Despite strong finish at DIS, Gordon needs to win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jeff Gordon was thrilled to get his once-scintillating restrictor-plate stats back on the right track Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway in the Coke Zero 400, via his first top-five finish there in three years.

“Man, I’m just happy to survive one of these restrictor plate races — it’s been a while since we’ve done that,” Gordon said with a smile. “We had a pretty good night, car drove good — especially on the long runs — and we avoided the big [wrecks] and got ourselves in a good position to win the race.”

But he didn’t win, for the 47th consecutive time in a Cup race.

Gordon’s timely third-place finish behind race winner Kevin Harvick and equally-relieved runner-up Kasey Kahne only reinforced his urgency to find his way to Victory Lane.

Gordon moved into second in the championship, which has eight events to go in the Race to the Chase, when the playoff field is set following the Richmond round in September. When he got to his post-race media briefing, he didn’t even know that — but the fact that his winless streak extended continues to bemuse Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte. And they’re focused on ending it.

“I’m excited that we’re second in points, but I’ll be honest with you, all I look at is where we are with wins right now,” Gordon said. “When you’re positioned well in the Chase, like we are currently, then it comes down to wins and being seeded for when that Chase comes around.”

Wins are worth 10 bonus points apiece for Chase “seeding,” when the 10-race championship round begins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. Gordon’s the only man in the top six in the standings who’s winless. Hendrick teammate and four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin each have five wins — and 50 extra points when the standings are reset heading into the Chase.


Read the rest of the article here.

Source:  nascar.com by Dave Rodman

NASCAR loses it’s Drawl – Gordon to Blame?

I am a bit irrated after reading this article about how NASCAR has lost it’s roots and the author says it all started with Gordon because he did not fit the mold of the the stereotypical driver from the Deep South and because he was from California.   While I do agree to some extent that NASCAR has lost its edge and is now a “plain vanilla” sport, I certainly don’t think Gordon started the downfall.   I blame the leadership of NASCAR for it’s current state.   I miss the drivers of old that voice there opinion, now we have 43 PR robots on the track that are afraid of saying something that is “detrimental to stock car racing” and losing championship points.

Here’s and excert from the article I’m referring to:

And a lot of the blame, or credit, goes to Jeff Gordon.

In many ways, Gordon broke the NASCAR mold. Before he arrived in the early 1990s, most drivers cut their teeth racing on short tracks, slowly working their way up through the sport. Gordon was a child prodigy, groomed by his stepfather in midgets and sprints from the age of 5. Raised in Vallejo, he looked and sounded West Coast, and his bold driving made him very influential. 

It still amazes me how the hillbilly NASCAR dolts, yes I’m talking to you Talladega Earnhardt fanatics, continue to shower their hatred on the 24.  Go back to your “black #3″ painted double wide and pour one out in the front yard for the 3 car and get over it.  Someone came along and gave your god a run for his money.  Gordon is the closest thing to an old school driver NASCAR has along with Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart.  Oh and those guys are from Las Vegas and Indiana, not exactly Deep South either.

source: pressdemocrat.com

Agree or Disagree?  Voice your opinions and comments below!

Will Jeff Gordon Win This Year?

Last year Jeff hit a less than glamorous milestone, a winless season for the first time in his career.  So, the question will be asked, “Will Jeff Gordon win this year?”   Well, of course!  He has been very competitive in each of the 3 races this year and is now atop the points leader board.  The team is already leaps and bounds better than they were last year at this time.  Read more about this question everyone is asking at the Orlando Sentinel.

More Talk about a Gordon Retirement

In the lead-up to the Daytona 500, both Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip have publicly spoken about life “Post-driver.” 

In my view, it’s obvious that Waltrip will be leaving the sport as a driver long before Gordon does. Waltrip’s glory days are far behind him, and his attempts to salvage his career by becoming an Owner-Driver are more or less a failure.  Not that he hasn’t proven to be a smart owner, aligning himself with Toyota just as they came into the sport, but I don’t think we’ll see him on the track in 2010.

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New Site Up and Running!

After 3 years of the same design I have a new site design in place.  I think this will be a much cleaner and organized site than the old site.

Some of the new features are embedded video, comment on posts and rss feeds.  You can subscribe to the articles and/or the comments by clicking the rss links in the upper right hand corner of the page. 

Feel free to voice your comments and opinions on any of the articles!

Thanks,

Tom