Can Jeff Gordon be stopped? Probably not.
Five races remain in the season and the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Gordon leads the field by 68 points and all but three of the 11 drivers “chasing” him by more than 200. For eight drivers, it’s probably sayonara already.
The remaining races are here, Atlanta, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead. Four of them are at tracks that host two events annually. Gordon finished second at Martinsville, 12th at Atlanta, fourth at Texas and first at Phoenix. In his last visit to Homestead-Miami Speedway, Gordon finished 24th. That, however, was in 2006, and the Gordon of 2008 is quite a bit better. He’s finished worse than 24th only twice in 31 races.
Gordon’s average finish so far this year, 7.5, is the second-best of his career. In 1998, when he won 13 races, the average finish was 5.7.
Gordon, this driver for the ages, isn’t likely to make any mistakes. Some wildly improbable mechanical gremlin may strike him down. He may arrive on the scene of some awful crash that is impossible to avoid. He may even be the victim of some questionable NASCAR judgment call. It’s unlikely, though, that any wounds are going to be self-inflicted.
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