LONG POND, Pa. -- It isn't like it was a secret before the weekend, but after their performances in the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500, make no mistake: It might be darn near impossible to keep Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart down the rest of this season.

And if it comes down to Johnson and Stewart for this year's Sprint Cup championship, how could you imagine a better show than that at Texas, Phoenix and Homestead?

“

For us to come back ... it shows to me what my team is capable of.

”

JIMMIE JOHNSON

What this champion duo did on Monday at Pocono Raceway was rhyme and verse of what makes championship teams, and championship seasons.

Stewart was a piece of work earlier in the weekend, part comedian and part skewer as he harangued a reporter for asking what Stewart deemed were less-than-brilliant questions; a picture of supreme confidence -- and why not, as he'd won here two months before; and then an image of abject despair after he wrecked his primary car in practice for the second consecutive Pocono race.

Johnson was just Johnson: witty, focused and accommodating -- and dominating in Saturday's two pre-race practices, where his No. 48 Chevrolet, the three-time defending Cup champion ensemble, was bad-fastest in both sessions.

But Monday was a different story. Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet rolled off pit road from his rain-induced pole position and barely advanced beyond the start-and-park cars in the race's opening laps. He pitted thinking he had a flat tire -- using the promise of a competition caution as his hope to get the accompanying free pass -- and fell to 41st, and a lap down (watch video).

Johnson's early scenario was almost exactly the opposite. He started second, took the lead for the first 22 laps and was either first or second for virtually the whole first half of the race.

But then a tough-to-diagnose engine problem began to plague Johnson as he spiraled down the standings. He fell as low as 36th, where he languished for more than 50 laps. He lost and regained three laps, and his crew tried to figure out what was wrong, going so far as to change the car's carburetor before finally hitting on the solution of swapping out some spark plugs (watch video).

And what's the point? Lesser men and lesser teams would have found ways to turn Monday's events into a spike, at the very least, in the foot and major disruption in momentum and, potentially, chemistry in this critical run to the Chase for the Sprint Cup. (Continued)