Publication: NASCAR News
Gordon revels in season of awe | |
Subscribe FREE to NASCAR News by clicking here.
NASCAR NEWS - Thursday, November 22, 2007
------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon revels in season of awe, ultimate frustration
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
HOMESTEAD, Fla. - The sweet-and-sour reality of Jeff
Gordon's second-place finish in the Chase for the Nextel
Cup, was painted all over his face on Homestead-Miami
Speedway's pit road following the Ford 400.
As if tickling a pit bull with a 5-foot swamp weed, Gordon
was forced to watch his Hendrick Motorsports teammate
Jimmie Johnson celebrate his second consecutive Nextel Cup
championship by executing a fiercely smoking burnout merely
100 yards away on the frontstretch.
Gordon managed a smile when the juxtaposition prompted a
reporter to ask if Gordon felt Johnson was yet again over-
shadowing him.
"He's been doing that for, well, I guess the last couple
of years -- I was going to say four or five weeks," Gordon
said, laughing. "Oh yeah, the year that almost was.
"Certainly I'm going to look back at this as a great year.
But it wasn't a championship year."
Gordon had just battled an evil-handling Chevrolet Monte
Carlo for the final time, for 400 miles and 267 laps --
and subdued it for a fourth-place finish. The "standard"
cars will be replaced full time by the Car of Tomorrow
next season.
But when Gordon climbed out to meet the press, he looked
as drained as if he had also fought two hives of bees and
a coupleb of wolverines at the same time.
To quantify losing a championship by 77 points after
recording an average finish of 5.1 for the 10 races in
the Chase, setting a NASCAR Modern Era record for top-10
finishes (30) and adding 21 top-fives, six wins and seven
poles in a 36-race season was almost indescribable.
"I'm a big believer in when it's meant to be, it's meant
to be," Gordon said. "You've got to work hard. You've got
to prepare yourself and your team. And you know what?
Jimmie and Chad [Knaus] and all those guys did a phenomenal
job.
------------------------------------------------------------
SMART ESSENTIALS 3 in 1 SHAVER KIT
Retail Price: $19.99
Deal Price: $9.99 or get two for $15.98
The Smart Shave by Smart Essentials is 3 in 1 shaver set
that includes a shaver, trimmer and groomer and can go
everywhere because it's portable. The three individual
pressure-adjusting floating heads flex to facial contours.
This also has sharp, stainless steel blades that lift and
cut whiskers with a micro groove cutting system. Plus,
this personal groomer has inter-changeable heads with a
ear/nose hair trimmer & mustache/sideburn groomer.
The Smart Shave holds 12 hours of charge time and up to
30 minutes of continuous cordless shaving.
***** Save more when you buy two or more ****
***** Order one (1) for just $9.99 ****
**** SAVE $4.00 and get two (2) for $15.98 ****
**** SAVE $6.00 and get three (3) for $23.97 ****
**** SAVE $8.00 and get four (4) for $31.96 ****
SMART ESSENTIALS 3 in 1 SHAVER KIT
------------------------------------------------------------
"I know how good my team was this year. They're one of the
best teams I've ever been a part of. And for [Johnson] to
come out 77 points ahead over 10 races [in the Chase] is
very impressive.
"We're certainly extremely proud of what we've accomplished
this year -- it's been a great year. But we want another
championship and we know we've got to beat Jimmie and guys
like Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart and a lot of other guys
if we're going to get us another one."
Pondering that predicament may make Gordon look as if
Grizzly bears were added to the racecar/bee/wolverine
equation -- but Sunday evening, in less than 10 minutes
after getting out of his car, 90 percent of which he spent
answering question after question, save for a brief meeting
with owners Rick and Linda Hendrick, Gordon looked remark-
ably recovered.
Gordon's affection for his owners was obvious when, after
nearly five minutes of media questioning next to his multi-
hued No. 24 Chevrolet on pit road, Gordon paused to greet
the Hendricks.
Rick Hendrick held Gordon in a long embrace and whispered
briefly in his ear. Later, he said he told Gordon "that I
was proud of him, and that he should take a lot of pride
in making this happen."
Gordon smiled when he responded, saying, "Congratulations,
man -- thank you, I appreciate it; and I'm proud of you."
Gordon, who throughout the race complained about a tight
racecar and only expressed real disgust when he questioned
a NASCAR call that placed him at the tail end of the lead
lap under the first caution, said he could accept his fate
this season, but with difficulty.
"We have a lot to be proud of and happy about this year --
it's been a great year," Gordon said. "But it's bittersweet
for us because to come up short, I've never been in this
position before.
"Every championship, well, I guess maybe in '04, but in
all the other years when we've had the year like we had
this year we've been the ones to go out there and put the
pressure on the competition.
"So it's a great learning experience for us and we're not
done yet. We'll just try to go out there and do it next
year."
------------------------------------------------------------
WWII COLLECTOR'S TIN DVD (3-DVDs)
Store Price: $19.99
DEAL PRICE: $12.99
This may be one of the most treasured collections on WWII
ever made. Handsomely packaged in a full color collector's
tin, it contains three landmark WWII programs that have
been digitally remastered and assembled.
First up is the Award-winning, Frank Capra series, 'Why
We Fight Series' that won the New York Film Critics Award
of "Best Documentary Series" It includes seven (7) programs
that cover the entire war.
Also included is the Ronald Reagan narrated film, 'Pearl
Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941'. And who can forget the riveting
story of the 'Memphis Belle'?
Get it all in this one collector's treasure edition. It
makes a great gift for any history buff. You simply must
see the special packaging. It's amazingly priced at $12.99.
Visit: WWII Collector's Tin DVD
------------------------------------------------------------
To do that, Gordon certainly will have to deal with his
teammates, who repeated as champions for the first time
since Gordon accomplished the feat with his second and
third of four titles, in 1997-98.
Along with the Hendricks' meeting, one of the more poignant
post-race moments came when Gordon pulled alongside Johnson
on their cool-off lap, for a silent salute amidst a lot of
exhaust clamor.
"I would have just told him how happy I am for him
[because] he deserves it," Gordon said of the message he
would have spoken. "He's the best out there. He and his
whole team literally are the best out there and they
deserved it.
"There is a reason why they were champions last year and
there's a reason why they are champions this year. We gave
them everything we had. We couldn't have asked for more out
of ourselves to go out there and battle for this champion-
ship.
"We put together one heck of a string of races the entire
season and it just wasn't enough."
And while Gordon said he looked forward to his first
holiday season with his wife and daughter, he also said
he faced the reality of a challenging future.
"I mean, we just put together one heck of a total year,
you know what I mean?" Gordon said. "On one side, you
know I love the Chase, I love what it's all about and
the entertainment aspect of it, and I know it's the best
thing for the sport. But when I look at our whole year,
it's a little tough."
Gordon had more than a 300-point lead over Stewart going
into the final race before the Chase. He lost all that
and was 20 points behind Johnson entering the Chase.
"I'm a competitor," Gordon said. "You know, I'm very
happy for Jimmie and those guys, but I really wanted it
for our team. I felt like [the 24 team] deserved it.
They worked hard and did a great job this year. We came
up a little short.
"But it's been awesome, and there is nothing for us to
hang our heads about. It's really been an amazing year."
------------------------------------------------------------
FOREVER FLASHLIGHT - Easy To Use And Lasts FOREVER...
Plain and simple no home or car should be without this.
And to ensure it is affordable, we have slashed the price
from $14.99 to JUST $7.99.
SPECIAL BONUS: We're including an additional flashlight...
that means you get two (2) flashlights for JUST $7.99.
SO HOW DOES IT WORK?
Easy... just squeeze the handle for instant light, anywhere
anytime. Two (2) energy efficient LEDs provide light for
any need. Built-in battery provides up to 50 hours of light
in between charging (by simply squeezing the handle a few
time). Perfect for emergency kit, car, camping and black-
outs. Grab one or two... Makes a Great Gift.
Visit: Forever Flashlight - Easy To Use & Lasts FOREVER
------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon hopes it's not his last, and he draws a lot of
encouragement from the momentum averaging 5.1 for 10
races -- plus finishing fourth at Homestead, definitely
not one of his better tracks -- will bring for next
season.
"I'm so glad we ran good [Sunday night]," Gordon said.
"That's the only thing that was really going to eat at
me over the offseason is if we came out of here like we
did last year and finished 25th or whatever. I would
have been pretty disappointed.
"Hey, we didn't lead a lap, but we fought hard. We gave
them a good run and had a pretty good car there at the
end."
So Gordon hopes he does have more left in his tank.
"Every race, every time you win a race, every time you win
a championship you think, this could be the last," Gordon
said. "We've heard Mark Martin say it forever -- but I know
what he's saying, I know what he means.
"You're so appreciative. You work so hard, and you really
just never know when it's going to happen again. And that,
to me, is the toughest part about this year for me,
personally. I'm not getting any younger.
"I put up about as good a numbers as I know how to put up,
and it wasn't enough -- and that's tough to handle as a
competitor -- as somebody that's been successful in this
series in racing. So, definitely you've got to dig deep
and find out [what happened]."
And with everything Gordon had given to his team, and his
teammate, in the end that's all he said he really wanted.
"You know, I was very committed this year to this team to
give them everything that I had, because I really want
Steve Letarte to be a championship crew chief," Gordon
said. "I think he's an awesome guy and deserves it. I felt
like we had the team underneath us.
"Now I'm just hoping we can enjoy this offseason and go
into next season with the Car of Tomorrow, the Impala, and
do what we need to do to take it up one notch."
------------------------------------------------------------
Questions? Comments? Email us at: Email your comments
------------------------------------------------------------
Watch Sports Clips From Around the Globe on EVTV1.com:
Sports Video Clips
ARCHIVES: NASCAR NEWS Archives
Here's the link to the NASCAR NEWS Forum: NASCAR NEWS Forum
-----------------------------------------------------------
END OF NASCAR NEWS
Copyright 2007 by NextEra Media. All rights reserved.
 E-Mail this issue
Subscribe FREE to NASCAR News by clicking here.
|