Gordon hopes his Texas struggles change with pole

FORT WORTH, Texas -- If you believe in statistics, it doesn't look good for Jeff Gordon heading into Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

But then, if you believe in statistics, it's already been a terrible year for Gordon and his No. 24 Chevrolet team that is fielded by Hendrick Motorsports.

Dickies 500

Race Lineup

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet
2.	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet
3.	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet
4.	Jamie McMurray	Ford
5.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet
6.	Matt Kenseth	Ford
7.	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet
8.	Tony Stewart	Toyota
9.	Reed Sorenson	Dodge
10.	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet

• Race Lineup | Chase qualifiers

Gordon believes in none of the above. And so he stated on Friday before going out and winning the pole for this Sunday's event.

"I just know the car feels good," said Gordon, whose No. 24 Chevy also was quickest in Friday's Cup practice at TMS. "We know we've made big gains since the last time we were here."

That's encouraging for Gordon and his crew chief Steve Letarte -- since Gordon finished 43rd for only the second time in 542 career Cup starts in that race last spring. It was the third time in his career he's finished dead last in a Cup event, with him also doing it once when only 42 cars were fielded at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1997.

Throw in the fact that Gordon has not won since doing so at Charlotte in October of 2007 -- 38 races ago -- plus the fact that Texas Motor Speedway is one of only two tracks where Gordon has never won, and one can see why the driver is suddenly bubbling with optimism about an event at a place where he traditionally has struggled.

"We were comfortable right from the beginning of practice," Gordon said. "We just needed the car to turn a little bit better and get the speed out of it. That just kept coming slowly but surely."

Gordon said this season has not quite been the bust that he and others sometimes make it out to be.

"It's certainly not as big of a failure as sometimes we make out of it because we haven't won so far," Gordon said. "Any time you make it into the Chase, any time you're sixth in the points this late in the season, it's not a bad season.

"But obviously we want to win, and we aim to win every weekend -- and it's been frustrating that we haven't been able to achieve that. It's been an up-and-down season for us; it hasn't been a stellar, great season like we had last year [when he won six races and finished second to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson in the points championship]. What I'm proud of is the fight that this team has shown over the last 10 races. I feel like we've made a lot of improvements with the car, and the points have shown for it. The win column hasn't yet shown for it, but we've still got three to go."

Friday's pole was the 67th of Gordon's career, but the first he's won at Texas. That and his racy practice speeds certainly caught the attention of the other drivers, who dismiss the notion that Gordon has had difficulty understanding the new car being used full-time in the Cup Series by NASCAR this season.

"This is going to sound silly, but I think Jeff is one of the most underrated drivers our sport has ever seen," said Jeff Burton, who will start 38th in his No. 31 Chevy for Richard Childress Racing. "When we talk about the greats of our sport, his name doesn't seem to come up -- and I think that's because he didn't do it in the way that Dale Earnhardt did it. Dale just got him a handful of wheel and whatever happened to be around him got knocked out of the way. He just was real aggressive and won championships like that.

Drive for five

Jeff Gordon won his fourth title in 2001 and hasn't seen one since. Bill Kimm and Raygan Swan debate whether or not Gordon will ever see that elusive fifth title.

• Complete story, click here

"Jeff has won championships in a much more finessed [way]. But I think the facts are facts -- and Jeff's ability to be successful in this sport for a long time kind of speaks for itself."

Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Roush Fenway Ford, said the fact Gordon is sixth in points after all the adversity the No. 24 team has been forced to sift through this season is actually impressive.

"The 24 team this year has really, really impressed me from, 'Oh, there's Jeff a lap down in the second run of the race. He's in huge trouble.' Next thing I know, he's right behind me -- and the next thing after that, he's running third," said Biffle, who will start in the 19th position Sunday.

"At Charlotte, the side of that car was smashed in on the first or second run, he was a lap down and couldn't keep up, and now he's out front leading and I can't catch him. It looks like he's gonna win, and then something else happens and he ends up in 15th or something. It's just been unbelievable."

Gordon has said all along he refuses to let himself get overly frustrated. He sees improvement coming, and hopes that the capturing of Friday's pole is a sign that it's right on the horizon.

Letarte said after the Bank of America 500 in Charlotte recently that he was putting "a lot of chips" on the No. 24 team doing well at Texas and Homestead -- the only two tracks where Gordon has never won. With only those races remaining on the 2008 schedule plus one race at Phoenix sandwiched in between, it's time to let the chips fall where they may.

"See, Steve is funny because he has different measuring tools of what makes a great crew chief and a great year and all those things," Gordon said. "The guys give him a hard time -- because if he wins at Martinsville, the guys back at the shop are like, 'Oh, that doesn't count. Jeff's won at a lot at Martinsville.' Same thing if we would win at Sonoma, or Talladega.

"So for Steve, the way he can put a notch in his belt is to win someplace I've never won before. That win at Phoenix [in the spring of 2007, when he tied Earnhardt on the all-time wins list] is probably the one that stands out the most to Steve, and I think he knows how much it would mean to win here or at Homestead -- because we haven't won at either place before."

Then again, believe it or not, Gordon insisted that he'll be good with it even if he doesn't win a race this season.

"It would be OK if we didn't win this season and it means next year we were winning multiple races and battling for the championship," said Gordon, who has won at least two races every season since 1994 -- only his second season of running full-time in the Cup Series. "If we don't win this season and then we don't win next season, I'm going to be very disappointed. But I'm looking long term instead of just short term. I've had an amazing career, won a lot of races, and one winless season isn't going to be the end of it for us. We're here for the long-term."