AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2005 > October > 30
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Gordon not in it to win Chase
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
The hottest and most celebrated driver on the circuit ran hard and well Sunday, and only occasionally did Jeff Gordon ponder the disconnect in his position. He was driving for next year, and 10 of his peers were still working on 2005. He could win this Bass Pro Shops MNBA, same as he’d won the Subway 500 last week in Martinsville, and it would, in the grand scheme, change nothing.
Jeff Gordon isn’t in the Chase. And if you’re not in the Chase, you’re not really racin’.
The Chase for the Nextel Cup is its second year, and in the main it has been terrific for NASCAR. The Chase has whetted interest - an interest that, given the sport’s exponential growth, hardly needed whetting - for all things carburetor-related and has all but assured the NASCAR season of having a big finish every November. The Chase is that rarity in sports - a radical notion that actually enhances. But the Chase has, in its two-tiered way, created a caste system among drivers. And what sort of system leaves the best racer of his era with his handsome nose pressed against the glass?
This isn’t a formal protest, mind you. Jeff Gordon knew the rules going in. He finished 12th in the overall standings after the season’s first 26 races, and only the top 10 drivers are deemed Chase-worthy. Still, it seemed strange Sunday to see Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. - the other famous Chase absentee - running near the lead at Atlanta Motor Speedway, running more for show than for dough.
“It’s tough being on the outside,” Gordon said. “These other guys are having a lot of fun.”
Gordon finished second, Earnhardt fourth. Tony Stewart finished ninth but had a profitable day, boosting his Chase lead. Carl Edwards aced both the race and the Chase, winning the former with dispatch and moving from fifth to fourth, 107 points behind Stewart, in the latter. The world of NASCAR has always contained, no pun intended, wheels within wheels, and the Chase has simply added another set of tires.
“I’m a big fan of [the Chase], even though I’m on the outside looking in,” Gordon said. “It’s added a lot of excitement to our sport. It makes winning the championship that much harder. But today I was racing Mark [Martin, who finished third] hard, and in the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘These guys are racing for the Chase.’”
And Gordon isn’t. He won the Daytona 500 in February and has won three races since, but his performance over the summer was too spotty to crack the top 10. (Rusty Wallace, by way of contrast, qualified for the Chase without winning at all.) But there are two ways to react to failure: You can duck your head or stiffen your spine for the next challenge. Jeff Gordon, as they say in football, has bowed up.
“Our 2006 season started when this Chase started [without him],” Gordon said. “And it’s not just personnel changes [he switched crew chiefs, from Robbie Loomis to Steve Letarte, the week after missing the Chase]. It’s changes to the race car itself. When the season’s going on and you’re battling for points, you’re afraid to change. But once you miss the Chase, you try all kinds of things.”
He won at Martinsville and finished second here, auguring well for those alterations, and Gordon proclaimed next week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway the true test of his perceived progress. He has won four points championships, and already he’s pointing toward a fifth come the new year. As for what happens between now and then …
Someone asked Gordon if he would take any solace in finishing 11th in the overall standings. Wrinkling his nose, he said: “I haven’t been paying attention - 11th? If you’re not in the Chase, it doesn’t matter where you finish.”
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Mark Bradley
