DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Only once has Jeff Gordon experienced this kind of slump.
Gordon has now gone 41 races without a win, matching the longest drought of his career. To start his career, Gordon needed 41 races to win his first race. His previous longest stretch “between wins” was 31 races.
On the bright side, he is in good company. Richard Petty once went 45 races between wins. Bobby Allison once went 67 races between wins. Dale Earnhardt went 59 (he broke that slump with his 1998 Daytona 500 win…which, coincidentally, was held Feb. 15).
Now, Gordon wants out of that company.
In failing to win a race in 2008, Gordon ended a streak of 14 consecutive race-winning seasons. It is the seventh-longest stretch in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history. Of the remaining drivers in that top-10 list, five of the nine failed to win the year after their streak was broken. Three of the nine failed to post a single victory the rest of their careers.
Below is that top-10 list, and how each driver fared the year after their consecutive season win streak was broken, and how they fared the rest of their careers:
Longest Consecutive Season Winning Streaks
Wins Year After Wins Rest
Driver Streak Years Streak Ended Of Career
Richard Petty 18 1960-1977 5 15
David Pearson 17 1964-1980 0
Ricky Rudd 16 1983-1998 0 3
Rusty Wallace 16 1986-2001 0 1
Darrell Waltrip 15 1975-1989 2 5
Dale Earnhardt 15 1982-1996 1 6
Jeff Gordon 14 1994-2007 ? ?
Lee Petty 13 1949-1961 0 0
Cale Yarborough 13 1973-1985 0 0
Dale Jarrett 11 1993-2003 1 1
Gordon has a solid chance at quickly starting a new consecutive season win streak. He has always excelled at Daytona International Speedway, winning three Daytona 500s, three July Daytona races, four Gatorade Duel qualifying races and two Budweiser Shootouts – plus one IROC event.
Though Gordon has not won a Daytona points race since 2005, he has run solidly. His recent finishes there are deceiving.
Over the last six Daytona races, Gordon has an average finish of 25.0, including four finishes outside the top 25. Three times, solid runs turned into poor finishes because of uncontrollable circumstances. His 40th-place finish in 2006 was due to an accident. A late-race suspension issue caused his 39th-place finish in last season’s Daytona 500. In last July’s Daytona race, Gordon finished 30th, but was running third before being spun out with two laps remaining. Yet, he had strong races, as his respective Driver Ratings of 94.7, 85.2 and 105.8 would suggest.
Below are Gordon’s stats from the last six Daytona races:
Jeff Gordon at Daytona (Last Six Races)
Date Finish ARP FLR LT15% DR Led
2/06 26 19.5 8 44.3 82.1 1
7/06 40 7.1 4 91.3 94.7 27
2/07 10 21.0 1 21.8 71.6 0
7/07 5 8.6 0 93.1 97.9 9
2/08 39 14.4 3 63.5 85.2 5
7/08 30 6.6 6 83.3 105.8 46
Total 25.0 12.9 22 66.2 89.6 88
ARP: Average Running Position
FLR: Fastest Laps Run
LT15%: Percentage of Laps in the Top 15
DR: Driver Rating
Led: Laps Led
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