What Might Have Been.

NASCAR Cup Series Jeff Gordon 1996

There are always things that change in racing. From rules, drivers, and crew members shifting teams. However one thing that doesn't change is a point of time when a driver just has a period of dominance. That's what was about to happen to Jeff Gordon. In 1995 he went up against the Intimadator himself Dale Earnhardt and won his first championship. Things only seemed to look bright for him and his 24 team nicknamed "The Rainbow Warriors" but oh boy the first two races of the season were an entirely different story. The Daytona 500 only lasted 13 laps for the 24 car after wrecking early, and in Rockingham he blew an engine 134 laps in. Couldn't have started the year off much worse being 298 points in the hole but there are 29 races left in 1996 and plenty of time to recover. Jeff Gordon and company would do just that at Richmond in a day that was full of comers and goers the Dupont Chevrolet fluctuated in the top 10 but was still very fast and would remove the monkey of their backs by claiming victory leading 124 of 400 laps. At Atlanta the 24 would lead 24 laps and finish 3rd. Darlington would be a more dominant performance. Gordon was trapped a lap down after a caution came out in the middle of green flag pitstops at lap 90 so he had to stay out and be on the tail end of the lead lap and hope for a yellow to cycle back around which occured from debris on the 121st lap of the race. By lap 143 Gordon finished his march back to the lead. Hardly anyone could challenge the 24 but in the end fuel was a concern and a fast charging Dale Jarrett who even passed Jeff. However Jarrett was pushing so hard he hit the fence while trying to pass a lap car Gordon got the lead back and had the fuel for the victory at the track too tough to tame. Next was another very tough track, it is known as the last great colosseum also known as Bristol. But what wasn't great is the rain being a factor cutting the race short but the winner even though they are a racer and want to to the entire distance will definitely take it anyway and that's what happened to Gordon who made his way up from 8th lead 148 out of the 342 laps ran. North Wilkesboro Jeff finished 2nd just continuing his terrific climb up to the top of the championship now 5th 93 points behind Dale Jarrett. Martinsville was up next and early on the 24 was not flashy just clicking off laps then before you realize it halfway is approaching and Gordon now has the strangest car on the track leading for the first time at lap 225 in the 500 laper. Once again for the 3rd time in for races the Indiana native has lead the most laps in this case 211 but in the end came up short fading late to 3rd. But that isn't a big deal, the fact that after beginning 2 races this season in rock bottom to have no finish worse than 3rd in the previous 6, lead in 5 of them, lead over 124 laps in 4 and so on he is now 2nd 76 points behind the 7 time champion Dale Earnhardt and it was only a matter of time with this hot streak that Gordon and the Rainbow Warriors would lead the points right? Well he ran like usual, up front and even lead 18 laps along the way but got caught up in what is known as "The big one" ruining his day and left Talladega with a 33rd place finish. His climb to the top came to a halt going from 2nd in points 77 behind the lead Jeff is now 4th in the standings 177 behind. At Sonoma he bounced back with decent speed early on but as the race went on the closer the 24 got to the front from his 6th place starting spot. He runs 2nd at the halfway point of the race behind Rusty Wallace the 1989 Cup champion. He was close behind ready to take advantage of any mistakes but none came however eventually with 18 laps to go the Rainbow Warriors on pit road got Gordon out ahead of the 2 car. Now the shoe is on the other foot but Wallace is breathing down the neck and putting a lot of pressure on the young reigning champion but Rusty was making mistakes allowing Gordon to drive of into the distance.....until the yellow came out. So now he has to hold off the hungry pack behind him and it all goes wrong as he spins the tires getting a horrible penultimate restart going costing him the lead resulting in a 6th place finish. Going to the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte the 24 crew showed up with a car they named "Blacker" it has poles in Indianapolis, Darlington, and Rockingham along with a combined 4 wins at those 3 tracks along with a victory in Atlanta in the span since 1995. Can't win them all though as Gordon lead 101 laps early and finished 4th. Still with the amazing track record Blacker had they went to Dover he was setting a blazing pace from the pole absolutely dominated the early stages of the 500 lap race. He pitted at lap 196 just after a set of green flag pitstops putting him in the middle of the pace restarting 13th. He was able to make up the lost track position at a consistent pace but by lap 363 under yellow stops and hardly ever looked back going on to claim his 4th victory of the year and already the 13th of his career in 105 races leading 307 of 500 laps. This is his 4th season in the sport and has already accomplished stuff like that and even a Cup championship to his credit he is taking the Cup series by storm. But despite winning a quarter of the races in 1996 so far Gordon is still 182 points behind his great rival Dale Earnhardt. Jeff and his team decided to take the Blacker car to the racetrack once again, next up is Pocono and didn't even skip a beat by claiming the pole once again. However he did fall back early on and didn't lead till lap 56. Some strategy taking place here at the place known as the tricky triangle with Mark Martin 2 tires early on along with some others. The track was actually repaved so you could get away with it WAY better than you could on a abrasive surface such as Darlington and Richmond. Anyway as the race continued on long runs the faster Gordon's car got. From about a quarter of the way on the Dupont Chevrolet was the one to beat. But as always in NASCAR and motorsports, it isn't straight forward when Rusty Wallace takes the lead at 111. It looked like it would be a duel between 2 champions on track till a pitstop when the clutch burns out of Rusty Wallace's car putting him out of the race. After that Gordon could just cruise on home to victory for the 5th time of the year. Jeff Gordon gets his 14th win in his 106th start in the NASCAR Cup series and with Earnhardt having engine problems the 24 has gotten within 64 points of the 3. At Michigan the Rainbow Warriors began 7th and lead 42 laps in the middle stages but had to go back and get a missing lugnut and restarted 32nd and finished 6th. Daytona was much better for Gordon and company the 2nd time around finishing 3rd. Now at the halfway point 37 points separate the top 3 which are 7 time champion Dale Earnhardt, 1984 champ Terry Labonte and Jeff Gordon. New Hampshire was deemed as the turning point of last year for the 24 because they took the lead after this race and never looked back but all that matters is that Gordon leads the points after the season finale. Well track position was the name of the game. Gordon started his Dupont chevrolet from 16th position but early on he just couldn't go anywhere especially since this is a fairly new racetrack to the Cup circuit being introduced in 1993. Plus since the pavement is still fairly fresh you can take 2 tires and get away with it and crew chief Ray Evernham was not scared to do that. However that work would get undone when there was miscommunication if Gordon was gonna pit or not and now fell to 30th at lap 55 and literally once again is trapped in traffic only gaining one spot from lap 55-71 until staying out to reclaim the track position that was once his now being up to 4th. Now that Gordon is back up front he has the speed to get the lead and after pressuring the then leader Robert Pressley into making a mistake the 24 was head of the pack once more. But there is still a lot of good strategy left that always jumbles up the leader in the middle stages. After being unable to outright get the lead again the strategy was made to stay out again at lap 190 because no matter what everyone needed one more stop for gas. But sadly with 63 laps to go his car just died in turn 2 and he would slowly creep into the pits to retire from the race from an ignition faliure and finish 34th after leading 59 of 300 laps which made it the 6th time in 16 races Gordon has lead the most laps in a race. Now one year ago after Gordon was leading after Loudon this time it's his teammate Terry Labonte who would be the new points leader by 116 over the 3rd place 24 crew. We are officially halfway home now as points begin to be more and more of a conversation going to Pocono where Jeff won 4 races earlier in the year. This time it was not the case, even after a gear oil leak towards the end he still finished 7th. Talladega he had a fast car as always but in the second trip of the year hasn't been to kind for the Rainbow Warriors at this facility. In 2 of the 3 fall races he has DNFed from engine faliures. Also in the 7 races he has run in his carrer there he has DNFed 3 times and only 2 top 10s and a DNF would really hurt him in his championship defense. Gordon was one of the obvious 2 best cars of the race. The other one was 7 time champion Dale Earnhardt, the man who nicknamed Gordon wonder boy cause entering Cup in your early 20s was not normal but that hasn't slowed Gordon down at all but beating Earnhardt at a restrictor plate race was no easy task. Dale was so good at Daytona and Talledega people thought he could see the air. Yep, obviously you can't see air but people say that over 9 of his 70 wins he had to this point were at those 2 tracks so he is legendary at this type of racing. But for the 3 things did not end so well this time.