ShareThisTake a glance at NASCAR's current Sprint Cup points standings and you see Jeff Gordon's name at the top of the list.
It's been a while.
And for those of us who like Gordon and have always thought of him as one of the good guys in the sport, it's cool to see.
"Three weeks in a row I've felt like we had the car that could win and that's quite a change from last year," said Gordon, who was winless last season for the first time in 15 years.
Like a lot of observers I was starting to wonder if perhaps Gordon's best days were behind him. He was still making a lot of money, but he wasn't making a lot of noise once the Chase began.
Then again, if he never won another race his legacy was pretty solid.
His first win came in Richard Petty's last race, which -- whether anyone knew it at the time or not -- signaled a whole new era in the sport.
"At the time I just thought it was cool to be in the same race Richard Petty was in," Gordon said.
In 2001 with Gordon driving and crew chief Robbie Loomis preparing the Chevrolet owned by Rick Hendrick, the multi-colored machine wound up in victory lane six times and Gordon was able to win the points crown by a comfortable margin. It was his fourth, which catapulted him to legend status in the sport.
And for those who suggest he never "worked" for his success, the Indiana native made a down payment on a racing career almost from the time he could walk.
Getting his USAC license at 16 instead of the customary age of 18, and working his way up the ranks with incredible quickness, Gordon took Rookie of the Year honors in 1993 and became the first driver to cop those awards in both Cup and Busch Series (now Nationwide) racing. He also won one of the 125-mile qualifiers at Daytona, becoming the first rookie to do so since 1963.
A year later Gordon found himself in victory lane twice, winning the inaugural Brickyard 400 at Indy and also finishing first in NASCAR's longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
In just his third year in Cup, Gordon grabbed his first series crown and became the youngest champ of the modern era. Along the way, he scored seven victories and earned almost $4.5 million -- the most earnings in a single season in the history of stock car racing.
In 1997, Gordon won his second championship and clearly established himself as one of the series' greatest performers. Gordon took 10 checkers and became NASCAR's most dominant driver. He picked up his third points title a year later, and this time he exceeded his 1997 accomplishments with an astounding 13 victories, seven poles and 26 top-5 finishes. His 13 wins and four-race win streak were both modern records.
The next two seasons resulted in 12 wins and no points titles, but in 2001 Gordon was back. Aside from his six checkers, he had an astounding 19 top-5 showings and 21 top-10s.
So here we are in 2009, eight years removed from his last title.
He has 81 victories, which is sixth all-time in Cup competition. One more points crown would give him five, two shy of the record seven won by Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt.
I'm certainly not predicting he'll dethrone his friend and teammate Jimmie Johnson, but it's nice to have him back in the conversation again.
(Contact Scott Adamson of the Anderson Independent-Mail in Anderson, S.C., at www.independentmail.com.)
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