Under the old NASCAR points scoring system Jeff Gordon would have been declared the runaway winner of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup title with his season long haul of six race victories and an incredible 30 top ten finishes from 36 races. However in the 'Chase era' not even a final ten-race stretch that included two wins and seven other top ten finishes was enough to beat his Hendrick Motorsport teammate Jimmie Johnson to the title.
Johnson's remarkable Chase run that included no less than four race wins and two other top five finishes saw him seal the Championship by more than 70 points but despite missing out on a fifth Cup Series crown Gordon was still feeling tremendously positive about a successful season on and off the track for him.
“It really was an amazing year for me,” said Gordon who also witnessed the birth of his first child in June. “To be in my 15th season, and to still be competitive like we were this year and win races and battle for the championship, of course, becoming a first time dad. I mean, to throw all those things into it and to be able to battle it out all the way here to the finish, it definitely was an awesome year.”
Gordon set the tone for his season early on and only finished outside the top ten once in the first eleven races of the year. An accident in the Coca Cola 600 proved to be the low point but would end up as his sole failure to finish all season. A rain shortened win at Pocono would be his only trip to victory lane between the months of June and October but despite a brief three race blip at the end of August where he failed to finish inside the top 20 Gordon and his Steve Letarte led crew kept up the pressure all year and led the regular season standings going into the Chase.
However when the Chase began Gordon and his team committed perhaps their only fault of the year in thinking that consistency would be the key to unlocking that fifth driver's title rather than out and out aggression. While every Chase contender in the history of NASCAR's end of season title battle has run into at least one race where bad luck has struck, this year was different for both Gordon and Johnson. Gordon later admitted that, at times, he and Letarte were waiting for Johnson to get bitten by his ultra aggressive strategy but that moment never came.
“I love the Chase, I love what it's all about and the entertainment aspect of it, and I know it's the best thing for the sport,” added Gordon. “But when I look at our whole year, it's a little tough. I'm a competitor. You know, I'm very happy for Jimmie and those guys, but I really wanted it for our team. I felt like they deserved it. They worked hard and did a great job this year. We came up a little short. But it's been awesome, and there is nothing for us to hang our heads about. It's really been an amazing year.
“I've always known it's possible for somebody to be aggressive like Jimmie and Chad, win races like they did. You know, you've got to push the limits to lead the laps and win the races like that. You know, I mean, I think that what makes those guys so good is that they're able to push the limit and not make mistakes. You know, because the harder you push, the more risk you take, the more chances you take of making mistakes. And so, you know, what they did this year is incredible. I'll be honest with you; I'll take a 5.1 average for the rest of my career in the Chase. I'm pretty sure that will win a few championships.
“And I think when we look back at it all, the last four races before this one, those guys got aggressive. We probably played a little too conservative. And they put themselves in position to pull off a couple of wins that maybe they shouldn't have. But then they got a couple that they really deserve. I'm not saying they didn't deserve any of them, but they definitely got the wins at a crucial time when we got a little conservative. We didn't get the cars to where they needed to be. And those guys beat us, that is the bottom line.
“I'll be honest, I really thought that as aggressive as they were being, you know, it was going to bite them. And I guess I was just a little bit too confident in the whole consistency thing. I thought, that's all right, let's let them go do that, you know, and see what happens. And man, if they didn't pull it off. So that's just how good they are.”
