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© 2004 Charlotte Observer. Distributed by Knight RidderTTribune
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PHOTO BY JEFF SINER'KRT
BACK ON TRACK?
By Jim Utter
Knight Ridder Newspapers
indsight is always 20/20, as the
saying goes.
Jeff Gordon’s record before his
recent two consecutive Nextel
Cup Series wins certainly doesn’t show per¬
fection, but it does show potential.
A late-race caution handed Gordon a win
over favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Talladega
Superspeedway two weeks ago, then a strong
car and good fuel mileage propelled him into a
victory last weekend at California Speedway.
Before the wins, Gordon was also primed
for wins at Darlington, Texas and Mar¬
tinsville, only to see various outside factors
take him out of contention for the victories.
At Darlington, it was a lapped-car involved
in an accident that destroyed Gordon's No. 24
Chevrolet, which had been among the fastest
cars of the weekend.
Gordon was lead¬
ing at Texas when he
needed to switch bat
teries, forcing him to
lose valuable track
position and finish
third.
And he was domi
nating Martinsville
w hen a piece of con¬
crete from the track
surface tore a gash
into his car. He had to
pit for repairs and
climbed back to sixth before the race ended.
So instead of two wins and 27 points out of
the lead, Gordon could well have at least five
victories and a commanding lead.
Could the Jeff Gordon of 1998 be retum-
H RANKINGS A
■
THAT’S RACIN’STOP PICKS
1. Jimmie Johnson (car No. 48)
Second at California, but this team
.has the most championship momen¬
tum right now. Last week: 2.
2. Jeff Gordon (car No. 24) Cali¬
fornia fans angry that he won didn’t
throw avocado salad onto the track
Sunday. Last week: 3.
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770-887-2320 INSURANCE ( 770 ) 807-2817
* i CLAIMS
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS — Friday, May 7, 2004
Go online and check out www.thatsracin.com for the latest information and news on stock-car racing, updated daily.
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TIM DOMINICK/KRT
Jeff Gordon, right, crashes during the Car
olina Dodge Dealers 400 in Darlington, S.C.,
on March 21.
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (car No. 8)
This team wobbled but it did not fall
down in salvaging a 19th-place run at
California. Last week: l.
4. Matt Kenseth (car No. 17)
Steady as he goes. The top four this
week are dearly the sport’s best teams
right now. Last week: 4.
5. Kevin Harvick (car No. 29)
Sixth in points despite not having had
a stellar run yet. Team’s due for one of
those. Last week: 6.
ing, the one who dominated his competition
with seven poles and 13 wins?
Time will tell. For now, Gordon will
his current success.
S rL d Sand
have
the best team out
there, but the results
don t show it, Gor
SftASS
when it counted.
“It has been an amazing four or five races
that we've had. After Darlington we had a pret¬
ty tough wreck there and we just shook it off and
just kept on plugging away and going strong.
“It makes me really proud to get behind the
wheel of that car.”
It may seem strange that just weeks ago,
there were whispers in the garage of problems
with Gordon’s team, the
“The biggest thing is Jeff talks to me a lot. He
said no matter what we come across or how we
get criticized, he believed in this race team and
what we are doing.
“There are things we need to improve, but he
With two recent wins,
Gordon aims to regain w
his former glory
that crew chief Rob¬
bie Loomis could
take the fall.
As ridiculous a no¬
tion as that may seem,
it remained a topic
Gordon’s team was
required to address.
“We went through
a very rough 2(XX)
season. Since that
time, we've won the
championship. That
gave me some confi¬
dence." Loomis said.
6. Kasey Kahne (car No. 9)
Things didn’t add up fuel-wise for
Kahne and teammate Jeremy May
field last week. Last week: 7.
7. Kurt Busch (car No. 97) Simi¬
lar to Harvick’s team so far, except
that this one did put it together at
Bristol. Last week: 5.
8. Ryan Newman (car No. 12)
Seems like this team’s struggling, but
it's having a better year in points than
last year. Last week: 11.
it There’s a lot of times where the
expectations are pretty lofty from a lot of j > * <0> iS* .
people. ...You know, I’m just a human being, Bud
I do human-being-type stuff.” 1
— Dale Earnhardt Jr., on beinf> compared to his father. | \
believes in the (team) and that we can do it.
When you have that kind of confidence from a
w ho has won four it
you confidence to get
back to the team and
walk through the shop
on a bad day and know
that we can put our
best foot forward."
Since scoring his
first Cup victory in
1994, Gordon has
never finished worse than ninth in points
(2000 season). The fewest number of w'ins in
that stretch was two in the ’94 season.
Such statistics would be welcome news to
virtually any other team in the series. But Gor¬
don’s past performance has raised the bar of
expectations — both for his fans and himself.
In 1996. 1997 and 1998, Gordon won 10,
10 and 13 races, respectively. No other team
has come close to that level of performance
since then, including Gordon's.
So, when Gordon goes several races with¬
out a win. or dips outside the top-10 in points,
questions of his performance naturally arise.
After the 2000 season "we questioned our¬
selves. Once you overcome adversity, it al¬
lows you to overcome it more and more and
deal with it in a better way," Gordon said.
“I’m very fortunate that the people at Hen¬
drick Motorsports never lose sight of that.
Each week, no matter what's thrown at us, we
put it behind us and go to the next week.
"The criticism doesn't come from within
us. It comes from outside. Everyone has a sto¬
ry to write.”
Does that mean another dominating Gor¬
don stretch is on the horizon?
“I don’t know," he said, “but we do have
momentum right now."
9. Bobby Labonte (car No. 18)
Sounded completely surprised he did¬
n’t have the fuel to finish late Califor¬
nia charge. Last week: 12.
10. Tony Stewart (car No. 20)
Said drivers used to be “more cor¬
dial." And, apparently, he said it with
a straight face. Last week: 9.
PI top-40 www.thatsracin.com. For the rankings, rest of the visit
STOP N ' GO
WINLESS
Several drivers who are winners in the
NASCAR Nextel Cup series have gone more
than 50 races without a victory. Only races
competed in are included:
Driver Last win Races
Ken Schrader June 2,1991 417
Jimmy Spencer July 24,1994 312
Derrike Cope June 3,1990 307
Kyle Petty June 4,1995 265
Morgan Shepherd March 20,1993 167
Jeremy Mayfield June 19,2000 127
Jeff Burton Oct. 28,2001 86
Sterling Marlin March 17,2002 70
Mark Martin May 26,2002 70
Ricky Rudd June 23,2002 66
Ward Burton July 21,2002 63
SOURCE: NASCAR STATISTICAL SERVICES
— Jim Utter
POLL POSITION
THIS WEEK’S QUESTION
Jeff Gordon has won two straight races,
and with a little luck might have won four
straight. What does the streak mean?
Cast your vote at www.thatsracin.com
LAST WEEK’S QUESTION 7 %
Should Nextel Cup NASCAR’s^^ - knows NASCAR best.
the Series Truck adopt gj | J^if No 8 % way.
Series V
rule that
assures a
green-flag Number of
finish? votes: 9,105
BY THE NUMBERS K
NEXTEL CUP POINTS LEADERS
The top-40 drivers as of May 4:
Rank/Driver Points
1. D. Earnhardt Jr. (8). 1453
2. J. Johnson (48)... 1428
3. J.Gordon(24) ...1426
4. M. Kenseth (17).. 1357
5. K.Busch(97) ....1316
6. K.Harvick(29) ...1316
7. R. Newman (12).. 1299
8. T. Stewart (20).... 1284
9. B. Labonte (18).. 1265
10. E. Sadler (38) .1250
11. K.Kahne(9) ...1209
12. J. McMurray (42) 1200
13. M. Martin (6).... 1135
14. R. Wallace (2)... 1132
15.S.Marlin(40) ...1112
16. J. Mayfield (19). 1106
17. C.Mears(41) ..1093
18. D. Jarrett (88)... 1066
19. R.Gordon (31) .1033
20. J. Nemechek (01) 1014
BUSCH SERIES POINTS LEADERS
The top-20 drivers as of May 4:
Rank/Driver— Points
LM.Waltrip. 1335
2. K. Busch* . 1283
3. M.Truex Jr. 1282
4. D, Green .. 1251
5. R. Gordon. 1245
6 .J.Keller... 1157
7. B. Hamilton Jr. .. 1095
8. R. Hornaday.... 1084
9. J. Sauter 1079
10. G. Biffle 1072
NEXT RACE: Saturday, Charter 250, Gateway In¬
ternational Raceway
TRUCK SERIES POINTS LEADERS
Die top-10 drivers as of April 17:
Rank/Driver Points Rank/Driver Points
1. C. Edwards... .....486 6. M. Crafton..........407
2. T. Kvapil......... .....464 7. R. Crawford........406
3. D. Setzer....... .....455 8. C. Chaffin...........396
4. D. Reutimann .....455 9. B. Hamilton.........395
5. M. Skinner..... .....424 10. J. Wood 388
NEXT RACE: May 16, Ohio 250, Mansfield, Ohio
Rank/Driver Points
21 .T.Labonte(5) ..1011
22. B.Gaughan(77).. 995
23. G. Biffle (16) 995
24. W. Burton (0).... 988
25. S. Wimmer (22).. 982
26. J. Sauter (30) — 965
27. B.Vickers(25) ...926
28. R.Rudd(21) .. .904
29. J. Burton (99) 901
30. M. Walt rip (15)... 876
31. K. Schrader (49) .875
32. K. Petty (45) 857
33. R.Craven(32) ...831
34. J. Green (43).... 784
35. S. Riggs (10).... 780
36. D. Cope (50) 667
37. K. Lepage . 426
38. D. Bianey (23)____424
39. J.Spencer(4) ...378
40. K.Shelmerdine(72)274
Rank/Driver Points
11. K. Wallace.. 1026
12. J. Leffler.... 998
13. J. Benson .. 984
14. T. Fedewa .. 984
15. M. Bliss.... 979
16. S. Compton. 973
17. K. Kahne... 947
18. K.Harvick.. 937
19. R. Pressley. 915
20. D. Stremme. 911