Despite strong finish at DIS, Gordon needs to win

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Jeff Gordon was thrilled to get his once-scintillating restrictor-plate stats back on the right track Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway in the Coke Zero 400, via his first top-five finish there in three years.

"Man, I'm just happy to survive one of these restrictor plate races -- it's been a while since we've done that," Gordon said with a smile. "We had a pretty good night, car drove good -- especially on the long runs -- and we avoided the big [wrecks] and got ourselves in a good position to win the race."

But he didn't win, for the 47th consecutive time in a Cup race.

Gordon's timely third-place finish behind race winner Kevin Harvick and equally-relieved runner-up Kasey Kahne only reinforced his urgency to find his way to Victory Lane.

Gordon moved into second in the championship, which has eight events to go in the Race to the Chase, when the playoff field is set following the Richmond round in September. When he got to his post-race media briefing, he didn't even know that -- but the fact that his winless streak extended continues to bemuse Gordon and crew chief Steve Letarte. And they're focused on ending it.

"I'm excited that we're second in points, but I'll be honest with you, all I look at is where we are with wins right now," Gordon said. "When you're positioned well in the Chase, like we are currently, then it comes down to wins and being seeded for when that Chase comes around."

Wins are worth 10 bonus points apiece for Chase "seeding," when the 10-race championship round begins at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. Gordon's the only man in the top six in the standings who's winless. Hendrick teammate and four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin each have five wins -- and 50 extra points when the standings are reset heading into the Chase.

"I think these top-fives that we've had here recently build momentum to get us an opportunity to get us those wins, so that's really more what's on our mind right now," Gordon said. "It's about what we've got to do to win a championship. I feel like we've got to get a few wins before that Chase starts.

"It was nice to lead some laps, and I'm looking forward to getting to some of these mile-and-a-halfs coming up, like Chicago [this weekend's race venue, Chicagoland Speedway] because we've had good cars and I feel we've got a win in us -- sooner rather than later."

Gordon paced the field for 13 laps in five separate installments at Daytona, the first time in the past five races he's been out front -- although he did register his fourth consecutive top-five finish. As Harvick said later in the evening, being in a good point position has its advantages, though winning is still the bottom line.

"It certainly helps when you're further up in the points," Gordon said, "because it gives you that opportunity to take more chances and try more things to make sure that you either get those bonus points or that you're the car to beat when the Chase comes around."

But Saturday night, when the race set a record for different leaders with 18, and those leaders registered the second-most lead changes in the race's history (47), Gordon was most excited about getting to those intermediate tracks, where his experience can make a difference.

"I'm definitely relieved to get out of here with a top-three, with all the crazy stuff that happened the last 20 laps," Gordon said of the four cautions in the last 20 laps. "We've been in so many of those wrecks here recently on restrictor plate [tracks] that our good stats that we've always had on the restrictor plates have been going down fast. So this was a nice way to rebound.

"My favorite part of the race, to be honest, was the first half when we were spread out, and while it might not be as exciting for the fans, it's awesome as a driver to be out there knowing you're making a difference in how you drive the car, the team is making a difference how they set up the car.

"The pit stops under green, to me that was just a blast out there racing in those long runs, managing tires -- all that stuff. That's what I love about the older surface."

For Gordon, who has six point-race wins at Daytona and 12 top-five finishes in 36 starts, and the rest of the garage, Saturday night was the last chance for that type of race as Daytona's first repaving project since 1978 begins Monday.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Related:
• Press Pass: Jeff Gordon