I’ve heard a lot of interesting things over the years in racing. The garage is no place for those tender of ear, and if you have ever listened to a scanner during a Sprint Cup race, you know what I mean. There is nothing quite so … er, enlightening as Kasey Kahne (no, really!) suddenly bursting out with a string of unprintable obscenities in the middle of a race when he’s been totally silent for 75 laps. Yes, you learn some pretty interesting things if you keep your ears open.

But perhaps the strangest thing I’ve heard wasn’t a National Enquirer-esque half-truth twisted until the half has been wrung out completely. It wasn’t even a driver calling his crew something unprintable or (possibly even scarier) singing loudly, and it definitely isn’t the answer to the ever-popular what-happens-if-a-driver-has-to-pee-during-the-race question. (Do people really not know the answer to that one?) 

No, the most outrageous thing I’ve heard lately is the assumption of many media and fans that one driver is the reason for falling ratings and growing disinterest in the sport. Because seriously people, that’s giving one person way too much credit. 

You can blame Jimmie Johnson for a lot of things, including the premature demise of Robby Gordon’s new off-road racing helmet (a story in itself!). You can blame him for being a little too “company line” sometimes. But for single-handedly destroying NASCAR’s fan base? Now that’s a stretch. The only person with the power to ruin the sport entirely on his own is Brain France (and it could be argued that he’s doing a bang-up job of it). Putting that much power on a single competitor is downright silly.

A lot of people don’t like a winner, especially one who is unfailingly polite when he trounces their guy for a 17th week in a row. But it’s not Johnson’s fault no one can beat him — it’s up to the other teams to get better.

And it’s not Johnson’s fault the sport is losing fans left and right.

NASCAR is losing fans because of the way the business is run. While Johnson’s success is seen by many as the result of one poor decision (the Chase), the driver himself has done nothing wrong. He and his team have worked within the rules given and done so exceptionally well. Personally, I’m not a fan of the playoff system; the old format worked just fine for me. But just as football has a wild card and the wild card can beat the league’s best team in the Super Bowl, NASCAR can set its system up so that an undeserving team can steal a title. Of course, that’s not what has happened over the course of the last three seasons, but the possibility is always there. And the fact remains that people love an underdog.

Unfortunately, it seems that there is little room for the underdog in NASCAR anymore, and that’s sad. It was fun watching races and thinking that just maybe Ken Schrader or John Andretti had a chance at knocking off Dale Earnhardt Sr. But that went away a decade ago, as the sport moved away from its roots and began to cater more and more to the bandwagon fans. No one should be surprised that these fans are leaving now — this is the video game generation, after all. The Johnny-come-lately’s who live their lives in 15-minute intervals and flit from one trend to the next in an attempt to seem “in the know” about the latest and greatest never stick around long. Now that NASCAR isn’t the new fad, they have moved on to the next one, leaving the original fan base of the sport to deal with the mess.

And, stripped to its foundations, the fan base is structurally unsound. The old-school fans were turned off by the gimmicks put in place to try and lure the newbies. Now gone, there just isn’t much left to hold up the ivory tower.

But I digress. See, Johnson isn’t the first driver to win and win a lot and the fact remains that his success isn’t driving people away. Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon all had seasons where they won with mind-numbing regularity. Some of those seasons stretched into decades, yet the sport didn’t fall apart. The seams didn’t unravel; the sky didn’t fall. Those great drivers rose to the top, enjoyed a time there, and inevitably fell. And it will happen again. 

In five years there will be another young driver winning what seems like every week, taking home championships as easily as you or I take home a pizza. And he won’t ruin the sport, either, because one driver, even one as great as Petty, Earnhardt, Gordon or Johnson, cannot destroy an entire empire. Only the ruler of the empire has the power to bring it to its knees (and NASCAR’s foundations are certainly unstable).

But that’s not Jimmie Johnson’s fault. Enjoy the ride he’s on for what it is — the latest in a long line of great seasons by great drivers.

The real problem sits much higher on the sport’s totem pole.