Track is improved, and Gordon might be, as well

The last time Jeff Gordon rolled off the racing surface at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he did so not at the wheel of his No. 24 car but in the back of an ambulance. His vehicle was behind him, in pieces strewn all along the backstretch. The four-time champion was ushered into the trackside care center for a mandatory post-crash checkup, walked out into a phalanx of cameras and microphones, and expressed his profound disappointment at a potentially lethal gap in the facility's soft wall system.

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One year later, things have changed. Officials at the race track -- who, in their defense, seemed receptive of Gordon's criticisms from the very beginning -- brought in representatives from both NASCAR and the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University of Nebraska, the latter of which developed the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barrier now in use at every Sprint Cup facility. As a result, the protective barrier was installed down the entire length of the Las Vegas backstretch.

That's surely comforting to the drivers descending on the desert this week for Sunday's Shelby 427, Gordon among them. "I'm sure at some point during the weekend," he said, "I'll glance over at the new wall when I'm driving down the backstretch to see what they've done."

It truly was a horrific hit, a collision with an unprotected infield access point that left a gaping hole in the front of Gordon's car and soreness that lingered for days in the driver's chest. Almost completely overshadowed by the violent aftermath of the accident was how it happened -- Gordon trying to hold the bottom on a late restart, but sliding up the race track and into the back of Matt Kenseth's car (watch video). At the time, it seemed like a simple error in judgment, even from a four-time series champion. "That was unlike Jeff Gordon," Greg Biffle said then, "but everybody makes mistakes."

And yet, when viewed in the context of the past 12 months, that crash at Las Vegas could be pinpointed as the first sign of all the difficulty Gordon would have finding his comfort level in the new Sprint Cup car. On the heels of a phenomenal 2007 season -- six victories, 30 top-10s, and nearly a fifth championship -- absolutely no one foresaw a winless 2008. After all, Gordon had enjoyed one of his best statistical campaigns in a season when the new car had been used in roughly half the races. The numbers seemed to indicate that he had a handle on it. Conventional wisdom seemed to suggest he would enjoy even more success when the car went full time the next year. (Continued)