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Johnson won Sunday's race, holding off a charge from his mentor and friend, to score his series-best seventh victory of the season and tighten a championship battle that Gordon is trying to run away with. With four races remaining, Gordon holds a 53-point lead over Johnson.
There's no animosity between the two, who celebrated in Victory Lane together. Losing crew chief Steve Letarte climbed atop Johnson's pit box for a congratulatory high-five with winning crew chief Chad Knaus.
"I know that Jeff is going to do everything that he can to win, and I'm going to do the same,'' Johnson said. "We have a great deal of respect for one another.''
The unity is contagious at Hendrick, where driver Casey Mears also went to Victory Lane, as did several of Gordon's crew members. A week earlier, when Gordon won in Charlotte, driver Kyle Busch stopped by to congratulate him.
It's a teamwork philosophy that owner Rick Hendrick spent years implementing and fostered by assembling selfless employees who focus on the big picture.
"I have told them this year, last year, year before that, `You won't get beat from the outside in this business once you get the momentum. It is going to happen from the inside,''' he said.
The cohesiveness could be why Hendrick has won 15 of 32 races this season, put three drivers in the Chase and will likely get another Cup title from either Gordon or Johnson.
Roush Fenway, on the other hand, put just two of its five drivers in the Chase and has just five wins on the season.
Now the team appears to have a brewing problem between its top two drivers that if left to fester will only prevent the organization from ever catching up with Hendrick.
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