CONCORD, N.C. – Three poles, three top-five finishes, 12 top-10s and 167 laps led.
That’s Jeff Gordon’s stat line so far in his final full-time Sprint Cup Series season. And most importantly at the moment, he’s tentatively in the field for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
But the four-time Cup Series champion is not satisfied.
“I want to win, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “I always want to win. When you drive for Hendrick Motorsports every season, there’s always pressure to win because you know that you’re with one of the best organizations. And I feel like we’ve had a few opportunities that have slipped away from us, like Martinsville.”
Gordon pointed to multiple incidents throughout the year that were out of the No. 24 team’s control, including the leak in the brake line at Watkins Glen and getting caught up in an incident when a competitor spun out in front of him at Indianapolis.
“It is certainly not from a lack of effort,” he said of being winless to this point in the season. “There are some tracks that we could win at if you look at the stats and you look at our performance. But, I’m not going to let that ruin this year for me, or add any more pressure than there already is. We’re doing everything that we possibly can to be the best we can be; to communicate and work together and come out of this thing knowing that we gave it everything that we’ve got.”
Gordon is currently seeded 15th in the 16-driver Chase Grid. He is just two points behind 14th-place Paul Menard, 11 points from 13th-place Ryan Newman and 24 points away from 12th-place Jamie McMurray.
But he said he won’t feel comfortable with his position until the checkered flag waves at Richmond International Raceway and he’s securely in the Chase.
“You’ve got to work at it one step at a time -- I think that we know that we are behind,” Gordon said. “If we can run to our potential or even what I think we are capable of right now, I think that we make the Chase. What happens when we get in the Chase? Who knows.”
The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet SS said he likes the ability that making the Chase provides to reset and take a breath for the final 10 races.
But he’s not there yet – his focus is squarely on Darlington Raceway and Richmond, the sites of the two remaining regular-season races.
“The one thing about Hendrick Motorsports is that what makes us so great is the effort that we put in,” he said. “And the people we have are capable of doing a lot.
“Don’t ever count us out.”