Gordon Likes the Road Ahead

Lucky 13? Jeff Gordon may have four NASCAR Nextel Cup championships, and a few gray strands peppering his short sideburns, but if Sunday was any indication, Wonder Boy may be turning back the clock.

Despite a 13th-place finish in the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway, Gordon, 34, showed signs of resurrecting past glory, and was optimistic about the season ahead for owner Rick Hendrick’s revamped team. There are new faces, including a new crew chief, Steve Letarte, but the driver from Vallejo, Calif., was upbeat about the performance of his Chevrolet.

“It was a hard-fought 13th; we were better than that,” said Gordon, who last won a championship in 2001. “We weren’t very good on new tires. The battery problem cost us. We were about an eighth-place car.”

So why the optimism from an underachieving performance? Because Gordon did something that wasn’t common last year, before crew chief Robbie Loomis was replaced by Letarte.

Gordon’s Chevy improved over the course of a race.

“From the drop of the green flag to the end, we made the car better throughout the day,” Gordon said. “[Last year], it seemed like when we weren’t comfortable, we couldn’t fix it. That’s the thing you look for, to see a car that’s adjustable and see improvement as the day goes on.”

Gordon obviously knows about winning. A three-time winner and five-time top-five finisher in 11 previous races at California Speedway, he started ninth and even led three laps. That was significant because Gordon has led a record 413 laps on the two-mile oval, but none since winning the spring race in 2004. In the three races since, Gordon has finished 37th, 21st and 30th.

“Right now, we’re just thinking about seeing our cars improve and getting consistent,” he said. “We need to fight like we did today, but we need to be fighting for top fives instead of top 15s. One step at a time.”

It was a good performance on the heels of a scrappy Daytona 500 performance in which Gordon tangled with Tony Stewart, fell as far back as 42nd in the 43-car field, yet finished 13th.

At 15th in the standings, Gordon isn’t dominant yet, but hopes to return to the Chase for the Championship after missing it last season.

“I think we’ve got a lot of room for improvement, and that’s the exciting thing about this team,” he said. “We’re young and new in a lot of ways, and we know we’re not the best team out there right now but have the potential to be that.”

He survived a battery change on Lap 198 of 250 by taking only two tires on Lap 216.

“We gave up some track position, but it was probably the right thing to do to make sure we finished at the end,” Gordon said. “Had those cautions not come out [on Laps 220, 226 and 247], I think we were a fifth- or sixth-place car. I think we all wish we had come in on that last caution.”

But as important as anything, he said, his team didn’t give up.

“I’m feeling really good about the team, the effort they’re putting out is unbelievable, and they’re just making me so proud to fight that hard,” Gordon said. “That’s what it takes each and every weekend, that kind of fight, no matter what kind of finish you get out of it.”