Gordon Itches To Rule Nascar Again
Jeff Gordon doesn’t court sympathy because he knows he wouldn’t get any. Humility picked up NASCAR’s Boy Wonder like a sudden gust of wind sweeping underneath his Monte Carlo and knocked Gordon into the wall last year.
His final five finishes from 1999? A 12th, an 11th, two 10th-place verdicts and a 38th.
But a humbler and hungrier Gordon emerged, more wary of those entrusted to keep him on the road, but more determined to prove that his phenomenal success over the past four years wasn’t merely the creation of a talented crew chief.
His team, the envy of NASCAR, crumbled amid internal politics. And Gordon’s recovery from a sixth-place finish in the season points standings last year - his lowest since 1995 - hinges on his ability to resurrect that special chemistry.
“There’s little pressure on us this season,” he said. “It’s kind of nice not having the bull’s-eye on our backs all the time.”
Don’t buy it. It bothers Gordon that even though he won a Winston Cup-high seven races last year, sat on more poles and led more laps than any other driver, his season was branded a disappointment. It bothers him that he’s not the center of conversation in the days leading up to Sunday’s Daytona 500.
The racing machine has turned human, the consistency of the championship seasons now gone. Sure, he won seven times last year, but that was negated by the seven times he didn’t finish.
“There are a lot of other teams who would love to have a season like that,” Gordon said. “But we’ve set a different standard. People expect more from us and we expect more from ourselves. We had difficulty adjusting to all the change last year, but we’ve been able to work together for some time. But if a lot of people start thinking they can forget about us, I think we’re going to remind them real quick that we’re still around.”
You just don’t recognize them. The distinctive red, blue, green and yellow rainbow car is now a more subdued silver tone. But the biggest change is the guy wearing the headsets in the pits.
The brilliant crew chief, Ray Evernham, is gone, the odd man out in a power struggle with the driver he mentored. So valuable was Evernham’s presence that his responsibilities were divided between his longtime understudy, Brian Whitesell, and Robbie Loomis, whom Gordon recruited from Petty Racing.
There were long-standing whispers of a gradual erosion in the Gordon-Evernham relationship. There were much-publicized shouting matches when problems arose. But wearing on this successful partnership was Gordon’s determination to exact more influence over every aspect of the team.
It came to a head last September when Evernham wanted team owner Rick Hendrick to define Evernham’s role. But Hendrick sided with his driver, signing Gordon to a lifetime contract that assured Gordon the control he wanted. Evernham bolted, eventually accepting a lucrative offer from Dodge to spearhead the automaker’s return to NASCAR.
But it didn’t end there. A month later, Gordon was stunned when five members of his vaunted pit crew, the Rainbow Warriors, abruptly left without warning, signing with defending Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett.
Initially perceived as a question of confidence in Gordon, the experience has become a challenge.
“This is just another test and this team has never backed down from a test,” Gordon said. “When you get burned, you tend to lean more toward loyalty. We started to see where pit crews out there were nothing but hired guns. With this team, nothing else compares to being the champion.”