gordon now, since he doesn't win that much.

(Strangely enough, my mother was a big Gordon fan back in the day but swore off NASCAR last year because she got tired of Johnson winning. The illogical nature of this has been pointed out to her multiple times, but I fear still may be lost on her.)

Now add that Johnson, much like Gordon was, is much more successful than all his Hendrick Motorsports teammates (one in particular, who we'll get to later), and it's not hard for fans to think that he's so good because he's getting all the best stuff and leaving the other drivers with leftovers.

In Ray Evernham and Chad Knaus, Gordon and Johnson, respectively, had or have crew chiefs who always seem to always make the right move and are willing to push the rulebook right to its limits. True, Evernham was never suspended for cheating like Knaus has been, but then again, does anyone remember the T-Rex?

Sure, it was legal, but NASCAR told Hendrick to never race it again.

Both Gordon and Johnson have been thought of as being "too slick" or "too polished," which I actually don't think is fair to Johnson. Gordon's old interviews sounded like they were programmed by some PR firm, and Johnson seems to have a decent sense of humor about the #BlameJJ hashtag on Twitter.

Rained out... #BlameJJ
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) June 30, 2013

Say what!?!? Find a new store ASAP. “@Dodgechic49: @JimmieJohnson @twitter The liquor store is out of my beer. #BlameJJ”
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) June 3, 2013

That's a big 10/4 “@brettonscott88: can I use the #BlameJJ excuse when I forget to take out the trash or finish the "honey-do" list?
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) June 3, 2013

Yes it's my fault @Twitter crashed... #BlameJJ
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) June 3, 2013

And you also can't forget the Earnhardt factor. When Gordon was coming up, Dale Earnhardt was the main man in NASCAR, and here was this kid, this milk-drinker knocking their man off the throne. That will earn you some hate.

Now Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are not only teammates, but shop-mates, yet Earnhardt somehow never manages to have cars as good as Johnson, and we Earnhardt Jr. fans are still waiting for Johnson to repay him for the finish at Talladega in 2011, pretty sure it's never going to happen. (This is a frequent topic of conversation between That_Sports_Chick and myself on Twitter.)

They share a shop, but seemingly not much else.

Basically, Jimmie Johnson is what Jeff Gordon used to be in the eyes of a lot of NASCAR fans. That's why they hate him.