Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Hot Gordon can't close deal

FORT WORTH, Texas -- In many ways, this has been one of Jeff Gordon's best seasons in the Sprint Cup Series.

With three races remaining, he has been in the championship hunt nearly from the start of the season, and he has 16 Top-five and 23 Top-10 finishes - stats almost as good or better than when he won series titles in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001.

He has finished first or second in nine of the 33 races thus far and will start on the pole for today's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

But something is missing: race wins.

He has just one - the spring race in Fort Worth.

Even his closest competitors find that surprising, considering how well Gordon and his No. 24 team have performed this season.

"I'm surprised to hear that. He's only won one race this year?" Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson asked when told of Gordon's lone win in 2009.

"Heck, I would never have guessed that. Yeah, he's had a great year, been up front so much; I assumed that he'd won more races."

In a sport where perception can be held in higher esteem than reality, it's not difficult to believe even Gordon's teammates have a hard time believing he hasn't visited Victory Lane more often.

Also, ironically, Gordon's lone win came at Texas - where until April he had never won in 16 previous visits to the track.

"I know it meant a lot to him here to break his streak, to win at this track," said Johnson, who starts 12th today. "As we know, this track has been pretty tough on him over the years.

"I'm sure he's drooling at this opportunity."

Perhaps so, but Gordon admitted this weekend he's "a little disappointed" with only one victory this year.

"We've had a bunch of second-place finishes this year, so we've been close," Gordon said. "But it is disappointing we haven't been able to get more victories. It gives us something to work on for next season."

That doesn't mean that Gordon doesn't appreciate what he has accomplished this season.

Asked if he would consider 2009 one of his best even if he doesn't win the title, Gordon didn't hesitate with an answer.

"Definitely," he said. "We've had a great year all season long. We've been consistent and solid and strong. We're not as strong as we need to be to win the championship, but we're still very happy with how we've been able to improve the results from last season.

"I think we're not as close to [Johnson] as we were in 2007 when we battled them for the championship, or with Kurt [Busch] in 2004. Other than that, I'd say this has definitely been our best effort."

Although Gordon is unlikely to catch Johnson and deny him his fourth consecutive title, Gordon can add to his impressive 2009 season in the final three races. Starting from the pole certainly helps his cause at Texas.

"The whole key to winning races is keeping yourself in the top three or four, especially in the second half of the race - getting yourself in that position [and] being able to maintain that," he said.

"We believe starting up front gives us a better opportunity to do that."