Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace both have questioned Jeff Gordon's focus in the past week. Credit: Autostock

Question Gordon? You both should know better

Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip are among the most renowned personalities in NASCAR history, beloved by millions for transcendent achievement both on and off the racetrack.

	MARTY SMITH •   E-mail Marty •   Opinion Archive

Both are driving champions at the highest level. Both are network television voices of reason at the highest level.

Both rode the Cup Series rollercoaster, experienced its highest high at the Waldorf-Astoria in the '80s and its lowest low in Daytona Beach in 2001.

Each has forgotten more about auto racing than most could ever fathom learning.

And among that which they've forgotten, it seems, is the inordinate number of variables involved in producing even general racing success, much less dominance, and how dominance can create unreasonable expectation.

Wallace and Waltrip both enjoyed dominant periods on the racetrack, only to experience a performance decline. The proverbial ebb and flow. Happens to everyone. Even happened to Dale Earnhardt.

In the seven years between 1988 and 1993, Wallace logged 27 of the 55 wins in his career. Nearly half. In '93 he won 10 races, finished 80 points short of Earnhardt in the title hunt. Four years later he won just once, finished ninth in the standings. By 2003 he was winless and 14th in the point standings.

Between his first Cup championship in 1981 and his last in '85, DW won 40 races. Nearly half. By 1993 he'd never win again.

I tell you this for a reason.

Neither Wallace nor Waltrip wanted it any less. They still had the ability and tenacity to win, but for whatever reason performance waned. Maybe the competition caught up to them. Maybe team chemistry wasn't quite right. Maybe there was an inner-team dynamic we'll never know about.

But the lofty standards they'd previously set made it appear they'd lost the edge.

In other words, they've been right where Jeff Gordon currently is.

That's why folks were taken aback by their agreed assumption that Gordon's focus isn't what it once was. Maybe, since they have first-hand experience, they're able to see things in Gordon we laymen cannot.

If so, Gordon's current competitors don't see it.

"I think if people are going to question Jeff Gordon, they need a reality check," Kevin Harvick said.

Neither Wallace nor Waltrip question Gordon's ability. Both believe he can still get it done behind the wheel. But neither feels the four-time Cup champion is fully focused on the No. 24 Chevrolet.

"I don't think Jeff is as focused right now as he's been in the past," Wallace told The Roanoke Times. "I think he's got a lot of other things going on that are a lot of fun to him, a lot of vacationing, a lot of cool places that he's been to around the world and he's really enjoying himself. These race cars take 100 percent of your concentration."

Inside the Numbers A comparison of Jeff Gordon, Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip's Cup careers   Gordon Wallace Waltrip Starts 447 706 809 Wins 73 55 84 Top-fives 202 202 276 Top-10s 273 349 390 Poles 54 36 59 Avg. Start 9.5 13.4 13.7 Avg. Finish 12.5 14.5 15.1

The numbers aren't what they once were. This weekend's race at Darlington Raceway is the season's 11th event, and to date Gordon hasn't won. Just once since his rookie campaign has he gone 0-for-11. In 2002 he failed to win until the season's 24th race.

But he hasn't run badly this season. Following a 40th-place finish at Richmond he's ninth in the Nextel Cup Series standings. He has three top-five and four top-10 finishes. He had a top-five car at Bristol, as well, but was wrecked on the last lap and finished 21st.

He dominated Talladega, led the most laps, but made a late-race drafting mistake and faded to 15th.

Gordon admits it could be better, but quickly tempers that statement. It could also be far worse.

And criticism, of course, is subjective.

"I think if somebody within [the Hendrick Motorsports] organization, inside that [No. 24] truck, questioned my desire, then I'd take it very seriously, and I would say maybe there would be some merit to it because they know within the organization what's going on," Gordon said last Friday at Richmond.

While speaking he turns to face the interviewer, looks him in the eye. It is quite obvious this is a sensitive subject for the four-time champ.

"I haven't sensed that, haven't felt that," he continued. "Any outside criticism is just that, and you can't pay too much attention to it. I know where I stand in my commitment and the desire that I have."

Stevie Letarte, Gordon's crew chief, scoffs at the notion that his driver isn't all there mentally.

"In my opinion it takes twice as much desire to keep coming back when you're not winning," Letarte said. "It's easy to come to the track when you're winning.

"This sport will eat you alive if you don't have an outlet. And when you have nothing left to prove, you've got to find something else. We all have something else. That's what will keep Jeff winning. And it's just racing, anyway. It ain't life or death."

Racing is Jeff Gordon's life. He admits to being frustrated, but again is quick to rebut that deep within that frustration is motivation.

"There's no doubt that there's been moments of frustration from not running good and not pulling into Victory Lane as much as I'd like to, but those times also challenge me to want to get it back and prove to those critics that they didn't know what they were talking about," Gordon said.

Again, his peers say that won't be overly difficult.

"The guy is one of the sport's best that there's ever been," Harvick continued. "I just have a hard time thinking that he's off in la la land, focused on something else.

"[The critics] need to look in the mirror and say, 'Do I really need to be saying that?' This guy's won 73 races. He won races last year. I mean, I think that's kind of crazy, myself, to question him. He's still as competitive as he's ever been."

Gordon doesn't disagree, and points to the 1998 season as a prime example of his ability to focus. Constructing a house in Florida, he was unable to spend time in the race shop in North Carolina. Every spare moment was spent working on plans, architecture, house-design, the like.

He went to Victory Lane 13 times that season, won the championship by 364 points.

He didn't apologize then for building a house, and won't apologize now for vacationing.

"I like vacation," he said. "I feel like I'm more focused when I do because I work so hard when we're not vacationing. I would not be ashamed to say that I'm probably one of the hardest working guys in this garage area.

"Maybe it's not always on the racetrack at a test somewhere, but it's between racing, testing, appearances and things that I have to do for sponsors and to be a part of this sport. I know I'm busy, so I look forward to taking that time off."

He can't deny, though, that the criticism gets his attention, and that of his team.

"If we go a while without winning, the outside criticisms get more and more, and that makes it tougher for us. It really does," he said. "It doesn't make it any easier on us, because it's hard to hear those things and see those things and not be affected by them."

Especially from those that have walked in his shoes.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.