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Gordon says he's had it worse than this
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Jeff Gordon is winless this season, but is a solid eighth in the points standings.
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Published: June 13, 2008
Maybe this is what the NASCAR regular season has boiled down to, after about four years of study: with the top 12 teams making the cut for the final 10 races and the Chase for the championship, why push it?
All these first 26 races offer is the opportunity to make enough mistakes to miss the payday in the fall.
Still, it might be nice if Jeff Gordon could get back in the winner's circle. Gordon comes into race No.15 on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway a solid eighth in the standings, and unless someone comes up with some big surprises, he should easily make the September cut.
Only twice before in his long Cup career has Gordon gone this deep into the season without a win. His last was at Lowe's Motor Speedway last fall.
"Yeah, I'm concerned," Gordon said. "We want to be competitive every year. The good thing is this is my 16th season, and I've been through a lot of great years and I've been through some down years.
"Those down years are the toughest … and we've had tougher ones than this."
Gordon and teammate Jimmie Johnson won six of the past seven races in the Chase last year.
"Our first order of business is to make sure we're in the Chase," Gordon said. "We're less focused with trying to win races than maybe the media are caught up in it. We are more caught up in what do we have to do to make ourselves better -- and it's one step at a time. It doesn't happen overnight.
"Kasey (Kahne) is a perfect example. They really weren't any better than us prior to Charlotte, and they have hit on some things that have really allowed that team to take off. We are capable of the same thing.
"Even though my teammates have been better than us, they still haven't been capable of really competing for wins like we should be."
Even his top fives this season -- at Dover, Charlotte and Darlington -- Gordon said, haven't been that great.
"Those moments are frustrating," Gordon said. "It's great to get top fives and the points … but when you're finishing fifth and not even leading laps, or even close to the leaders, it's frustrating."
So Gordon can't wait to hit Sonoma next week.
"Sonoma is a track we can be competitive at … and Sonoma is one of those tracks where -- no matter what kind of season we're having -- we can be competitive," he said. "Tony Stewart had the best car on the road courses last year, and we were the second-best.
"Even though Juan Pablo Montoya won Sonoma, Tony and I had the best cars as far as speed.
"But all that doesn't change what's happening at the 11/2-mile tracks we are struggling with. It doesn't turn that around."
Car owner Rick Hendrick, displeased with his four teams' lack of success this spring, has ordered extra testing by everyone, and yet it's not certain when those Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays on the testing road might pay off.
Hendrick and Gordon can only hope this weekend at Michigan to match the success they showed at California Speedway a few months ago. At that sister track, Ford's Carl Edwards won, but Gordon and Johnson were both formidable -- about the only time this season they both been on the mark like that.
For all his California memories, nothing can really match the past two summers for Gordon: Two years ago he announced his engagement at Sonoma, and last year his daughter, Ella, was born.
So for Gordon, this Father's Day weekend means a little more.
"The whole (fatherhood) thing is overwhelming -- from the moment you see your first sonogram," Gordon said. "It's an experience you can't describe until you go through it.
"Then all of a sudden, when the baby is born, that emotion you get -- responsibility, proud, excited -- there are not words that really describe it.
"I have a whole new appreciation for my parents, and all parents, because it is one of the toughest things I have ever been a part of.
"But at the same time, it's the most gratifying and exciting thing I've ever been a part of."
■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.
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