Motorsports

Drive for five less urgent than top 10

Trying to make the Chase for the Championship is paramount to Jeff Gordon as he chases a fifth Indy win.

By BRANT JAMES
Published August 6, 2005

SPEEDWAY, Ind. - There are certain clues as to how serious Jeff Gordon considers this funk.

A win on Sunday in the Brickyard 400 would elevate him above A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears - legends of open-wheel racing - and make him the first five-time winner at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He would have done it in 12 tries since NASCAR's top series came to the speedway beginning in 1994. That's no small nugget for a kid who grew up 15 miles away in tiny Pittsboro.

But a fifth long, sweet kiss with the legendary yard of bricks would have more immediate significance for Gordon even as the moment is photographed, framed and hung in a prominent spot in the speedway museum between Turns 1 and 2.

A win would show that Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet team could finally be pulling out of a summer swoon that has seen the four-time series champion finish 30th or worse six times in the past 10 races.

Currently 15th in points, 141 beyond the 400-point cutoff for the Chase for the Championship with six regular season races left, Gordon knows he could use a boost more than another milestone.

"Right now the most important thing for us is turning things around and having a good, solid weekend," said Gordon, who won at Indy last season. "I would love to win No. 5 and I can't think of a better way to get things turned around by winning No. 5 here. Last year, when we were running the weekend, it wasn't "How do we get No. 4?' It's about approaching things the same way we do every race and trying not to put this race high up on the pedestal because it adds more pressure."

There's plenty of that in the Gordon camp these days. Gordon has 72 wins in 12 full seasons, teammate Jimmie Johnson leads the driver standings and youthful teammates Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch have been pleasant surprises at times - so the favorite target for critics has been crew chief Robbie Loomis.

"He does get the heat, and I'm not saying that's the way I want it," said Gordon, who earned two of his three wins this season at restrictor-plate tracks. "As far as I'm concerned, I think it falls on all the communication between what I'm giving him, the information he's getting from the engineers, how he's utilizing it and what the other guys, the pit crew - everybody's not getting on them as far as I'm concerned - (and) the guys back at the shop."

Gordon is getting no sympathy in the garage. Drivers currently in the Chase boundary would rather see a four-time champion unable to hurt their title hopes. Drivers outside of it welcome the company.

"I wish we were struggling like (Gordon)," said Ray Evernham, who won three titles as Gordon's crew chief and now owns a two-car team that includes eighth-place driver Jeremy Mayfield and Kasey Kahne (21st). "He's 15th in points with three wins. If we could struggle like that, it would be great."

Evernham, who is used to seeing Gordon overcome problems, is sure he will rally again.

"They'll be fine," he said.

That sentiment is rooted in the fact that Gordon has thrived at the six tracks remaining up to and including the regular-season finale at Richmond on Sept. 10.

Problem is, his recent history is not so good. Gordon has four wins at Watkins Glen, but finished 21st or worse there the past three years; won twice at Michigan but was 32nd there earlier this season; won five times at Bristol but was 15th in the spring; won three times at Fontana, Calif., but blew a motor and finished 30th; won twice at Richmond, but crashed and finished 39th.

"We're running out of time," Gordon said. "Everywhere we go, we've had success or it's a place where there's the potential for us to turn around and it just hasn't happened."

Loomis said Gordon has to carefully pick his moments when to push. If he does, that familiar potent mix of performance and good luck might fire that needed run.

"Clearly, I've made some bad decisions," Loomis said. "The transmission we ran at Sonoma (where Gordon finished 33rd after winning the pole). I made a bad call a time or two in the pits."

Still, Loomis enjoys the fact that Gordon remains a source of worry for his foes.

"Even (Johnson crew chief) Chad (Knauss) and Jimmie, they're our teammates and respect us as much as anybody in the garage," Loomis said, "but the bottom line, everybody, when you lay down at night you know that Jeff Gordon is the guy you're going to have to beat for the championship. I know it's our job to do everything we can to get in the top 10. Once we get inside the top 10 we're really going to be inside those guys' heads."

[Last modified August 6, 2005, 01:37:26]