Driver Stats: Jeff Gordon

O.k., so Matt Kenseth won it convincingly this time. He is a past series champion, after all...and although my fantasy team took a hit because of Jimmie Johnson's fade, Kenseth did keep my streak alive for another week. Kudos to him for being the only driver to win the first two races of the season since Jeff Gordon did it in 1997. And Jeff didn't roll over and play dead in California, but put up a good fight to make the last part of a fairly boring race pretty fun. For that, and because I already profiled Matt for last week's win, Jeff Gordon is this week's driver profile. 

There are so many superlatives attached to the career of the guy who drives the #24 DuPont Chevy I couldn't possibly include them all here. Some of the more interesting tidbits are that his first race in 1992 was Richard Petty's last, and that he was the youngest-ever winner of the Daytona 500 at 26. Since his first full season in 1993, when he finished 14th in the standings, he was only outside the top ten once--in 2005, when he finished 11th. He has 81 career wins, 74 poles, 248 top 5's, 337 top 10's, and has won the Cup championship four times. Jeff is third on the all-time titles list after only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, and is fifth on the list of all-time wins. He was the Busch (now Nationwide) Rookie of the Year in 1991, and the 1993 Cup ROTY--the first ever to win both awards. He also won championships in many lower level open-wheel series, including the USAC Midget and Silver Crown, which accounts in part for his mastery on road courses. 

So why didn't Jeff win any races last year, for the first time in 14 seasons? He says he had trouble adjusting to the CoT, but has made that transition now. He also says he's getting older, and has taken steps to prepare physically to increase his endurance in the car during the grueling, sometimes four-hour long races. Based on his pre-season performance and his demonstrated drive to win in California, it's only a matter of time before this champion wills (and wheels) his way back to Victory Lane.