What’s Up With Jeff Gordon?
Jeff Gordon tried out his Brad Keselowski impersonation Sunday, and while he got a 5th place finish, I don’t think that his triumph will last – listening to Martin Truex Jr’s radio after the incident, as well as his TV comments, I don’t think he’s very happy with Jeff.
What’s up with Jeff? Since when do you see a four-time Winston Cup champ wrecking half the feild when he’s running in the top 5 anyway?
Frustration..I think Jeff is frustrated that he hasn’t won a race in over a year. Hasn’t won a championship since ’01. Isn’t a top contender for the title every year – he even missed the Chase in ’05. Doesn’t contend for the win every week.
Jeff’s just not as good as he used to be. In the ’90’s, he was on fire – 1993 Rookie of the Year award, championships in ’95, ’97, and ’98, huge amounts of victories. It was rare not to see Jeff Gordon running up front. He started out the new century with a championship in 2001. He became the quickest driver ever to reach the 50-win mark. He actually would’ve won the 2004 title if it wasn’t for the Chase – do the math, he woulda secured #5 with Jimmie Johnson in 2nd, while Kurt Busch would’ve been 247 points out of the lead in 4th. Except the Chase reset the points, and it wound up Kurt winning by 8 points over Jimmie.
But now, he’s cooled down. He hasn’t been doing as well as he could in the past few years. The Chase is part of it, also he’s getting old and isn’t as good as he used to be when he was younger. The COT might’ve thrown him off a little more – 2008, the first full season with the Car of Tomorrow, saw Jeff winless.
Jeff isn’t the first legend to cool down. Richard Petty won his 7th, final title in 1979. He retired after the 1992 season. That’s a full 13 seasons Richard Petty ran after his final championship. 1982 was the first of the 13 years the King spent winless. 1985 was the second. Also, King Richard finished 14th in the standings in ’85. 1986 was a repeat of ’85. He finished 8th in the standings in ’87, only to fall back to 22nd in ’88. He only ran 25 of the 29 races in ’89 and finished 29th. He ran the full season in ’90, only to get a 26th place points finish. ’91 was similar, finishing 24th. ’92, his final year, also resulted in a 24th place points finish. The King spent the last 8 years of his career out of victory lane.
This may be over-dramatic, but this is still kinda what’s happening to Jeff, I think. He was out of it in 2008 – though still grabbing a top-10 finish in the points – and returned to victory lane once in ’09. 2 races away from halfway through the 2010 season, he hasn’t won anything.
Another example is Bobby Labonte. He won the 2000 Winston Cup title and now is nothing more than a midpack driver. If his debut at Robby Gordon Motorsports at Loudon this week doesn’t result in anything more than what’s been the norm as of late, we’ll know he’s “lost his talent,” so to speak.
Yet another example? Dale Earnhardt Jr. Junebug started off his career with a bang, grabbing 2 wins and a good points finish (for a rookie) in his rookie season of 2000. However, last year resulted in a 25th place points finish with 0 wins, 2 top 5’s, and 5 top 10’s.
Of course, Jeff losing his talent could be just in my head. It could be the increased competition level, more teams with a chance to win, more talented drivers, etc. But I might be right.
If I were you, Jeff, I’d be trying to steal that golden horseshoe that your teammate has…
Rantings Of A NASCAR Chick 