Sure, everyone knows Jimmie Johnson is good. Heck, he's trying to become only the second driver to win three consecutive series titles, but sometimes we get so used to greatness that it becomes routine.

Many people always expected Michael Jordan to make the winning shot or for Kobe Bryant and LeBron James to do it now. How many times did Deter Jeter thrill fans with his play in the playoffs? How many times did Tom Brady lead the Pats to comeback wins (same with Peyton Manning).

Such is the case with Jimmie Johnson. He's so good, it's easy to take for granted. Stop and take a look at what Johnson _ one of only two drivers to make the Chase every year _ has done in 45 Chase races.

# He's won 12 Chase races -- that's a winning percentage of 26.6 percent, which is amazing in racing. Four of those 12 wins have come when he's taken the lead in the last 10 laps.

But there's more.

He has finished in the top 20 in each of the last 21 Chase races. In fact, he's not finished worse than 14th in the last 21 Chase races, dating back to 2006.

Consider what he's done in those 21 Chase races:

# He's won six times for a winning percentage of 28.5 percent

# He's finished 1st OR 2nd a total of 12 times -- That means he' s finishing in the top 2 an amazing 57.1 percent of the time. That's just insane.

# He's finished in the top 10 in 19 of those 21 races. That's 90.4 percent of the time he's placed in the top 10. That's just sick.

No, he doesn't have the 7 titles of Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt or the four titles of Jeff Gordon or the 105 wins that Dave Pearson have -- all considered among the sport's greatest drivers -- but with stats like these, particularly in NASCAR's Chase, Jimmie Johnson certainly has to considered on a short list of the sport's greatest drivers for his ability to put togehter so many strong performances under the most pressure.

The good thing for Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle is that they're not racing history, so anything can happen in the next five races. With the series going to Martinsville this weekend, though, you have to look at Johnson as the heavy favorite. He's won three of the last four fall Martinsville races, including the last two.

"They've been incredible at Martinsville,'' Burton said after his win Saturday at Charlotte. "I mean, Hendrick in general, between Jeff and Jimmie ... I mean give them the clock (the grandfather clock to the winner). It seems like they've been unbelievably fast.''

That said, Burton said about how he won at Charlotte, a track Johnson also has dominated: "We didn't come her to race Jimmie Johnson. We came here to try to beat 42 other guys. Jimmie Johnson and that team are the point leaders, and they certainly set the bar pretty high, but we didn't come here to focus on them. We just focus on us.''

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