Mike Mulhern
Jeff Gordon is still winless? Is NASCAR’s new winged car that much of a problem?
Has fatherhood changed Jeff Gordon?
(Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)
By Mike Mulhern
Maybe this is what the NASCAR regular season has boiled down to, after some four years of study: with the top 12 teams making the playoff cut for the year’s final 10 races, why push it?
Particularly with this new winged stocker as tough to deal with as it’s proven to be at the NASCAR tour’s mid-sized tracks, like this week’s stop at Michigan International Speedway.
Or at least that’s one way to look at the Rick Hendrick operation.
With only one win, by Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville, by its four teams, the Hendrick camp certainly isn’t overwhelming the competition. But then why bother? The big pay day doesn’t come till the fall. All these first 26 races offer is the opportunity to make enough mistakes to miss the big hunt.
Still, it might be nice if Jeff Gordon could get back in the winner’s circle.
Jeff Gordon may have to practice this stuff before he wins again....it’s been so long since he’s done a victory burnout
(Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Maybe not this Sunday, but quite likely next weekend at Sonoma, Calif., where Gordon has dominated, along with Tony Stewart.
But Gordon comes into race number 15 a solid eighth in the standings…and, unless someone comes up with some big surprises, he should easily make the September cut.
The top-12 today – Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Johnson, Greg Biffle, Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, and Tony Stewart – seem all-but locked in. Only David Reagan, Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth appear to have any decent shot at knocking one of those 12 out.
(For point of reference, under NASCAR’s old championship rules, Busch, Burton, Earnhardt and Edwards would likely have the title chase all to themselves from here on.)
So it’s the 24 Hours of Lemans this weekend, a NASCAR Nationwide tour stop at Kentucky Speedway, the NASCAR Sprint Cup late-spring stop in mid-Michigan, a Father’s Day Sunday…and yet another moment to reflect on Gordon’s continuing struggles.
Only twice before in his long Cup career has Gordon gone this deep into the season without a win. His last was at Charlotte last fall.
Jeff Gordon: Top Chef? Well this season he’s been working in Hell’s Kitchen
(Gordon, here with HK’s Victor Scargle)
(Photo by Sara Wolfram/Getty Images for NASCAR)
“Yeah, I’m concerned,” Gordon insists. “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.
“I will say this new car creates a lot of challenges we’re trying to overcome.
Now here’s where Jeff Gordon ought to be—out front at Sonoma
(Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
“The competition, especially at Gibbs and Roush, has really stepped it up from last year.
“Now, lately, Ray Evernham has really stepped it up (with Kasey Kahne).
“So we have got some work to do. And it’s happening.
“It’s not just one magical thing, it’s a combination…and I feel confident we’re going to get it.
“I just hope it happens at the right time.
“The potential of doing what we did in the chase last year.”
Gordon and Johnson won six of the last seven races.
“Our first order of business is to make sure we’re in the chase,” Gordon says. “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 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.
Happier times: Jimmie Johnson (L) celebrates with teammate Jeff Gordon after clinching the NASCAR championship last fall
(Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR)
“Obviously Texas was the low point of the season for us. We ran terrible. I lost control of the car. It was just a total disaster.
“But I do believe Texas is not only my most challenging track, but it’s one of the most challenging tracks.
“Even though my teammates have been better than us, they still haven’t been capable of really competing for wins like we should be.
“Junior started off the season strong and very consistent. At California Jimmie and I were pretty spectacular…and Junior was decent but he wasn’t spectacular. But at other tracks he’s been better than I’ve been. Mainly the 1-1/2-miles. Every driver has a different feel, a different way to drive, so you can’t just put one set-up in and it will work for everybody.
“But still we can share information.”
Even his top-fives this season – Dover, Charlotte, Darlington—Gordon says, haven’t been that great: “Those moments are frustrating. 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.
“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 1-1/2-mile tracks we are struggling with. It doesn’t turn that around.”
Jeff Gordon (24) and teammate Jimmie Johnson had play a lot of catchup last summer at Sonoma
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
THE NASCAR NOTEBOOK
Jeff Gordon clearly needs a shot in the arm, something to perk him up.
Car owner Rick Hendrick, quite 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, Wednesday 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, while Ford’s Carl Edwards won, Gordon and teammate Jimmie Johnson were both formidable….about the only time this season they both been on the mark like that.
More likely though this will be another Kyle Busch-Carl Edwards Sunday….and with Gordon anxiously awaiting next week’s Sonoma stop near hometown Vallejo.
Maybe it’s the mellowness of Marin that makes Sonoma such a welcomed NASCAR stop for Jeff Gordon
(Photo: Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR)
For NASCAR the Sonoma stop, in one of the country’s biggest markets, may loom more important in the sport’s overall marketing strategy than the Michigan stop, at a track halfway between Detroit and Chicago.
This will be NASCAR’s 20th annual summer stop in the San Francisco area, and the track has always been an usual challenge,
“My first experience on that course in a Cup car was certainly an experience I’d like to put behind me,” Gordon, a five-time winner since, says. “I think I was in the tire-wall and off the track more than I was on the track.
“One of my fondest memories is my second or third year in Sonoma—I was running third to Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin and watching those guys battle.”
Earnhardt had to work very hard to get that first road course victory, in 1995. He was never considered much of a road racer, but he was a surprise at times.
“The thing that stands out the most to me with Dale Sr. at a road course is after he crashed at Talladega, and we went to Watkins Glen, and he sat on the pole,” Gordon said.
“All of us were not only shocked he came through this horrific crash and got back out there on the track, but then he went out sat on the pole.”
And Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Gordon’s new teammate is still looking for his first road course win. In fact he’s also looking for his first tour win in over two years.
Might some of Gordon’s road course success rub off on Earnhardt?
“I think he feels like it not something he’s just naturally good at, but he wants to be good at it, and he’s working hard at it,” Gordon says. “And our success gives him a little bit more confidence.”
Will some of Jeff Gordon’s Sonoma magic rub off on teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.?
(Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)
For all his California memories, nothing can really match the last two summers for Gordon: two years ago he announced his engagement at Sonoma, and last year his daughter Ella was born.
So Gordon this Father’s Day weekend means a little more.
Fatherhood? “The whole thing is overwhelming…from the moment you see your first sonogram,” Gordon says.
“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.
“You sort of get initiated into a club. It’s very special. It’s a lot of hard work.
“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.”
We want your reaction, so please comment on this story and offer your own opinions, on this story, on our NASCAR videos, and anything about NASCAR:
Jeff Gordon and Ingrid, a year ago, were expecting...now they’re celebrating a birthday
(Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Ella: Ingrid Vandebosch, Jeff Gordon’s wife, smiles as her father-in-law John Bickford holds her new daughter
(Photo by Marc Serota/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Posted by on 06/12 at 03:51 PM
I don’t think the car is really as much of an issue as many people think. Nascar just needs to step up and remove some of the restrictions on this car that were originally imposed on the previous car. Let the teams play with the shocks and springs and go back to the rule about the cars not riding on the bump stops. Let them play around with the splitter a bit, because different angles and different heights may be required for different tracks.
I think overall the two big things that are causing problems in the cup series these days are the chase, and the top 35 rule.
Jimmie Johnson managed to beat out Jeff Gordon for the championship. He shouldn’t have, as Gordon was dominating the points the whole season. Still Johnson and Knaus knew the game, and concentrated the majority of their efforts on first making the chase, and second, on finishing well, and winning in the final 10 races. Gordon seemed to be using the old playbook that says you have to be the best over the entire season to get the championship. Obviously, that’s not the way it works anymore, and he found that out the hard way. So I think this year, the 24 team is doing what the 48 did last year: Run well enough to make the chase, and then concentrate your efforts on the final 10 races. Not an easy task, but then, they no longer have to lead the points for the whole season anymore either.
The top 35 rule doesn’t work for one simple reason. That’s to many drivers locked in. A top 20 rule would achieve much the same results, in making sure the top teams are in the race, and would allow teams outside the top 20 a chance at qualifying more consistently. Especially at races where more than 43 cars attempt to make the race.
Posted by on 06/13 at 12:22 PM
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