Notes: Decision on future for Gordon not before 2009

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- If you're a Jeff Gordon fan, mark your 2009 calendar as a watershed moment in the icon's NASCAR career, as he said Friday at Martinsville that it's very likely that might be when he makes a decision on what the closing phase of his career will be.

Gordon was specifically asked if getting married and becoming a father in the last year had changed his perspective on possibly retiring from driving.

"That's a good question," Gordon said. "I can tell you that in 2003, 2004, 2005, those were years where I was like, 'this is getting old real quick.' I realized just how competitive I truly am and that I don't like to ride mid-pack or the back of the pack. Nobody does, I know that.

"But when you've had the success that we've had, it even makes it tougher because there's a lot of expectations that come along with that. Had we continued down that path that would have made things end a lot earlier. So it's been very cool and very inspiring to turn things around last year and come into this year the way we have.

"It's fun again and that to me, it changes the way I look at things because it tells me that you do have to have everything lined up, the chemistry has to be there among the team. Obviously the cars have to drive well but you have to have confidence, people have to have confidence in you and you have to have the structure and balance off the racetrack just as in line as you do with the race team and the team on the racetrack.

"So I think that there truly is no number [he's set as a deadline to retire]. All I can tell you is that 2010 is when our contracts are ending and probably 2009 is a year that's going to have a lot of decision-making for me. Those contracts might be up in 2010 but they all want to talk about them in 2009.

"So to me that's going to be a big year. We'll just see where I'm at, how things are going, how fatherhood is going -- how much tuition is for kindergarten [laughing]. I don't know. This year I'm just having a blast and enjoying life and racing like I never have so [quitting] hasn't even been a thought."

Bowyer on shock and awe

Clint Bowyer says he's nowhere near shocked to be a Chase for the Nextel Cup contender with five races remaining in the season, but despite being only 78 points behind four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, the championship leader, and 10 points behind second-place Jimmie Johnson, the defending Nextel Cup champion, his prospects for a title are a little daunting.

"It's definitely the fact that it's two proven race winners and champions [he's chasing]," Bowyer said. "It's not a back marker that you're trying to chase down, it's Jeff Gordon, and it's not only Jeff Gordon of two years ago where he was a top-10 car, it's Jeff Gordon where he's a top-three car about every weekend -- so we know we got to pick up our game.

"Even if we do that and win two or three more races this year it's still going to take some bad luck on their side. If you win they're going to finish second or third. They're just that good right now but we have to be that good, too, and hopefully if they slip up and stub their toe or something, we have to be there for the taking and racing as hard as we can week in and week out. That's all we can do."

Rudd optimistic

The veteran Ricky Rudd, who scored one of the most impressive victories of his long career at Martinsville in this race in 1998, said he more than likely would be able to complete Sunday's Subway 500 without the help of a relief driver -- but that he would not make the final decision until Saturday's two practice sessions.

Rudd, who suffered a separated shoulder in an accident at California Speedway in early September and missed five races before returning last weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway, had said this week he was unsure of being able to stand the physical strain of completing 500 laps at Martinsville.

"I think we'll be OK," Rudd said after qualifying his No. 88 Ford in 23rd position. "All in all, considering we had six laps of practice, I think we've got something we can race. The arm feels pretty good right now [but] I haven't run many laps yet.

"I really planned to come in here and run like a 25-lap run and make a decision: Do I get out of the car and let Kenny [Wallace] get in now? But with the way the weather was, we didn't get that, so I guess that's gonna be on hold until [Saturday].

"So far, I haven't seen any signs of it giving me a problem where it would keep me from racing, I don't think."

Dirty Gordon

Nextel Cup driver/owner Robby Gordon turned exactly two laps Friday at Martinsville Speedway in his No. 7 Ford, which was good for 41st in Sunday's race's lineup. Gordon is splitting time between Martinsville and racing his off-road truck in the Championship Off Road Racing (CORR) Series races this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, where he'll race in both the Lucas Oil Series Pro 2 point races as well as the Pro 2 Jason Baldwin Cup Qualifier.

Gordon actually never planned to miss any Cup practice, but was dealt badly by the rainy weather in Martinsville, so he swapped seats with Craftsman Truck Series regular Brendan Gaughan, who practiced Gordon's car and allowed Gordon to get some laps in his No. 77 truck in that division's practice.

After Bud Pole Qualifying, Gordon went to Texas where he led his CORR event before he was flipped on the last lap. Gordon was 11th in Saturday morning's Cup practice and planned to return to Texas after Happy Hour before coming back to Virginia in time for Sunday's Subway 500.

Allmendinger not short on bullrings

Team Red Bull Toyota driver A.J. Allmendinger, who has run only 14 Nextel Cup races in his career, after qualifying his No. 84 Camry 25th on Friday has qualified for all six Cup short-track races this season. Conversely, his veteran teammate, Brian Vickers, made only two of six short-track races.

"We were just a bit tight overall [but] all the credit goes back to everybody at Team Red Bull, especially the test team because we may have got in this race [in April] but we weren't very good when we were here," Allmendinger said. "They worked really hard throughout the past couple of months getting ready for here [and] the car is way better.

"We still need to be a little bit better but overall, just a great job by everybody on the team."

After missing races at Kansas and Talladega, Allmendinger finished a career-best 15th at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He was 38th in the spring at Martinsville.

"Like I said, we may have got in the race but it was so bad when we were," Allmendinger said. "I've never made a pit stop during green just to tell 'em to fix it because that's how bad it was [but] everybody just worked really hard back at home getting ready for this racetrack specifically.

"It's the short, flat tracks that we struggle on and the car, from the first lap, was way better. I actually passed a guy [and] I was like, 'Whoa, that's pretty cool around here.' I really didn't see the bottom lane most of the first race because I was getting passed by everybody [so] it's a lot better."

What drives Harvick?

Former two-time Busch Series champion Kevin Harvick may be out of contention for the Nextel Cup championship, as he's in eighth, 328 points behind leader Gordon, but that doesn't change his intensity.

"Oh, you should have been at my house last night and you'll see why they call us racers -- we raced go-karts and you would have thought we were racing for a million dollars," Harvick said. "We just like to race. We just like to go out and that's what drives us all is the thrill of the competition and pushing yourself to beat the next guy and that's really what drives me.

"Everybody talks about points racing and this and that, but you just go out there and you race just as hard as you can to get the best finish that you can every week and anything less than that you're disappointed with.

"So, for us, we've had a miserable Chase -- not performance-based by any means. The first few races we've run well at tracks we normally don't run well at; we just don't have anything to show for it."

Menard's sad tune

Rookie of the year candidate Paul Menard was only one driver whom the rain really hurt in qualifying, as his DEI Chevrolet team got only one run in practice before rain cut the session short. (Speeds)

"We got just as much practice there [in qualifying] as we did in practice," Menard said. "We were really, really tight when we unloaded this morning. We only did one run, like three laps, and freed it up and were still tight in the middle and buzzing the tires off. I think we helped it turn a little bit [in qualifying] -- we just have to hook it up now on exit."

Open and shut

The likes of Dario Franchitti and other open-wheel stars are leaving some current Nextel Cup drivers without rides for next season. But Franchitti offers no apologies.

• Complete story, click here

Hornish still struggling

It's on to Atlanta for open-wheel standout Sam Hornish Jr., who continues to ping-pong while attempting to make his Nextel Cup debut. Hornish, who for the second time in five failed attempts fell back from a "qualified" spot in practice only to fail to make the race, plans to go to Atlanta and give it another try after he was the last go-or-go-home car to miss the cut Friday.

"The rain certainly doesn't help with getting practice time," Hornish said after missing by seven-one-hundredths of a second. "It's tough but we knew it was going to be tough. That qualifying lap was our own fault -- the car was good on the warm-up lap but it had way too much push on the qualifying lap.

"It's frustrating but we'll keep working at it."

Franchitti's schedule

Open-wheel changeover Dario Franchitti came to the infield media center to talk about his ongoing transition to stock-car racing, but couldn't say much about his upcoming schedule, which is anticipated to include next weekend's Busch Series short-track race at Memphis, a .750-mile oval.

Franchitti's public relations representative said his planned schedule has sometimes changed "two or three times in one day, so we're just playing it by ear as he completes the next step."

Green's moose

Nextel Cup driver Jeff Green submitted an application for the last 10 years to get a moose hunting permit in the state of Maine, before he was finally successful for the current hunting season. Green went on the hunt right after racing at Talladega and it was successful -- in about 10 minutes.

"You could go a long way chasing after one, but we were about 800 yards behind the guy's house who was guiding us," Green said. "I've bagged some pretty good-sized whitetail deer, but this was by far the biggest game I've shot -- it had a 54-inch rack [of antlers] and it was almost 1,200 pounds -- as big as a Clydesdale."