‘Vanilla’ Johnson finds rocky road more fun

If NASCAR fans have a primary beef with legend-in-the-making Jimmie Johnson, it's that he wins too much.

Their secondary beef is that he is too "vanilla."

Johnson refuses to apologize for the first one. Based on his demeanor during the run-up to today's Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he's working hard on the second.

For starters, he walked into the press room sporting a full beard. Good thing he's not one of the Gillette Young Guns. Then he cussed three times in fewer than 15 minutes. OK, so he said "hell," "crap" and "ass." Not exactly the stuff of an A.J. Foyt laptop-hurling tirade. But not the Vanilla Johnson a lot of race fans have come to despise because he wins too much.

When a reporter baited him with a question critical of NASCAR's "Winner's Circle" program, in which drivers are asked to engage fans in such wacky pursuits as paintball, Johnson took it hook, line and sinker.

"If somebody can show me how a paintball fight is going to sell tickets and fill the grandstands, I'll gladly be part of that paintball fight," sniffed Johnson, a three-time Las Vegas winner -- Vanilla Thrice? -- who will start 20th today. "I don't believe that's the case, though.

"I think there has been a lot of pressure put on the garage area to fill the grandstands."

Jimmie Johnson blasting NASCAR, or at least its tracks and promoters? Say it is so.

"I'm trying to keep from making a complete ass of myself in slamming people, which is just what you (media) want," Johnson said.

Apparently, Mr. Vanilla now comes with chocolate sprinkles.

THREE UP

■ SAM'S TOWN, DANICA'S RACE: Big shots from Sam's Town were on hand Saturday to confirm the Danica 300 will be renamed the Sam's Town 300 thanks to the hotel-casino's extended sponsorship. Actually, our Nationwide Series event has been the Sam's Town 300 since its inception, though you wouldn't know it this year because of you-know-who.

■ FULL EXTENZE-ION: Having gone to "great lengths" to pull a 6-year-old boy out of a smoke-filled condominium that was set on fire by the youngster's mother, Las Vegas resident Brian Morace was named honorary crew chief of Kevin Conway's No. 37 ExtenZe Ford for today's Shelby American and will receive a $1,000 award. ExtenZe also should present $1,000 to itself for starting a promotional campaign that audaciously links an act of bravery to a leading male enhancement product.

■ HAUCK IF YOU LOVE NASCAR: New UNLV football coach Bobby Hauck, who as grand marshal gave the command to start engines at Saturday's Danica -- I mean, Sam's Town 300 -- was so enthralled by his introduction to NASCAR that he planned to bring his children to today's Sprint Cup race. The Nationwide Series cars move a little faster than Kenworths pullin' logs across I-90 in Montana, where he's from.

THREE DOWN

■ NO COMMENT, NONE ASKED FOR: During the rain delay before Saturday's race, Kyle Busch accused pole sitter Brad Keselowski of being a crash-a-holic on ESPN and volunteered gruff-but-lovable Tony Stewart to teach him a lesson. Keselowski was sitting in the studio and heard the whole exchange, but nobody in the booth asked him to comment. This would never happen at a boxing news conference.  

■ CART BEFORE THE HORSEPOWER: Juan Pablo Montoya, the former Indy 500 winner and Formula One ace who will start 10th in today's Sprint Cup race, spent Friday night driving "the big shopping cart" at a promotion for his sponsor, Target. Yup, Jimmie Johnson was right.

■ JPM'S SOS: Most NASCAR drivers love Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Then there was this verbatim "Tweet" from Montoya: "Somebody that works in las vegas motorspeedway screw me and gave me a really (expletive) parking for my bus....great......"

Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352.