If Jeff Gordon back or was Phoenix a fluke?

NASCAR desperately needs someone to challenge Jimmie Johnson’s supremacy, and who better than the driver who dominated the circuit before JJ: Jeff Gordon.

Last week at the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Gordon beat runner-up Kyle Busch to the checkered flag by 1.137 seconds to ended a 66-race winless streak dating to April 2009 at Texas.

The win was Gordon’s second at the 1-mile flat track and the 83rd of his career, tying him with Cale Yarborough for fifth on the Cup Series victory list. He won for the first time in his second start with crew chief Alan Gustafson.

Gordon should have won at least four times in 2010 but didn’t, for a variety of reasons. So given the chance in the second race of 2011, Gordon didn’t let the opportunity slip away.

“Man, what an awesome, awesome, feeling it is when you’ve got the car right like that,” Gordon said. “And they give you 20 [laps] to go and it’s your job to go get it done, you’ve got what you need to go do that and then you pull it off.”

With the victory, Gordon no longer has to answer questions about his age (39) or about how his back is holding up after he injured it a couple of seasons ago.

“I’m somebody that’s really big on winning early [in the season], and the reason I say that is because to me, there was a lot of pressure on us not just this year winning early but going back the last 66 races that we have not had a win,” Gordon said. “You hear it from the media, you hear it from the fans, and it’s hard to ignore that. It’s on all of us.”

Don’t rule out Gordon repeating this week at Las Vegas. He already has one victory at Vegas in the old configuration in 2001 and that came at a stage of his career when he was hit and miss there. His inaugural effort at Vegas resulted in a finish of 17th, which was followed by a third in 1999, a 28th in 2000, the 2001 victory, and a 17th in 2002. In recent years, he’s been much more consistent on this track. Although he has not yet backed up the 2001 success, he has finished sixth or better on this track in five of his past six attempts, including a runner-up finish in 2007 and a third last year. Last year, Gordon led the Cup Series in fastest laps run in this race when he paced the field for nearly 32 percent of the green flag laps.

So far, team owner Rick Hendrick’s decision to juggle drivers and crew chiefs looks good. Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus would remain together on the No. 48 team, figuring five straight Sprint Cup championships weren’t to be trifled with, though crew members were changed. The dramatic moves came elsewhere, pairing Gustafson with Gordon, shifting Lance McGrew from Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Mark Martin and sending Steve Letarte, Gordon’s former crew chief, to work with Earnhardt. On top of Gordon’s win Dale Jr. won the pole at Daytona before a practice wreck sent him to the back of the pack.

“It’s early. By summer you might be telling me I made a terrible mistake, but right now the chemistry looks really good in the teams and we are competitive every week,” Hendrick said.

Related posts:
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NASCAR - Johnson switches entire pit crew with Gordon (James Payton) 0
Motorsports - Carl Edwards the best bet for Subway Fresh Fit 500 (James Payton) 0
NASCAR - Chase now a three-man race heading to Martinsville (James Payton) 0

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