Championship-Worthy Seasons Not Enough for Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin

The cloudy white smoke from Jimmie Johnson's marathon victory burnout at Phoenix International Raceway Sunday seemed to have a double meaning.

On one hand, it was a celebration for all that Johnson has done right in the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup as he marches towards an improbable fourth straight Sprint Cup championship in the season's final race next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

But on the other, it seemed to identify a brutal certainty for two of NASCAR's marquee drivers as once again Mark Martin's (2nd in points) and Jeff Gordon's (3rd) collective shots at NASCAR's biggest crown were figuratively going up in smoke.

---

---

Gordon, of course, has somewhat of a "been-there-done-that" attitude towards championships thanks to the four he's collected in his Cup career, starting with his 1992 debut. Martin, though, appears to be heading towards his fifth career runner-up spot in the final season standings if he holds serve next Sunday at Homestead in relation to the competitors behind him.

Sure, it's imperative to mention in this column the fact that Johnson has yet to officially lay claim to the 2009 champion's trophy. His 108-point lead over Martin with one race remaining isn't a sure thing at Homestead, but it's the second-biggest lead Johnson has had going to Homestead as the championship leader.

Plus, he's yet to lose enough points at Homestead to lose the championship.

None of that makes it any easier for Martin to score the upset and win his first career Cup title.

Martin, though, has maintained all season that his 2009 campaign -- his first back from a few years of semi-retirement that saw him drive sparingly in the Cup series since departing Roush-Fenway Racing after 2006 -- hasn't been solely about winning the championship that has eluded him for so long.

Instead, Martin says, it's been about him learning to enjoy the sport of racing again and learning that every race is just a small part of the picture -- and that a bad finish or a bit of tough luck isn't a good reason to be mad for a week.

What's disappointing, though, is how the run that Martin has put together in the second part of the season -- and more notably the Chase -- will likely go for naught. Since an early crash at the July race in Daytona, Martin has tallied together two wins and 13 Top-10s in 17 races, and after the Chase began, Martin has finished out of the Top 10 just twice -- at Charlotte and after crashing at Talladega.


In total, Martin has earned the second-most number of wins in a season in his career (5) and that number is also good for second-most on the season behind teammate Johnson.

Like I said, Jeff Gordon is no newbie to the championship game. Gordon, though, hasn't taken home a title since 2001 (his fourth) and hasn't laid claim on the new Sprint Cup trophy since the Chase was instituted in 2004.

He's not even new to efforts of championship caliber failing to pan out. The most recent example was 2007 when Gordon earned a NASCAR-record 30 top-10s that season. He missed out on the title, though, thanks to Jimmie Johnson taking his second-career championship during a Chase system due to an abnormally strong final ten races.

This year wasn't as successful for Gordon. He lined up one win and 24 Top-10s in all (prior to Homestead, of course), which leaves him in third heading to the season's final race. Unfortunately for No. 24 fans with a fifth championship on their mind, Gordon's 169-point deficit to Johnson means that Johnson simply needs to take the green flag next week at Homestead for Gordon to be cut out of the picture once again (now the eighth straight year).

After Sunday's race, Gordon acknowledged that his team had improved significantly from a 2008 season without a win and less than 20 Top-10s. But trying to get even better (especially at the Chase tracks) would take a hard, hard response this offseason by the Steve Letarte-led team, if a title is to be reachable over No. 48 in 2010.

Fortunately, both Martin and Gordon won't need to look too far -- just across their team race shop, to be exact -- to measure their progress against the level Jimmie Johnson has set for what looks to be four straight years of NASCAR domination.