COMMENTARY

By Lee Spencer

updated 6:55 p.m. ET April 12, 2005

The Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup format allows just 26 races to determine a driver's fate, so teams can't afford to wallow near the bottom of the standings. But as much as everyone wants to stay high in the standings, it's still way too early, after six races, to conclude any team might be out of it.

Which is why I found it ironic that before qualifying last weekend at Martinsville reporters asked Jeff Gordon whether he was concerned about being 12th in points.

Excuse me. Have you people lost your minds?

Those questions seemed especially silly after Gordon won on Sunday, overcoming a bad qualifying effort and battling back from three laps down.

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Not only are we talking about the only four-time champion currently in the field, we're talking about the most purely talented and versatile racer to compete at the Cup level since David Pearson retired.

Gordon is the first non-legacy Cup driver who was raised to race. His stats are proof: 71 wins in 407 career starts. That's one win for every 5.7 starts. He has won at every track on the circuit except Texas, Phoenix and Chicago.

"We've won a race and led laps, and those things are more important to me than where we are in the points right now," Gordon said. Now he can say he has won twice, the other victory being the Daytona 500.

"I have a strong team and good cars, and those are the things that are going to move you up in the points," Gordon says.

Sunday's victory moved him from 12th to sixth. Gordon was 12th after six races last year, and by the end of the season, he would have won the title under the old points system. Under the Chase format, he finished third, 16 points behind champion Kurt Busch.

The bottom line: Gordon has to be in the top 10 after September's Richmond race, 20 races from now. Over the same period of races last year, he climbed to first.

Considering the strength of Hendrick Motorsports and the solidarity of the No. 24 team, you would have to be crazy to bet against Gordon. Especially after Martinsville.

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