Never in the history of NASCAR has there been a tougher competitor than Cale Yarborough. (Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Three-time NASCAR Champion Cale Yarborough lets out a boisterous laugh after he says it, but you can tell he�s dead serious:

�

�The one thing I can say is Jimmie (Johnson) better be glad I�m not racing with him today.�

�

And then there�s that laugh � proud, full of memories and genuinely impressed that his three back-to-back championship titles from 1976, �77 and �78 are still intact.

�

When it comes to Jimmie Johnson, who�s edging closer to tying that record, Yarborough admits, there�s a little of himself in there.

�

�I�ve watched Jimmie,� Yarborough says. �He�s the kind of driver that likes to run up front. That�s the way I drove. I can see a lot of Jimmie in me.�

�

Yet, despite the two not knowing each other well, Yarborough says Johnson �seems to be an awful nice fella� and would be proud to share his record with him.

�

�The handwriting�s on the wall. It�s gonna happen,� Yarborough predicts. �I understand that I was Jimmie�s hero when he was growing up, so if he does it more power to him.�

�

And then the competitor in Cale came out.

�

�That don�t mean I�m pulling for him,� he says laughing. �But if he does it, I�ll be in good company. I hope he feels the same way.�

�

But Jimmie Johnson wasn�t the only topic Yarborough talked about during a recent teleconference with the media.

�

There�s how he picked a career in racing over a football scholarship (Clemson head coach Frank Howard forced him to choose and later became one of his biggest fans). There�s his most memorable moment in racing (winning the 1968 Southern 500 at Darlington). There are the championships and chemistry with team owner Junior Johnson (�We just hit it off at the right time, the right place, did the right things�).

�

Of course, there�s also the infamous fight with Donnie and Bobby Allison at the 1979 Daytona 500.

�

�I�ve told that story several million times. I�ll do it again,� he says.

�

�I had the fastest car and had it set up to where I could slingshot him (Donnie) on the last lap. That may have been a mistake on my part. I should maybe have gone on and passed him, go on and won the race handily. I was trying to make a show out of it. Unfortunately, it really came out to be a show. It was one of the best things (that) ever happened in NASCAR.�

�

And who won?

�

�I did,� Yarborough says without hesitation.

�

But it wasn�t a fair fight.

�

�One Yarborough against two Allisons � that wasn�t even fair,� he says. �But that�s the way it ended up. We were friends the next day, and we�ve been friends ever since.�

�

When asked if that scuffle derailed his efforts for a fourth championship, Yarborough is adamant.

�

�I had decided that I was going to cut back my schedule and spend more time with my family,� he said. �That�s what I did and have never regretted it.

�I would have loved to have won that fourth one, but I felt like I needed to spend more time with my family.

That was more important than a fourth championship.�

�

Now living on 4,000 acres in little South Carolina community of Sardis, Yarborough says he�s �in heaven.�

�

As for what he says when asked about the 30 years he�s held the three-time champion title?

�

�I just tell them I was happy to be able to do it, and happy it lasted as long as it did.�

Cale Talks J.J., The Fight