I'm not a fan. I'm a Jeff Gordon fan. But given the level of competition he is dominating, I give him the nod as the best all time. Back when Petty and Dale Sr. won their 7 championships, there were many fewer teams and drivers who competed in every race. I remember seeing some research on it years ago. So I did a quick look at racing-reference. During Dale Sr's last Cup winning season in 1994 (Jeff Gordon's second full season by the way) there were still only 20 drivers who raced the full 31 race season. And I imagine a few of them were with multiple teams. In 1980 when he won his first, there were only 13 drivers that ran the full season. For additional perspective, in 1964 when Petty won his first championship, there were all of 2 drivers to compete in all 61 races. Yes, they ran a bunch more races back before the "Modern Era" which I think started in 1972. That would explain how Petty got to 200 wins. Not taking away anything from Petty or Earnhardt, but the level of competition today was nothing like they had to compete against in their time. What Johnson is doing is absolutely amazing.