Gordon endures a frustrating year
By JIM PEDLEY
The Kansas City Star
A year ago at this time, Jeff Gordon could have showed up in Daytona, hit the beaches, checked out some clubs and maybe squeezed in a day trip to Disney World without so much as worry No. 1 about life on the racetrack.
Not this year. The 2008 Sprint Cup season has turned out to be not fun for Gordon. He’s winless, he’s far from having a Chase berth locked up and he’s concerned.
On Thursday at Daytona International Speedway, site of tonight’s Coke Zero 400, he was asked his thoughts on his team’s performance.
“It’s frustrating,” Gordon said.
It’s not like Gordon is stinking the series up — he is sixth in points and has had seven top-five finishes. But fans, competitors and even Gordon himself have come to expect a whole lot more.
They’ve come to expect him to perform like he did a year ago, when he showed up for the annual Fourth of July-weekend race at Daytona leading the points by 156 and with four victories already logged.
“I wouldn’t say that we’ve got the confidence or the momentum that we had this time last year,” Gordon said this week. “I just think that we’ve gotten a little bit behind versus the competition. You know, that’s something that we’re working hard on.”
It’s something that is not huge. Gordon said the problems are minor, in fact.
“There’s really nothing wrong,” he said. “It’s just finding all those little pieces to make the car, you know, go a little bit faster. You know, like last week in New Hampshire, we ran just like we did last year. You know, it wasn’t an issue. We were strong and good, very competitive, very happy with that.”
But not satisfied.
The biggest problems Gordon and his team have had this year have been on tracks that have traditionally been good for him — 1.5-milers.
Good news for him is that Daytona is a 2.5-miler and a place where he has been better than good. He has six victories there — three of them on Fourth of July weekends.
Today’s will be Gordon’s 32nd start at Daytona and 16th in July, and that makes him one of the more experienced drivers in today’s field.
1
Clint Bowyer. The Kansas native does well at Daytona and he sure could use a good finish tonight.
2 Ryan Newman. He won the 500 at Daytona in February. The car he won in, however, is sitting in the museum next to the track.
3 Dale Earnhardt Jr. He won at Daytona earlier in the year, albeit in a nonpoints situation.
4 Jeff Gordon. He has six victories at Daytona and his team appears to be getting close to giving him winning cars.
5 Tony Stewart. Stewart is still looking for his first victory of the season. He could get it tonight as he has two Pepsi 400 victories.
Hendrick adds Martin
Jeff Gordon picked up a new teammate on Saturday when it was announced that Mark Martin would join Hendrick Motorsports next season.
Martin will drive a full season in the No. 5 car, which Casey Mears has been driving the last two seasons. His crew chief will be Alan Gustafson.
To reach Jim Pedley, motorsports writer for The Star, send e-mail to jpedley@kcstar.com
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