Rating the FedEx 400: 2 Stars **

The Dominator dominated Dover on Sunday to simply reinforce the fact that Jimmie Johnson and the #48 team are hands down the best there is in this era of NASCAR racing. However, dominating performances rarely make for exciting races, and Sunday was no different. The first Dover race of the season gets a 2 Star Rating.

Johnson did have one challenger at Dover: his teammate in the #24 car. Jeff Gordon led 60 laps throughout the first half of the race, but then his team remembered this is 2012 and didn’t get all of the lugnuts tight on the left rear tire during a pit stop on lap 251.

That forced Gordon to try and play a different strategy to recover and still challenge for the win, but he was only able to get back to 13^th by the time the checkered flag flew.

Gordon did move up one spot to 21^st in the points standings and is one point behind Juan Pablo Montoya for a spot in the top 20. But, that is certainly not where the driver with the most laps led should be in the points standings after 13 races.

This could have been a race that jumpstarted Gordon’s climb back into Chase contention, but now the pressure to be perfect the rest of the regular season continues to mount. It’s going to take quite an effort from Gordon and the #24 team to make the Chase this year.

As for Johnson, Sunday’s win added another stat to prove he is one of the all-time great NASCAR drivers. He has now won at Dover, which many drivers consider one of the toughest on the schedule, seven times. That ties him with Richard Petty and Bobby Allison for the most wins at the Monster Mile.

This was Johnson’s 57^th career win and his second of the season (third if you include the All-Star Race). Maybe it’s coincidence, but ever since Johnson won the Southern 500 at Darlington to get the 200^th victory for Hendrick Motorsports, the entire organization has taken its performance to another level.

Perhaps there was pressure to win #200. That type of pressure obviously affects athletes in other sports when they approach a major milestone, but it is a little more surprising for it to affect an entire racing organization.

Either way, Hendrick Motorsports is once again on quite a roll. That could make for a long summer for the rest of the garage. Right now Roush-Fenway Racing has the top two spots in the points standings and is most likely the biggest threat to stop another Hendrick championship this season, but they have a lot of work ahead of them.

Oh, by the way, there was a wreck in Sunday’s race and it still didn’t get more than a 2 Star Rating. Sure, it was the biggest wreck of the season, but most of the cars involved were start-and-parkers. The wreck just parked them all at the same time.

Besides that wreck on lap 9, the remainder of the race was as clean as the rest of the season. The racing will get better at some point, but it is unlikely to get significantly better anytime soon. The upcoming tracks don’t usually produce thrilling racing, and there is little reason to think it will be any different this summer.

That said, these races are still a vital part of the schedule. June has always been a crucial month in the NASCAR season. The tracks, including Dover, challenge equipment more than most, and it is a time for teams to sharpen their setups as the Race to the Chase approaches.

Now it’s on to the first 400-mile race in the history of Pocono Raceway. I don’t see how shortening this race by 100 miles will make it any more exciting, but we’ll see. The only difference might be that fewer cars drop out because of mechanical issues.

Have a great week, everybody, and brace yourselves for what might be another summer dominated by Hendrick Motorsports. It sure is shaping up that way.

Rating the All-Star Race: 4 Stars ****

NASCAR’s all-star’s fired up for an intense 90 laps Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway in what might have been the best race of the season. That said, Jimmie Johnson once again to the drama out of the end and ran away to grab his third all-star win. Still, the All-Star Race gets a 4 Star Rating.

Fans have waited pretty much all season for a race where the drivers really got after it and raced hard for every spot. Boy, we certainly had that Saturday night. This race had by far more three-wide racing and hold-your-breath moments than there has been in any race this season outside Daytona and Talladega.

This race might have been considered for a five-star rating, but Johnson took any drama out of the finish.

Plus, the All-Star Race also showed that NASCAR can have a good race without wrecks. All of the complaints about the lack of wrecks had begun to get a little ridiculous. Hopefully people understand after watching this race that we don’t have to have cautions for a good race.

Sure, the segments meant the drivers had to race hard only 20 laps at a time, but they also weren’t content to ride around all night. The drivers certainly were up on the chip a little more Saturday night than for a normal race, but there can be full 500-mile races that have more green-flag action than what we’ve seen lately.

A couple of additional factors may have played into why this was such a good race.

First, the race was at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which is an excellent track for NASCAR racing. Drivers can race side by side, but the track is also narrow enough that it creates very tight situations. The high side in Turns 1 and 2 creates a great run down the backstretch, but a car on the low side in Turns 3 and 4 can hang on and actually come out of the turn with the lead. Having those options is critical to a good race.

Second, NASCAR shortened the side skirts on the sides of the cars to take away some downforce. That is a factor that will take a few more races to determine how much it affects the cars, but early indications are it helped take some of the stability out of the cars to allow for more movement throughout the field.

The format changes by adding a segment also worked out very well. Even though the winners of each segment dropped to the back until the end, the other 17 or 18 cars raced plenty hard to fill the action. Plus, Johnson might have very well kicked butt all night if he had stayed up front.

Anyway, congratulations to Johnson and the #48 team. Although many people can’t stand their success, Johnson is the Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt or Jeff Gordon of this era. He and Hendrick Motorsports are putting up historic numbers that will become the standard for future generations.

Hopefully the All-Star Race is a sign of things to come. It has been a quiet start to the season, but the last couple of weeks have been better.

Now once we get through this week, one of the best racing weekends of the entire year is upon us. Almost every big-time racing series has a great race on Memorial Day weekend.

So stock up on some good food and have a great week, everybody.