Jeff Gordon needs to look no further than his teammate Mark Martin to learn how to deal with finishing second all the time. Martin, a five-time Cup runner up, has earned the title of “bridesmaid” over and over again in his Cup career. This season though, it’s been Jeff Gordon who has been holding flowers at the altar.
“It’s a little disappointing we haven't won some races yet,” he said on Saturday evening. “If we keep doing this, those will come. We got to keep putting ourselves in position.” And Gordon was in position on Saturday night in Richmond, leading up to the final restart with five to go when Kyle Busch blew past him.
Busch (left) and Gordon (right) battled to the end of Saturday's Crown Royal 400 (Getty Images)
“The 18 was so strong on restarts all night,” Gordon said. “He was head and shoulders above everyone all night on restarts.”
Yet his second place run didn’t worry the 38-year old Gordon. In fact, he almost seemed happy with it. “It was still a great finish. Great run for us. After the last couple weeks, we certainly needed this,” he said.
Gordon is certainly unhappy with his 38-race winless streak that dates back to Texas last April, but he knows that if he keeps driving the wheels off his car, the Hendrick Motorsports driver will find himself in great position to capture his fifth career Cup title.
“You know, we're a team that’s made huge strides in my opinion, from last year. Even though we finished third in the points last year, I don't feel we were near as competitive as we are right now. That’s what I’m excited about,” Gordon said.
Gordon has led more laps than anyone else on the circuit this season, but just can’t lead the most important lap of the race: the final lap. Since that victory last year at Texas Gordon has finished second eight times. The only person who Gordon might turn to for some counseling might be his teammate Mark Martin.
After all, Martin does know how to finish second. And one guy Martin finished second to in a big race a few years back has reclaimed the sport’s top spot.
Kevin Harvick retook the championship points lead from Jimmie Johnson after finishing third on Saturday night behind Kyle Busch and Gordon. Johnson finished tenth and relinquished the points lead to Harvick by only ten points.
Harvick's third place run captapulted the No. 29 into the points lead after ten races in 2010 (Getty Images)
“It’s 10 races,” he said after the race Saturday. “The last 10 is 10 races as well so you look at that and you say, ‘Well, we can lead the points after 10 races.’” Harvick’s night wasn’t all roses though. He called his pit crew “buffoons” after they took longer than normal on a mid-race pit stop under yellow.
“We’ve got to be more consistent,” Harvick said of his pit crew. “When we make mistakes, we make big mistakes and we can’t keep doing that.” Especially if he wants to keep pace with a nearly flawless No. 48 team come Chase time.
This week the Sprint Cup series heads into Darlington, S.C., for the Southern 500. Defending race champion is Mark Martin. More on that and other thoughts as the week rolls by. Have a great Monday, and check out FOX19.com’s sports website. I might get a few more opportunities to post some stories this week.
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