Gordon revels in season of awe, ultimate frustration

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The sweet-and-sour reality of Jeff Gordon's second-place finish in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, was painted all over his face on Homestead-Miami Speedway's pit road following the Ford 400.

As if tickling a pit bull with a 5-foot swamp weed, Gordon was forced to watch his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson celebrate his second consecutive Nextel Cup championship by executing a fiercely smoking burnout merely 100 yards away on the frontstretch.

Gordon managed a smile when the juxtaposition prompted a reporter to ask if Gordon felt Johnson was yet again overshadowing him.

"He's been doing that for, well, I guess the last couple of years -- I was going to say four or five weeks," Gordon said, laughing. "Oh yeah, the year that almost was.

"Certainly I'm going to look back at this as a great year. But it wasn't a championship year."

Gordon had just battled an evil-handling Chevrolet Monte Carlo for the final time, for 400 miles and 267 laps -- and subdued it for a fourth-place finish. The "standard" cars will be replaced full time by the Car of Tomorrow next season.

But when Gordon climbed out to meet the press, he looked as drained as if he had also fought two hives of bees and a couple of wolverines at the same time.

To quantify losing a championship by 77 points after recording an average finish of 5.1 for the 10 races in the Chase, setting a NASCAR Modern Era record for top-10 finishes (30) and adding 21 top-fives, six wins and seven poles in a 36-race season was almost indescribable.

"I'm a big believer in when it's meant to be, it's meant to be," Gordon said. "You've got to work hard. You've got to prepare yourself and your team. And you know what? Jimmie and Chad [Knaus] and all those guys did a phenomenal job.

"I know how good my team was this year. They're one of the best teams I've ever been a part of. And for [Johnson] to come out 77 points ahead over 10 races [in the Chase] is very impressive.

"We're certainly extremely proud of what we've accomplished this year -- it's been a great year. But we want another championship and we know we've got to beat Jimmie and guys like Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart and a lot of other guys if we're going to get us another one."

Pondering that predicament may make Gordon look as if Grizzly bears were added to the racecar/bee/wolverine equation -- but Sunday evening, in less than 10 minutes after getting out of his car, 90 percent of which he spent answering question after question, save for a brief meeting with owners Rick and Linda Hendrick, Gordon looked remarkably recovered.

Gordon's affection for his owners was obvious when, after nearly five minutes of media questioning next to his multi-hued No. 24 Chevrolet on pit road, Gordon paused to greet the Hendricks.

Rick Hendrick held Gordon in a long embrace and whispered briefly in his ear. Later, he said he told Gordon "that I was proud of him, and that he should take a lot of pride in making this happen."

Gordon smiled when he responded, saying, "Congratulations, man -- thank you, I appreciate it; and I'm proud of you."

Gordon, who throughout the race complained about a tight racecar and only expressed real disgust when he questioned a NASCAR call that placed him at the tail end of the lead lap under the first caution, said he could accept his fate this season, but with difficulty.

"We have a lot to be proud of and happy about this year -- it's been a great year," Gordon said. "But it's bittersweet for us because to come up short, I've never been in this position before.

"Every championship, well, I guess maybe in '04, but in all the other years when we've had the year like we had this year we've been the ones to go out there and put the pressure on the competition.

"So it's a great learning experience for us and we're not done yet. We'll just try to go out there and do it next year."

To do that, Gordon certainly will have to deal with his teammates, who repeated as champions for the first time since Gordon accomplished the feat with his second and third of four titles, in 1997-98.

Along with the Hendricks' meeting, one of the more poignant post-race moments came when Gordon pulled alongside Johnson on their cool-off lap, for a silent salute amidst a lot of exhaust clamor.

"I would have just told him how happy I am for him [because] he deserves it," Gordon said of the message he would have spoken. "He's the best out there. He and his whole team literally are the best out there and they deserved it.

"There is a reason why they were champions last year and there's a reason why they are champions this year. We gave them everything we had. We couldn't have asked for more out of ourselves to go out there and battle for this championship.

"We put together one heck of a string of races the entire season and it just wasn't enough."

And while Gordon said he looked forward to his first holiday season with his wife and daughter, he also said he faced the reality of a challenging future.

"I mean, we just put together one heck of a total year, you know what I mean?" Gordon said. "On one side, you know I love the Chase, I love what it's all about and the entertainment aspect of it, and I know it's the best thing for the sport. But when I look at our whole year, it's a little tough."

Gordon had more than a 300-point lead over Stewart going into the final race before the Chase. He lost all that and was 20 points behind Johnson entering the Chase.

"I'm a competitor," Gordon said. "You know, I'm very happy for Jimmie and those guys, but I really wanted it for our team. I felt like [the 24 team] deserved it. They worked hard and did a great job this year. We came up a little short.

"But it's been awesome, and there is nothing for us to hang our heads about. It's really been an amazing year."

Gordon hopes it's not his last, and he draws a lot of encouragement from the momentum averaging 5.1 for 10 races -- plus finishing fourth at Homestead, definitely not one of his better tracks -- will bring for next season.

"I'm so glad we ran good [Sunday night]," Gordon said. "That's the only thing that was really going to eat at me over the offseason is if we came out of here like we did last year and finished 25th or whatever. I would have been pretty disappointed.

"Hey, we didn't lead a lap, but we fought hard. We gave them a good run and had a pretty good car there at the end."

So Gordon hopes he does have more left in his tank.

"Every race, every time you win a race, every time you win a championship you think, this could be the last," Gordon said. "We've heard Mark Martin say it forever -- but I know what he's saying, I know what he means.

"You're so appreciative. You work so hard, and you really just never know when it's going to happen again. And that, to me, is the toughest part about this year for me, personally. I'm not getting any younger.

"I put up about as good a numbers as I know how to put up, and it wasn't enough -- and that's tough to handle as a competitor -- as somebody that's been successful in this series in racing. So, definitely you've got to dig deep and find out [what happened]."

And with everything Gordon had given to his team, and his teammate, in the end that's all he said he really wanted.

"You know, I was very committed this year to this team to give them everything that I had, because I really want Steve Letarte to be a championship crew chief," Gordon said. "I think he's an awesome guy and deserves it. I felt like we had the team underneath us.

"Now I'm just hoping we can enjoy this offseason and go into next season with the Car of Tomorrow, the Impala, and do what we need to do to take it up one notch."