The next Jeff Gordon

The comparisons are there. No driver since Jeff Gordon in 1998 has won back-to-back championships. Jimmie Johnson is on the verge of ending that streak.
Johnson is on the verge of having a Gordon-esque season, the likes that were thought to be over.
He is already the first driver since Gordon to have 10 wins or more in a season. Johnson's win at Phoenix was his 10th of the year. Gordon won 13 in 1998.
Johnson won his fourth straight race. The last driver to win four races in a row: Gordon in 1998. After the race at Phoenix, Johnson was asked if he thinks he is turning into the next Jeff Gordon.
"Well, first of all, he would say it, too, and I don't want to be called the next Jeff Gordon," said Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "I'm Jimmie Johnson. I've always done it my way. You talk to him, you look at our driving styles and anything we do, we're on opposite ends."
Johnson doesn't want to hear the comparisons, even though the numbers he is putting up this year are the type that made Gordon a legend and a nemesis early in his career.
"So we do have some common interests. We've been close friends, but I'm not Jeff Gordon," Johnson said. "So get that part out of the way. He has, I think when business men or yourself maybe with your career, you look at the guy that gave you that first chance."
That's how Johnson views Gordon: a mentor and a visionary.
"It wasn't really my first chance, but it was my chance," Johnson said. "It was my shot, it was Jeff. And Jeff was put in a position by Rick (Hendrick) to say I want this guy to drive our race cars. They were talking about the fourth team and what was going on. And Rick came to Jeff and said you believe him that much, put some skin in the game. Let's start up this team, and put some partners in it and get Jimmie Johnson and put him in the car."