Gordon leaves Richmond more relieved than upset (cont'd)

"We were making gains on the car at that time and we really were better than a lot of guys we were racing around and we started driving to the front. It was pretty impressive that one time we drove from 30th up to about 15th or something. And I was really impressed with that run. We needed that."

The biggest thing was that Gordon's points drop was minimal. At one point, as he raced 12th-place point man Kasey Kahne for a top-10 spot late in the going, it even seemed as if Gordon would be back in a Chase for the Cup-qualified spot by race's end.

As it was, he ended the night unofficially in 13th, six points out of 12th.

"I'm really proud of this team," Gordon said. "That was a great battle -- a great fight. It showed what we're made of. To come home with a top 10 was good.

"We didn't make a lot of gains in the points, but we didn't lose anything. It was good momentum for our team. We needed this run."

But it still leaves Hendrick's lead duo with perhaps more questions than answers, except when it comes to the current competition level in Sprint Cup.

Gordon thinks he has an answer to the problem, though not how to solve it.

"I know why it's happening," Gordon said. "It's happening because Goodyear is changing tires on us a little bit so we've had to adjust to that. The competition has gotten better.

"If we come back the same, we're going to be even worse than we are now. That's just the way this sport is and how really tough and competitive it is. Your competitors go to work when you're good or when they're not. And that's what's happened.

"And now we're in the position that we have to go to work and that's what we've been doing. We've been testing a lot these last couple of weeks."

Letarte was singing from the same hymnal.

"It's just everything," Letarte said. "It's taking the car to new tracks [and] even at the tracks we were good at, I think the field's gotten a whole lot better. It's definitely different tires -- it's just everything.

"I wish I could tell you exactly what it was, because I would change it. But that's why this sport is so good, and that's why there are so many people in the stands -- it doesn't matter how you were last week, how you were today or how you were last year.

"You've got to show up every week and we're just a little off on the chassis side, right now."

To that end, Gordon's somewhat relieved that this weekend's Dodge Challenger 500 is at Darlington Raceway, a track where he and his team tested twice earlier this spring while doing Goodyear tire development.

But even that presents no guarantees, despite the fact that Gordon is the race's defending champion in the race that the new car's fifth outing last year.

"Yeah, I feel comfortable that we know what to expect with the tire," Gordon said. "When you're there in a tire test, you really don't get to work on speed and making the car better and go faster -- you're just trying to test for Goodyear.

"But it gives you good data to work on back at the shop and I hope that it pays off for us."