Jeff Gordon won his fourth Brickyard 400 on his way to first place in the Nextel Cup points heading into the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Credit: Autostock

Five wins key Gordon's run at fifth championship

Some days you're chicken, and the next day you're feathers. That's pretty much how Jeff Gordon's 2004 race to the Chase went.

Waiting seven races for his first top-five finish -- although he had four top-10s in that span -- meant Gordon needed a big push in the middle stages to contend. He got it, beginning at Talladega. Over the next 14 races, Gordon earned back-to-back victories at Talladega and California, then won two straight at Sonoma and Daytona.

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A couple of races later, Gordon earned his fourth Brickyard 400 title by being the class of the field. From Talladega to Watkins Glen, the 22nd race, Gordon won five times, finished in the top-five nine times and in the top-10 14 times.

In some races, he was like the Gordon of several seasons ago, just completely dominant and untouchable. At Sonoma and again at Daytona, he won the pole and the race, and at Sonoma he was simply superb, leading all but a few of the 110 laps.

He even took the point lead following the second Michigan race, while Johnson was nursing a broken engine in the garage area. A blown engine at California gave the point lead back to Johnson, however.

In the final 10 races, be prepared for Gordon to be more chicken, less feathers. He's been here, done this too many times to be counted out.

Daytona 500: He was good, but not good enough to derail the Dale Jr.-DEI machine. A top-10 to get the season started right, plus he led a lap.

Subway 400 at Rockingham: He led again, but came home with his second straight top-10 in what appears to be the last race at Rockingham for the foreseeable future.

UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas: The first sub-par run of the season, Gordon finished out of the top-10 and failed to lead a lap.

Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta: His third top-10 finish in four races, Gordon was in contention all day, but faded to 10th at the finish.

Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington: Gordon's exit via a crash--he tripped over the lapped car of Andy Hillenburg and finished 41st--triggered a huge debate on NASCAR's handling of cars on the fringes of competitiveness. It would not be the first such controversy in 2004.

Food City 500 at Bristol: Back to his consistent ways, Gordon logged another top-10 (his fourth), but did not lead.

Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas: One of just four tracks where Gordon has not won, he raced to third, his first top-five of the season and the fifth in the top 10.

Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville: At a track where he has been dominant in the past couple of seasons, Gordon finished sixth, led a lap and kept climbing in the points.

Aaron's 499 at Talladega: Gordon finished the work started at Daytona and finally ended the DEI dominance at Talladega. He ran down Dale Jr. and won his first race of the season. Can you say momentum?

Auto Club 500 at California: The native Californian was in one of his throwback moods, dominating the way he used to, leading the most laps and earning his second straight victory.

Chevrolet American Revolution 400 at Richmond: Ran well all night, but wound up sixth at the finish. Had he come home one spot higher, he would have been part of a Chevy sweep of the top five. Led a lap to add five more bonus points.

Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's: Wound up 30th, seven laps down. Not a good night for the Rainbow Warrior.

MBNA All American 400 at Dover: Bad finishes come in bunches, it seems. A crash after 221 laps meant that this was part of a bad bunch. He was 36th at the finish.

Pocono 500: A top-five finish heals all wounds, and so it did here. He was fourth, and he led a lap. Bad bunch forgotten.

DHL 400 at Michigan: OK, bad bunch revisited. A blown engine relegated him to 38th place, and all the momentum a week before at Pocono vanished in a puff of smoke. Of course, not many of the other top runners fared well either, so the damage was minimized.

Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma: Did we mention that Gordon is tough on road courses? If not, we should have. Gordon was simply untouchable all weekend long, losing the lead only on pit stops, and he won his third race of the season.

Pepsi 400 at Daytona: Good finishes also come in bunches, and stringing two victories together is as good as it gets. He and Johnson finished 1-2, further demonstrating that the DEI stranglehold on restrictor-plate racing is over.

Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland: Not stout enough to handle Tony Stewart, Gordon made it three top-fives in a row here, and led a lap to add five more points to the total.

Siemens 300 at New Hampshire: He was the best Chevrolet on this day, finishing second. It was his fourth straight top-five, but he failed to lead a lap.

Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono: Once more, with feeling, Gordon landed in the top five at Pocono. His fifth-place effort was his eighth top-five of the season and propelled him to second in the points--232 behind Johnson.

Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis: Another old-school day, as he was the best car from the green flag to the checker to earn his fourth victory of the season. With the victory, his fourth at Indy, he joined A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears as the only men to win at Indy four times. Combined with teammate Johnson's broken engine, he closed the gap to 97 points.

Sirius at the Glen: A good day turned bad in the waning laps, as Gordon's tranny acted up and he only had fourth gear. He finished 21st, but Johnson went out early and Gordon closed to within 40 points of the lead.

GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan: Another top-10 finish (seventh) came with an added bonus: since Johnson blew another engine, he took over the point lead. It was Johnson's third straight DNF, and Gordon kept right on truckin'.

Sharpie 500 at Bristol: A good news/bad news situation for Gordon, who started on the pole but faded to 14th at the finish. A bizarre penalty for not being in the right line for a restart cost Gordon a lap just after he had managed to get back on the lead lap, but he maintained the point lead by 24 over Johnson, who wound up third.

Pop Secret 500 at California: Gordon's engine blew up after 209 laps, and he finished 37th, handing the point lead back to Johnson by 50 points headed to Richmond.

Chevy Rock and Roll 400: Nearly got caught up in the accident that took out teammate Jimmie Johnson, slipped back in the field until he caught a break when many of the leaders were forced to make a green-flag pit stop. Gordon finished third to regain the point lead.