By The Commish

I had to wonder what was going through Jeff Gordon's mind at the annual Hendrick Motorsports media day in late-January. He wasn’t the first driver introduced; that honor belonged to three-time Cup series champion Jimmie Johnson, the company's current star. He wasn't the second driver introduced, either; that position went to fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. And he wasn’t the final, high-impact driver; that position went to new hire and sentimental favorite, Mark Martin. No, the man his teammates call 'Four-Time' was slotted in third place, asked relatively few questions, and almost overlooked.

The media focused on Johnson's place in history, Earnhardt Jr's battles with his crew chief, and Martin's influence on Rick Hendrick's diet — and Gordon’s new habit of flying on commercial airlines. It was a curious and painful show for his fans to watch. That experience points out the biggest challenge for Gordon this year: How does he re-assert himself at Hendrick Motorsports? In 2007, his door-to-door duel with Johnson kept him firmly on center stage, both in the eyes of his team and of the motorsports public. His six wins took him to 81 for his storied career, passing Dale Earnhardt on the all-time list and putting him within four wins of third-place on the all-time win list. Even if his last championship was in 2001, Gordon's momentum from the 2007 season made it seem as if he was on the cusp of extending a great career.

However, 2008 was different story. With the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow at the downforce tracks, Gordon's ability to dominate seemed to disappear. In 2007, he led 1300 laps while racking up 30 top-ten finishes. By comparison, in 2008 those numbers dropped to 447 laps led and only 19 top-tens. He had five more DNF's in 2008 than in the previous year, and his average race finish position dropped by over seven places. Suddenly, Jeff Gordon was old news, eclipsed by not only his protege Johnson but by other up-and-coming drivers. While the team celebrated the addition of Earnhardt Jr. and the ascendance of Johnson to the highest echelons of the sport, in 2008, Gordon was simply yesterday's news.

It's not that Gordon forgot how to drive, as the saying goes, but that he couldn't reconcile himself to a car inimical to his skills. The weight balance and aerodynamic design mandated by NASCAR for the COT are totally contrary to Gordon's preferences, which are for a tighter car that responds to an early turn on the steering wheel rather than to a hard push on the throttle late in the turns. That's the style he developed in midgets and sprint cars, where his small size and lighter weight required him to handle cars with finesse rather than brute strength. The struggles Gordon had last year at Martinsville, Bristol, and Darlington, which were tracks perfectly suited to his style in the old cars, certainly highlighted these problems. Throttle racers, like Johnson, Kyle Busch, and Carl Edwards, flourished in the COT. Gordon, as we saw, struggled.

That's where I have to raise the question of motivation. It's not that he's lost his competitive fire, or that marriage and fatherhood have diluted his focus. But he's said repeatedly in the past few years that he's achieved more than he'd ever dreamed of in the Cup series, and that he doesn't have anything to prove anymore. He's checked off all the items on his stock car bucket list. And maybe, just maybe, that's where the problem lies. His place in racing history is secure. Why should he change his driving style to accommodate the monstrosity that is the COT? He won four legitimate, season-long championships. Why should he try to be a ten-race sprinter to win a made-for-marketing Chase - especially since the Chase format has taken two additional championships away from him? While he claims to want to win a Sprint Cup championship as well, one wonders whether he's really motivated to do so.

Maybe the cold reality of Media Day is just what Gordon needed. While his team talks about the disrespect Johnson receives, and the media already thinks that his fourth successive championship is a foregone conclusion, maybe Gordon will find the fire again. Maybe the need to prove himself as the lead dog in the Hendrick pack will reassert itself and the black paint scheme will bring excitement back inside the car as well as outside it. Maybe instead of demanding that his crew perform the impossible task of turning the COT into the old downforce car, Gordon will focus his considerable talents on mastering the style the new car demands.

When the series wends its way to the intermediate tracks, we'll see quickly whether NASCAR's most successful active driver can return to the top or if we're just watching a successful veteran play out the string. As a fan of Jeff Gordon — and of great racing — I hope that he sets new goals this year and puts everything he has into achieving them. If not, it'll be another unfulfilling end game.

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