DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Jeff Gordon doesn't have the same worries as other former champions like Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett and Terry Labonte. His victory in Saturday's rain-delayed Pepsi 400 moved him to third in standings and in good shape to qualify for the "Chase for the Championship."
NASCAR's new made-for-television system to create a champion breaks the season into two parts: The first 26 races establish the top 10; the final 10 races decide the championship among the 10 qualifiers.
Jarrett is 15th in the standings, Wallace is 17th and Labonte is 21st. If they are going to work their ways into the top 10, all three have a lot of work to do in the next nine races.
For Gordon, however, everything is on cruise control. His victory from the pole at the Daytona International Speedway came six days after his win at the road course at Sonoma, Calif. And while he seems to be one of the drivers participating in the chase, he's still not sure if he likes the changes.
"If you're leading (the point standings after 26 races), you hate the system. And if you're way back, you love it," he said after leading Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson across the finish line just a few minutes after midnight. "It's going to be extremely interesting as to how it all turns out because at that point, basically everything you did all year long is a wash. You just better hope that your momentum and the experiences you've had are the payoff and you have that in the final 10 races."
One of the quirks of the "Chase for the Championship" is once the qualifiers are identified, the season starts over with 10 to go. The top 10 drivers will be separated by only 50 points with the difference between each position being just five points - one finishing position.
If the chase started next week, Johnson would have a five-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. and a 10-point cushion over Gordon. Under the old system that stockpiled points for all 36 races, Johnson would have a 27-point lead over Earnhardt Jr. and a 232-point advantage over Gordon.
Gordon has won back-to-back races twice this year, including the last two races that require the use of a restrictor plate. Dale Earnhardt Inc. drivers Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip had combined to win 10 of the previous 13 restrictor plate races at Daytona and its sister track at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway until Gordon wrestled away some of their magic.
"I don't think we've got an edge any more," Earnhardt Jr. said after finishing third at Daytona. "There are no secrets in the garage. They are as competitive as we are."
As he did a week earlier at Sonoma, Gordon won the pole, led the most laps and won the race.
He passed Earnhardt Jr. with seven laps to go and a lap later Johnson got around Earnhardt Jr. to give Hendrick a sweep of the top-two positions. Although Johnson insisted he wanted to make a move on his teammate, who also serves as co-owner, but he couldn't find an opening.
Kurt Busch was fourth, followed by Tony Stewart in fifth, Mark Martin in sixth, Bobby Labonte in seventh, Terry Labonte in eighth, Brian Vickers in ninth and Joe Nemechek in 10th.
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