Gordon Enjoys Racing Without Pressure

INDIANAPOLIS August 9, 2004; Mike Harris writing for the AP reported that Jeff Gordon the four-time NASCAR champion wrested the spotlight away from teammate Jimmie Johnson, the Nextel Cup series points leader, and put it directly on his own No. 24 Chevrolet with Sunday's dominating victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"I think it's a pretty loud statement," said Gordon of his 69th career win.

"You know, this team, man, they are just really on top of things right now," he added. "It's just so much fun going to the racetracks when you know that you've got a chance at winning, just pretty much every weekend you feel like you've got some kind of a shot at it."

It's understandable that Gordon is brimming with confidence. He has finished fifth or better, including three wins, in seven of his last eight starts. The only race in which he faltered was at Michigan, where he started from the pole and led 81 of the first 88 laps before his engine blew and he finished 38th.

The Brickyard win, which matched the four Indianapolis 500 victories by Gordon's early open-wheel heroes -- A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears -- came on a day when Johnson ran into trouble. An early spin and then an engine failure relegated Johnson to 36th place and cut his lead over Gordon from 232 points to just 97.

That doesn't really mean much to either driver, though, thanks to NASCAR's new championship system in which the standings will be reset after the first 26 races, with the top 10 drivers starting with an overall separation of only 45 points and competing for the title over the final 10 events.

With only five races until the "Chase for the Cup" begins, Johnson and Gordon agreed that momentum is most important right now.

"That was disappointing because we don't want to have any failures," said Johnson, who was coming off a win at Pocono but failed to finish for only the third time this season. "We want to be out there competing for every win, so we're more disappointed than anything else."

Gordon, who co-owns Johnson's car with his team owner, Rick Hendrick, appears to be in the better position now, even though he trails his teammate in the points.

"We're in the mode of getting all that we can get and I want to go into those last 10 breathing down those guys' necks, leading laps, showing that our pit crew is the best, that our cars are the best, that we are the team and the guys to watch coming into those last 10," Gordon said.

Like most everyone else, though, Gordon has mixed emotions about the new system.

A year ago, he would have been thinking only about catching Johnson with nearly half the 36-race season remaining. Instead, Gordon wasn't even thinking about points as he cruised toward his series-leading fifth victory of the season Sunday or as he celebrated afterward.

"We're kind of in a comfort zone right now, for the next five races," he said.

"In a way, we do go out there to win every weekend but, when there are points on the line, we do watch a little bit more on how much rpm we're going to turn, how aggressive we're going to be on the setup or if this is a day that we can test something for down the road."

Gordon said it would be nice to be able to just go out and race for wins with no other pressures all the time. But that isn't possible.

"It's just the nature of the business we're in," he said. "We all want that championship.

"But, right now, I like the position that we're in. It's awesome. Let me tell you, though, when it comes down to those last 10 races, it's not going to feel anything like this."