Who says Jeff Gordon has to win?

With all the hype and attention being given to Jeff Gordon's winless streak of 31 races, who says that he has to win?

	Tim Packman

Sure, with four championships and 58 wins to his credit, we've become accustomed to him being a frequent visitor to Victory Lane at all types of tracks. Whether it is Daytona, Darlington or Bristol, Gordon and the famed No. 24 Chevy team has been a winner.

But for those of you thinking that Gordon has lost his talent you are wrong. And more importantly, if you are trying to pin his lack of victories on the current situation regarding his divorce, you are fishing in a perch pond for lake trout.

Ok, so Gordon hasn't won. It happens, folks.

There are 43 teams in each race and only one of them can win. It's not like a football, hockey or baseball game where you know one of the teams will be victorious. In racing, anything can happen with mechanical failures, lap traffic, spinouts and such with the victory going to some unsuspecting winner.

For Gordon, he is currently fifth in points. With 13 races remaining, there are six guys who could put together a great string of finishes and win the crown.

And Gordon is one of them.

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"We go week by week trying to win a race," Gordon said. "I think you have to walk before you can run. Our weekend starts on Friday and just because we finished 19th last weekend, there is no reason for me to believe we can't come to Bristol and can't win the race.

"Same thing the next weekend and week after that. You have to put it behind you and go to the next race believing that you can win each weekend you unload. I certainly believe that and there aren't too many weekends that I go into thinking we are behind."

Being behind is something Gordon isn't used to, either.

For each of his championships, Gordon was the man everyone was chasing down the homestretch of the season. He certainly hasn't lost his desire to win, if you're thinking that.

"I want to win and I want to win bad," Gordon said. "I don't want anyone to think that I don't care if I win, because I do. Staying calm is the only thing that can keep us together and get to the Winner's Circle. If we pay attention to the hype and everything outside of our core group, it would tear us to pieces.

"Personally, I've won 58 races and I don't have to win. If we win, it's because we worked hard and we wanted to win, not because we feel we had to win. Some guys out there feel they have to win or they're going to lose their job next week -- that's not the case here.

	Jeff Gordon Credit: Autostock

"If I finished in the top-five point spots this year, I would say it's been a bad year. It doesn't mean that it couldn't have been worse."

So, with the hype over the lack of Gordon's wins, some have questioned if he is getting upset or tired of all the talk.

"I've been pissed off a couple of weekends, but it's not been because of you guys (the media)," Gordon said to me. "I understand you have a story to write and it's a good story. I just hope I put an end to a good story pretty soon."

One guy who knows Gordon and what he is capable of is Ray Evernham.

He led Gordon to three of his four championships before moving on to become a team owner. Gordon won the championship last year without Evernham; something a few said couldn't be done.

You think Evernham doesn't deserve some credit for those three championships with Gordon? Here's a thought to ponder. The last time Gordon won a race was last year at Kansas. Since then, Evernham has notched three victories as a car owner with Bill Elliott. You know, that same Elliott who folks were pushing out to the proverbial stock car retirement farm last year.

When Gordon was kicking butt through the 1990s, there wasn't a Chip Ganassi Racing and Evernham Motorsports to compete against. Evernham offered one reason why the No. 24 Chevy team isn't taking the checkered flags like they have in the past.

"I just think that Hendrick group is this far off their combination," Evernham said, holding his finger and thumb a quarter-inch apart. "When you're that far off, you can be way off. They're just going through a cycle that everybody goes through.

"That cycle is that you're doing really well and you think you know why. Then you start doing the same thing and you're not doing so good. What you have to do is stay with what you know and not make any drastic changes because it will come back.

"They're just not on the desirable part of the cycle right now. If I was a betting man, I would bet they would be back on that desirable end of the cycle by the end of the year."

Evernham is aware of the attention that Gordon's losing streak has garnered. That is one thing that he hopes doesn't upset the driver he worked with so many years with.

"I just keep hoping everybody doesn't piss him off by reminding him of that," Evernham said. "If they piss him off, and he goes on tear, we'll have our hands full with him."

Thirteen races to go and counting -- I guess we'll see.

Tim Packman's column appears every Saturday on NASCAR.com. The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.