FanHouse SteveLetarte

While Jeff Gordon's win at Texas Motor Speedway was a big deal to most of us, it wasn't as significant as we've all made it out to be. Sure, he broke a 47-race winless streak and snagged a win on one of the two remaining tracks he hadn't conquered, but the whole incident was terribly overplayed and revealed just how much of a slave Gordon is to his own success.

While Gordon had never before visited Victory Lane at Texas, how quickly we forget the man led a bunch of laps and landed many top-five finishes at the 1.5-mile venue before.

If you haven't seen or heard much from NASCAR's four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon as the race weekend gets going at Kansas Speedway, there's a pretty good reason for that.

Gordon, who doesn't look too peppy in the photo from Friday in Kansas to the right, is feeling quite under the weather, according the The Charlotte Observer's David Poole.

"Jeff Gordon qualified 13th fastest on Friday. He also practiced his car, but that was about the only thing the four-time champion did. He was under the weather and canceled all of his media sessions to conserve his energy for driving."

In practice this afternoon, Gordon turned just 11 laps during the one and a half-hour session, and in between me falling in out of a nap during qualifying Friday afternoon, I'm pretty sure ESPN didn't talk to him during their coverage.

Without a doubt, Gordon's team is going to put remember that winning practice doesn't win a championship, and will make sure Gordon is ready to go for Sunday's Camping World 400.

Geoffrey Miller is in Concord, N.C. for Sunday's Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He'll aim to eat as many elephant ears as possible while blogging away "Live from Lowe's" throughout Memorial Day weekend.

Jeff Gordon may have had a car capable of running in the Top-10, but he simply didn't have the track position.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the car to beat until lap 296 when he blew a tire and slapped the wall -- while leading.

Somehow, though, the two Hendrick Motorsports teammates ended up fourth (Gordon) and fifth (Earnhardt Jr.) in the final standings of Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600.

Earnhardt Jr. truly had a car that was one of the top two or three in the entire field, and he likely had the best car as the race was set to begin its final 100 laps of the scheduled 400. Then, his right rear tire went flat as he prepared to lap Hendrick teammate Gordon while entering turn 3 on lap 296, and the No. 88 veered into the wall.

Luckily, Earnhardt had been using the high lane all evening so the impact wasn't as severe as it could have been. The team brought him to pit road many times under the subsequent caution, threw some new rubber on it, pulled out the fenders, and double-checked the suspension.

Junior rejoined the race around 20th, but the car just wasn't the same.

That's where his path aligned with that of Jeff Gordon's team and how to maximize their final finish.

Jeff Gordon said it best last week when he said Jimmie Johnson "has flat killed everyone" in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

That didn't change Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson finished seventh in the Ford 400 to wrap up his second NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship in a row by 77 points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate and co-team owner, Jeff Gordon. Johnson is the first Cup series repeat champion since Gordon did it in 1997-98.

Johnson, who was going for his 5th win in a row, led only the first lap of the race after starting from the pole and was a steady Top-10 fixture for the rest of the race. Gordon managed to earn 9 points in the final tally on Johnson by finishing fourth, but it wouldn't be enough for the four-time champion who also had a season to remember by recording his 30th Top-10 of the season, a new NASCAR record.

Oh Yeah, Matt Kenseth Won, Too

Also celebrating Sunday night at Homestead was the Roush-Fenway Racing team after Matt Kenseth won his second race of the year.

Heading to Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend for the tenth and final race of the Chase for the Nextel Cup, things in the Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson Show changed dramatically since last week's edition. Gordon now trails Johnson by 86 points in the standings. Here's a breakdown of their stats at Homestead and the possibilities that loom within the last Chase race of the season.

Homestead Stats: Neither Gordon nor Johnson have a win at Homestead, a track that has seen a myriad of layout changes since it first came on the Nextel Cup tour. Johnson has the best career finish with a 2nd-place in 2004. Gordon's best finish also came in 2004 with a 3rd-place.

A year ago, Gordon finished 24th while Johnson finished ninth to wrap up his first title. A 40th-place finish in 2005 left Johnson with an average finish at HMS of 14.5 while Gordon has average 11.4.

Chase Stats: Phoenix stuck a fork in Jeff Gordon's title hopes after Johnson won his fourth-straight to Gordon's 10th-place finish. The 86-point deficit will be nearly impossible to overcome unless Johnson has serious trouble in the race. If Johnson finishes 18th or better, he automatically looks up the title, even if Gordon leads every lap and wins the race.

In doomsday scenarios for Johnson, if he finishes 40th or worse, Gordon could take the title with a 10th place finish or better. A 43rd-place finish for Johnson would mean Gordon would have to finish 14th or better.

I wouldn't put too much stock in those possibilities this year knowing that he has only failed to finish a race four times. Johnson should have his second NASCAR Nextel Cup title in hand come Sunday evening.

Last week at Texas Motor Speedway, we heard plenty about how Jeff Gordon didn't have a good-handling car in the Saturday practice sessions leading up to the Dickie's 500.

And if Jeff Gordon wants any chance at re-capturing that Nextel Cup point lead and his fifth series championship, the No. 24 team is indeed going to have to make amends on how well they get the car dialed in.

"We're doing a great job on Friday qualifying and we need to do that again here today and next week in Homestead. But Saturday getting prepared for the race, we got to do a little bit better job," said Gordon Friday before qualifying at Phoenix.

Starting positions haven't been a problem for Gordon in the past few weeks. Gordon started second at Texas last week and at Atlanta two weeks back, he rolled off eighth. He starts third Sunday at Phoenix.

In each race, Gordon has finished seventh after battling a race car that often wanted to find contact with the SAFER barrier instead of with victory lane. Unfortunately for Gordon fans, the strong effort to salvage a decent finish has been significantly trumped by two-straight wins by teammate and Chase contender Jimmie Johnson.

It's definitely not lost on Gordon that the Saturday program needs to improve immediately at Phoenix and next week at Homestead if the No. 24 team wants any shot at Jimmie Johnson.

"We've got to step it up. There's no hiding that and I hope we can pull that off right here in Phoenix," said Gordon.

(Yes, that picture IS the most ridiculous one you've ever seen. Anyways, back to the regularly scheduled programming...)

Jimmie Johnson looked a chef in the final laps of the Dickie's 500 at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday night.

First, he sat Matt Kenseth on the table with a charge to his rear bumper with 15 laps to go.

Then, Johnson backed off and let Kenseth cool down -- as well as the tires on his No. 48 -- and read the perfect recipe for the win.

With four circuits left, Johnson pounced with a knife, cutting into Kenseth's lead and finally cutting him off out of turn two, grabbing the race lead and showing the No. 48 team's brilliance in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Brian France seems a little ticked.

After all, he's got Kentucky hating him, crew chiefs showing up at race tracks when they're suspended, and whether or not NASCAR has any business in China.

Now, France is threatening to suspend drivers if they don't show some r-e-s-p-e-c-t.

"We'd like not to get to (suspending drivers)," chairman Brian France said during a conference call Tuesday. "We'd like to make the deterrent, a portion of the penalty, significant enough that that isn't necessary for us to do.

"But are we willing to go there? Of course we would. We have in the past and we will in the future. We're not hoping to do that. That's sort of a death penalty."

Cough, cough, Kurt Busch, anyone?