Weekend That Was: Lowe's Motor Speedway

Even before his latest victory, this was Jeff Gordon's year.

He wants everyone to be aware of that. Even if he somehow fails to win the Chase for the Nextel Cup, he claims that it will still be his year.

"I'm going to tell you right now: I don't care what happens with the championship, this is my year -- just because I'm being a father," said Gordon, whose daughter Ella was born on June 20. "With the wins we've had so far and the kind of year on and off the racetrack it has been for me personally, it's just been the most incredible year already."

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Becoming a father for the first time will do that to folks. It makes everything else in life pale in comparison, and everything else pales greatly as well as quickly.

But the fact is that by winning the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway last Saturday night for his sixth triumph of the season, which ties him with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson for most victories on the year, Gordon made himself look more invincible than ever in 2007.

And he really does want the title. Who in their right mind wouldn't when it is dangling so darn close to the fingertips that grip the steering wheel of the No. 24 Chevrolet?

"I hope more than anything that we can seal this off with a championship because it would be just one of those dream years that I don't think I could ever touch again -- even better than '98 and the 13 wins we had in that championship [season]," Gordon said. "It's kind of hard to put into words and perspective, but I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe that you've got to work hard to put yourself in good position to make good things happen.

"You've got to have good karma and there are a lot of factors that play into why the chemistry of a team and certain people, you know, make special things happen; why it's some people one year and not the next. I don't have all the answers to it -- but whatever we're doing, we're going to keep doing it and see what happens."

With five races left in the '07 Chase, he knows he doesn't have it won yet. Johnson, the defending champion, looms a mere 68 points back in second and the surprisingly resilient Clint Bowyer, in only his second full-time season at the Cup level, lurks in third just 10 points behind Johnson and 78 behind overall.

Gordon even refuses to eliminate Tony Stewart from his list of serious contenders, even though Stewart is 198 points back now and keeps running into rookie Paul Menard at the most inconvenient of times.

"I don't care. Until [Stewart] is mathematically out of it, that guy is a threat -- a major threat. He can win at any track, any time," Gordon said. "They are a solid, strong team, and so I never count him out. I just know how good he is and how good his team is."

But now Gordon gets to go to Martinsville Speedway, one of his favorite racetracks. He has won there seven times in his storied career, has nine consecutive top-10 finishes, eight of which he finished sixth or higher. Included in those eight finishes were two of his wins and a pair of seconds, including last spring when he regretted not knocking Johnson out of the way in a race that it seemed Gordon could have won instead if he had only been a tad more aggressive.

It doesn't appear to be the sort of place where Gordon will "stub his toe," which is how Bowyer so eloquently put it when asked what has to happen to give him a chance to catch up.

That Gordon is the man to beat is without question. The more legitimate question now is, can Gordon be beat?

Gordon denies that he has his fifth championship locked up.

"There's too much racing left to go," Gordon said after winning at Charlotte. "It's just like, you know, we were trying to survive at Talladega and we did [by ultimately] trying to get a win. We were trying to survive [last Saturday], too. Our goal coming into it was to get to the end, 500 miles. I think we felt like if we could get to 500 miles, we would have a top-five car.

"But you know, there's no doubt that this team has an amazing chemistry about it. We have some great things that are going our way. You know, call it luck or karma or whatever you want to call it. But there are some great things happening. The thing to remember is that there are still five races to go and all that has to continue in order for us to get this championship."

At this point, there is no reason to think that it won't. But Gordon said that is just when this sport can rise up and take a bite out of your ego.

"Those types of things that take you out of it can happen at any time, and we don't take that for granted," Gordon said. "We are going to go to Martinsville with the same attitude, the same game plan, to come out of there hopefully with a strong, consistent finish. We are not going there saying, 'This is our place to get another win.' We just want to go there and keep doing what we've been doing and stay consistent."

Um, memo to Gordon: won't that mean winning yet again?

Remodeling time

Gordon was asked after career win No. 81 last Saturday where in the heck he keeps all those trophies. He said they're all on display at Hendrick Motorsports, which may have to be expanded soon -- and significantly -- if he and Johnson keep racking up the race wins.

"We've got quite a selection. When we built that shop, I wanted to have every single trophy of our wins displayed as we hopefully accumulate trophies with the 48 team, which we have," Gordon said. "We wanted to be able to display them all. Now I'm not sure if that display area has been made big enough. So that's a great problem to have."

Back on track

The six wins Gordon has registered this season are the most he's had in a year since he also won six in 2001 -- which not coincidentally is the last time he won a championship.

Team owner Rick Hendrick said that much of Gordon's current success can be traced to how content the driver is away from the track after the recent birth of his daughter. But then Hendrick admitted that at times between Gordon's last championship and his pursuit of this one, his organization simply failed to give Gordon all he needed to be successful on the track.

"I think I see a real happy Jeff Gordon now," Hendrick said. "I think that his life outside of racing is probably the best it's ever been, especially with his little girl. But he's always been competitive.

"I think if you go back and look at times when he was struggling, he carried the team for several years there when we were just really not organized enough and we were not giving him the equipment. I've never seen a time in his tenure with me where it's been Jeff Gordon that wasn't getting the job done."

Get out of the way

It's no secret that Stewart and his crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, were irate with driver Paul Menard and his crew after yet another pit-road incident involving their teams Saturday. It was the second time during the Chase that Menard had irked Stewart to the point that Stewart did something stupid; and in both cases, quite frankly, Stewart was fortunate he wasn't penalized further either by more damage to his car or (in the first case at Dover) by NASCAR doing something to him.

And if you happened to be listening in on the radio communication for the No. 20 Stewart team during the latest pit-road mishap, the driver saved some choice swear words for Menard and Kasey Kahne (whom Stewart rammed into after getting blocked in the pits by Menard). Basically, Stewart lamented the fact that two of the 31 "other guys" not in the Chase had once again dented his chances of a top finish in a Chase race.

Nonetheless, Zipadelli said that while it's frustrating to have a non-Chaser play such a prominent role in what happens, it's no excuse for a poor finish because it could happen to anyone.

"The other 11 cars that are racing [in the Chase] could be in the same situation," Zipadelli said. "We all started with the same odds, as far as situations that can happen and where you are on pit road."

Thumbs up

To non-Chasers Dave Blaney (sixth), Kasey Kahne (eighth), David Stremme (ninth) and Michael Waltrip (10th) for their top-10 finishes Saturday night.

Thumbs down

To whoever in the military chain of command decided to cancel the scheduled flyover for Saturday's race "because of darkness." They did one the previous night for the Busch race, and it was spectacular. It also happened to come after dark.

Pit stops

• There were a slew of non-Chasers, in addition to the ones already mentioned, who ran well Saturday. Among the others were Ricky Rudd (11th), Bobby Labonte (12th), J.J. Yeley (13th), A.J. Allmendinger (season-best 15th), Mark Martin (16th) and Kyle Petty (18th).

• Wow. That didn't take long, did it? All LMS owner Bruton Smith had to do was huff and puff and threaten to move his house down the road and suddenly the Concord (N.C.) City Council totally reversed its decision to block Smith's planned construction of a $60 million drag strip. Next thing you know, they're talking instead about giving him some additional tax breaks. King Bruton, meanwhile, continues to play it coy and apparently will see how far they'll go with giving him stuff before he commits to calling off the engineering dogs he sent out to look for another suitable location to build his threatened "new track." Seems like everyone but the members of the Concord City Council saw this one coming from about four turns away.

• Kudos and a double thumbs-up to whoever was behind what turned out to be the only pre-race flyover of consequence Saturday night -- the plane that pulled a banner behind it that asked, "HOW MUCH DOES BOBBY GINN OWE YOU?" Could that have been Sterling Marlin piloting that plane?