In the Chase's first
race at New Hampshire,
the Vallejo, CA driver started 2nd and stayed in the lead
group for most of the race, leading some laps and gaining critical bonus points in his quest for his fifth title. After dodging
a wreck directly in front of him involving teammate Kyle Busch and having to get by an aggressive driver in his own teammate,
Brian Vickers, Gordon was able to bring his DuPont Chevrolet home third, and moving Gordon within 50 points of the championship
lead.
Then as they took to
the track at the Dover International Speedway this past Friday, Gordon ended a 47-race Bud Pole drought and won the pole for
the Dover 400.
Although he was not able
to lead a lap yesterday, Gordon was able to keep his car out of trouble even when stuck mid-pack with a car not to his liking.
He ended up passing some cars that ran out of gas, like Matt Kenseth and Reed Sorenson in the race's closing moments, and
come home with another podium finish.
Gordon's crew chief Steve
Letarte has been preaching to his team and the media his strategy for the Chase. He looked at last year's stats and what Tony
Stewart did to win the title. He saw that “Smoke's” average finish through the 10 Chase races was 8.7, and said
that if he and his driver can maintain that average, they will be in the hunt for the championship.
So far, that strategy
has worked, as the championship driver (one of only two in the Chase) sits only 6 points behind points leader Jeff Burton,
all this and he has an average finish of 3.0.
That, of course, doesn't mean
a thing, as Gordon was leading points two years ago at this same time, and wound up finishing 3rd in points, 16 behind eventual
champion Kurt Busch.
2006 StockCar Review.
