The Drive for Five: A Decade of Heartbreak

This is life as a young Gordon fan

from nascar.com

14 years Since A Championship

The Drive for Five has become something of a mythical urban legend attached to NASCAR legend and my favorite driver of the #24 Chevrolet. Jeff Gordon.

Gordon won a Winston Cup championship in 2001, when I was 6 years old. At the time I barely knew drivers’ names as much as I knew who on the track had the coolest paint scheme. It wasn’t long after I became a lifelong Gordon fan because there is nothing more badass than watching the 24 car with the fire on the sides blazing past the competition.

I’ll always remember my heart pounding during the final lap of the 2005 Daytona 500. I remember exactly where I was sitting and subsequently standing before running around my grandmother’s house, hooping and hollering that Gordon won. I was elated.

Still. Being a Gordon fan over 10+ years, it’s a lot of heartbreak after the 2001 season. Especially as a kid who didn’t grow up with the kid Dale Earnhardt proclaimed as “Wonder Boy”. He was always right there. He was always in contention.

But along came that Jimmie Johnson guy who ends up stealing the thunder, the lightning, and six NASCAR championships. The only solace is that Johnson is Gordon’s teammate, and the 48 car was owned by Gordon (24 times 2). The protege (by far) surpassing his mentor.

Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus conquered all the years of changes NASCAR went through throughout the 2000’s decade. They were the equivalent of Brady and Belichick.

Johnson was a great mile and a half track driver, the intermediate speedways, Gordon a master of the short track, and fast on the huge superspeedways.

The last 3 years have been the most tumultuous of Gordon’s career. Solid finishes were becoming more erratic, and now Gordon was needing help getting into the NASCAR playoffs, “The Chase for the Sprint Cup”. In the final 10 races, Gordon wasn’t very competitive.

The Chase had undergone changes through the last few years, including an overhaul last year. No matter how The Chase changes, Gordon was chasing butterflies. It’s been the last 3 years when Gordon fans started boding how much longer Gordon would be wheeling the 24 machine.

The Retirement Season

from bleacherreport.com

The announcement came this year that Gordon would run his final full-time NASCAR season and would effectively hand the proverbial keys to a young raw upstart named Chase Elliot (not leaving fans completely empty-handed for a possible new driver to cheer for).

Gordon had been receiving the Derek Jeter treatment as he would make his grand retirement tour arriving at each NASCAR track with a new gift waiting for him like it was Christmas again every Sunday. “All he has done for the sport,” the broadcasters and the fans say. Gordon was THE key player in bringing mainstream appeal to an otherwise territorial southern redneck tradition.

I began the year somewhat excited and afraid as a Gordon fan. My interest had piqued last year as Gordon made a strong 2014 run, but abruptly ended before the final race due to 1 dastardly point.

NASCAR’s newest system forces drivers over the final 10 race chase to qualify through three rounds ultimately leading to the final race of the season. Winning automatically grants you passage into the next round. The other positions are determined by points. (Better finishes, more points)

Ryan Newman wrecked Kyle Larson to get one position ahead which is equal to one point. That one point cost Jeff Gordon contention in the final race of the year at Homestead Miami Speedway that determines whom is Sprint Cup Champion.

Gordon tallied 4 wins in his 2014 campaign, and gave fans hope that maybe he could have a storybook finish in his final full season of racing. Momentum in NASCAR is critical as it is crucial.

Somehow over the offseason, Gordon and the 24 team lost all of it.

Every time Gordon had a good car, an untimely caution or call in the pits would do him in for an unworthy finish. Gordon always stressed winning to being the key to success, and it was the one thing he couldn’t do in his final season.

Gordon meandered his way into the Chase for the Sprint Cup based on points standings. Wins automatically put you in the Chase playoff grid, Gordon had to use consistently decent finishes to edge out a spot.

Each round of three races was another breath held. Gordon kept surviving at the dismay and unluckiness of others. Gordon had been competitive, but never showed enough momentum to make believe he had THE championship car. He wasn’t dominant like Joey Logano who was coming of a 3-race winning streak.

It all came down to: and then there were 8, narrowed from 16. Gordon among them.

Then. Something miraculous happened.

Martinsville

Martinsville, Virginia, happened.

Gordon has racked up 8 wins at the shortest of short tracks in NASCAR. Gordon is always a favorite anytime he steps into NASCAR’s paperclip.

Gordon has always been good at being patient, and that’s what tracks like Martinsville call for.

I checked into my Twitter feed, which is how I follow Jeff Gordon these days. Gordon’s Twitter page gives live updates on Gordon constantly throughout the race. He was driving a clean vintage Gordon race.

I hearkened back to when I was a child watching Gordon dominate a Martinsville race before a piece of debris hit his car under caution forcing him to go laps down. Gordon went from 1st to 21st somewhere in the last 100 laps of the race.

Gordon took his beat up DuPont Chevrolet from 21st to 6th in heroic fashion. “That’s my favorite driver,” I thought, under the age of 10 at the time.

I checked back into Gordon’s Twitter while watching the Seahawks-Cowboys game and read that: If I wasn’t watching the race on NBC Sports Network, I should be, because Jeff Gordon was in the lead in the final 20 laps of the race.

My university doesn’t have NBC Sports Network (it seems like NASCAR is never shown on network television anymore besides the early season FOX races I grew up on), so I was forced to search for a stream online. None of the streams I could find worked, so I was down to my last limbs to experience Gordon in his groove at Martinsville.

MRN broadcasts NASCAR races live on radio and is available on the Internet.

Just like my heart was pounding in the final laps of the 2005 Daytona 500, a decade of heartbreak later, my heart was pounding for the finish of the (name brand here) 500 at Martinsville.

I imagined Gordon’s car going down the backstretch, and coming around turns 3 and 4 as he was the 1st to take the checkered flag.

from hamptonroads.com

The guys at MRN were practically yelling the call, and it gets me hype now just thinking about it. I was nearly in tears just listening as they explained how Gordon’s pit crew was already in tears. They speculated Gordon might be concealing tears under his helmet.

I got to watch Gordon’s victory celebration the next day. Overcoming adversity like that, is an amazing sight to behold.

Gordon may not have won the championship, but as a fan I can say he went out on top. Winning the Sprint Cup championship could only be icing on the cake.

Jeff Gordon has spent over a decade fighting for the opportunity to be called a Champion again.

As a fan, this was all I/we ever wanted.

from jeffgordon.com

Guilty pleasure: My favorite Jeff Gordon paint scheme was definitely the Pepsi cars.