Four-time champion looking to snap 13-year title drought
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Some people understandably saw fury on Jeff Gordon‘s face as he confronted Brad Keselowski on Texas Motor Speedway pit road Sunday night. But I saw a passion and the same kind of competitive zeal that I witnessed in Gordon as he became a four-time premier series champion in NASCAR — and now the winningest driver of his generation and sure-bet first ballot Hall of Famer.
It was the look of someone who knows how close he is to his first title in 13 so-very-long years, and he is determined to go down swinging.
Would the 43-year-old Gordon have made the same bold, risky move for position that Keselowski did, causing Gordon to spin and igniting a post-race fracas for the ages between the two drivers and their crews? It’s been a spirited debate in the days since. Even though they both have their seasons on the line, that hasn’t ever been Gordon’s style. He’s more finesse and control than dive-bomb.
It’s a tried-and-true style that has earned Gordon 92 wins — the most among active drivers and third all-time in NASCAR history behind only David Pearson’s 105 and Richard Petty’s 200 wins.
And in the waning laps Sunday, it looked like Gordon was on his way to collecting his fifth win of the season, which would have been his most wins in a season since his six-win campaign in 2007.
It’s been a championship worthy year for him. He held the points lead for 17 of the 26 weeks of the regular season, and in the postseason he has a win and three runner-up finishes.
In fact, Gordon was leading the Chase points standings coming into Texas. He continued to lead right up to the point when Keselowski’s Ford collided with his Chevrolet while battling for the race lead during the first green-white-checkered attempt at Texas. The contact cut a tire on Gordon’s No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet and, in an instant, turned a near-win into a 29th-place finish while Keselowski powered on to third place.
The outcome dropped Gordon from points leader to points bubble man. He is fourth headed into the final Eliminator Round race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Phoenix this weekend and separated by only a mere point over both fifth-place Matt Kenseth and sixth-place Carl Edwards.
The entire eight-man Chase field is separated by 18 points from top (Joey Logano) to bottom (Kevin Harvick) with only the top four advancing to the one-race championship round at Homestead-Miami Speedway a week from Sunday (Nov. 16, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Tuesday afternoon, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said he had no issues with Keselowski’s move to the front and understood Gordon’s anger afterward, as well.
"Welcome to big-time sports with big moments," France said.
"Intensity" has been the buzzword with NASCAR’s new elimination-style Chase format that immediately rewards wins and has motivated everyone to raise their game. And their bravado.
"The way we have it is kind of what has set up the intensity that we’ve got," second-ranked Chase driver Denny Hamlin said Tuesday. "We know where we have to be after three races each time. We have to be out of that bottom four. So it gives us a goal to shoot at.
"When there’s a target that you don’t know where it’s at, it’s harder for us, for the fans to be mesmerized about can this guy get to this position or not.
"(Now) we know we have to get to a certain position. It makes us do things that we wouldn’t normally probably do. … you have to know that one bad race is probably going to end your season the further along this Chase gets.
"I think NASCAR hit a total home run with this format and obviously it shows up with the intensity that the drivers are showing right now."
As we saw Sunday, the normally mild-mannered, politically correct Gordon — a sponsor’s dream, Hollywood-ready and television-polished — is also every bit the fierce, single-goal competitor when he gets behind the wheel of his car.
It’s something that some underestimate — a big mistake this season when Gordon, not Johnson, is the lone championship contender for the mighty Hendrick Motorsports team, and when Gordon has proven himself a top-shelf title chaser from beginning to end.
Should Gordon hoist the championship, it would mark the longest period of time between championships (so much time, in fact, that he won his previous four titles with a different series sponsor). His last came in 2001, and Gordon’s former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Terry Labonte holds the current record of time between titles — winning in 1984 and 1996.
A Gordon championship would also be a true triumph of longevity never before seen.
NASCAR’s "King," Richard Petty, won his seventh and final championship 19 years after his first full-time season in 1960. This marks 21 years since Gordon’s first full-time season in the Cup ranks.
Sunday’s post-race reaction proved that the fire in Gordon’s eyes is surpassed only by the fire in his heart.
And would you want your champion any other way?
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