December 8, 2008
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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The phenomenal success of Hendrick Motorsports and driver Jimmie Johnson this season has overshadowed the dismal results of the teams of two other high profile drivers.
For the first time since his rookie season, Jeff Gordon finished the year without winning a race, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., while winning once at Michigan and posting good results during the beginning of the year, fell off toward the latter part of the season.
Sporting a full beard that has his other drivers calling him “Mountain Man,” Dale Earnhardt Jr., made an appearance at NASCAR’s champion’s week to collect his annual “NASCAR’s most popular driver award,” something that he has won for six consecutive seasons. More than likely, Earnhardt would gladly trade all six of those trophies for a Cup Championship, and uncharacteristically is gnawing at the bit to get back to racing next year.
In the past, Earnhardt has voiced the opinion that the current NASCAR schedule runs too long and that the off season is too short. This year, he is singing a different tune.
"I'm looking forward to getting to work. It's a little somber this off-season due to not running well and not finishing well and not being able to celebrate like everybody else in New York,” Earnhardt said in an epsn.com article by David Newton. The end of the season collapse left him twelfth in points, and only the top ten drivers are privileged enough to attend the awards banquet.
Not only did Earnhardt break his 72 race winless streak this season by winning a race at Michigan, but on a sadder note Jeff Gordon’s streak of winning a race every year since his rookie season also ended.
Other NASCAR greats who have gone winless during an entire season did so toward the twilight of their careers. Rusty Wallace won only one more race after his first winless season, and the great Dale Earnhardt won just six more races after his first winless season in 1997, breaking a streak of 15 consecutive seasons with at least one win. However, he did finish second in the points standings in 2000, and then his career was tragically cut short.
Drivers Ned Jarret and Junior Johnson both retired after not posting a win during the 1966 season. Bill Elliott’s first winless season came in 1993. He won in 1994 at the Southern 500 at Darlington but wouldn’t win another race until 2004.
Of all of the great drivers in NASCAR, only one man has rebounded from having his yearly win streak broken by winning the championship the following season. Richard Petty did not win a race in 1978, but the next season won the 1979 Daytona 500, NASCAR’s first live televised race and the one famous for the fist fight at the end between Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison. He would win five times and post 23 top-fives in 31 races that season en route to the final of his record seven Cup titles. However during the 1980’s as his legendary career was winding down, even he struggled to win races.
Richard Petty’s final race would be at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1992, and ironically it would be Jeff Gordon’s first career race, a passing of the torch of sorts. Gordon assumed the mantle well, going on to win four Cup titles and posting 81 career wins, thereby placing himself sixth on the all-time win list, but well short of Richard Petty’s 200 race win total, a record that will more than likely never be broken.
Will Jeff Gordon be able to rebound and win next years championship? Or is it time for Gordon to retire? After all, he has a wife and new daughter to devote his time too. While it is certainly possible for Gordon to win more races and even the Cup title next season, one thing is for sure. Jeff Gordon is no Richard Petty.
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