The four DNFs next to Jeff Gordon’s name in the Nextel Cup standings are undoubtedly the biggest thing preventing the star from winning his fifth championship this year.
Gordon has more DNFs than any driver in the top 25 of the points, where he dropped four spots – to 12th – after his no-fault crash and 40th-place finish last weekend in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, Fla.
Gordon, who turns 35 next month, said he would have been rattled if his string of bad luck happened 10 years ago. But his experience continues to remind him that a positive attitude will change his fortune.
“You have to balance a lot of things out in this sport in order to stay on top or be your best,” Gordon said Wednesday in a national teleconference. “You’ve got to learn from the good times and the bad times, and I’ve had some tough seasons to where those things have taught me as much or more than the good seasons did.”
The highlight of Gordon’s inconsistent season was June 25, when he won the road race at Sonoma, Calif. That sent him from 11th to eighth in the points.
His ensuing crash at Daytona pushed him back four spots, and if the season ended today, he would miss the Chase for the Championship for the second consecutive year.
From 1994 to 2004, he finished no worse than ninth.
“When we hit on it and when we get our performance where it needs to be, I don’t think there’s anybody better than our organization, taking advantage of that and making the most of it when it really counts,” Gordon said. “I really hope we get that opportunity to show that before the year is out.”
Dale Jr. looking good
Gordon was one of two NASCAR stars to miss last year’s Chase. The other one, Dale Earnhardt Jr., is in great shape to make the 10-race playoff.
Earnhardt, the defending winner of this week’s race at Chicagoland Speedway, was 16th in points at this time a year ago. Even with his victory at Chicago, he finished 19th.
He’s currently third, and has improved three spots in the past three races.
“I feel good about where we’re at,” Earnhardt said in a NASCAR release. “We still need to get better. We obviously couldn’t hang with Tony (Stewart) and the guys up front Saturday night at Daytona. But we got out of there with little harm done, and even climbed a spot or two in the points. We’re racing big-picture here.”
Footnotes
Points leader Jimmie Johnson, who has a series-high 13 top-10 finishes, has been among the top 10 in the standings for 86 consecutive races, since March 2004. … The TNT/NBC crew takes over for Fox this weekend to begin the second half of the season. The first edition of the prerace show “Wally’s World” with host Wally Dallenbach – the Basalt native who won last week’s open wheel division at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb – features actor Will Ferrell. Dallenbach will again work as race analyst along with Benny Parsons. The crew includes play-by-play host Bill Weber and pit reporters Allen Bestwick, Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Matt Yocum. … Today, NASCAR will announce the executive director and exhibit designer for the organization’s new Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C. … Hendrick Motorsports never has won a Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway, but the four-car team has earned the past two pole positions there and has had at least two cars finish among the top-five in four consecutive seasons.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
