Spotter's Stand: Jeff Gordon's Closing Woes Continue

The rain trickled from the sky while Jeff Gordon sat inside his parked black-and-orange, front-running No. 24 in turn one of Pocono Raceway, waiting for safety crews to clean up the unbelievable crash involving Kurt Busch and Elliott Sadler on lap 166 of Sunday's race.

Gordon, suddenly an experienced weatherman, tried to decode over his team's radio the rate of which the rain was falling -- hoping it would be enough to stop the race for good and give Gordon his first Sprint Cup Series win in more than 15 months.

The rain, though, subsided and the race resumed, exposing a weakness that has plagued his race team all season: the inability to close out a race.

The No. 24 ended up sixth after leading some 39 laps while Greg Biffle scooted away to break a losing streak of his own.

"I'm bummed out that we just can't catch a break," Gordon said afterward. "It just seems like when we get ourselves in position to win the race, it just seems like we can't catch that break. You make those breaks by working hard, team work, good fast race cars and putting yourself in the right place. The way the weather was today, it didn't work out for us and that has kind of been the story for us as far as victories are concerned."

Gordon's closing woes started as early as third race of the season, when a two-tire final pit stop failed to give him an advantage over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, when Johnson's team elected for a four-tire stop. Gordon led 219 laps that day, but settled for third.

Late strategy put Gordon in plausible contention at Martinsville and Phoenix, but a late crash ruined a run at Texas where Gordon proved to have the dominant car. The No. 24 has netted seven of its ten top-fives since the spring visit to Fort Worth, though none have resulted in checkered flags or smoky burnouts.

Most telling, actually, might be a number from NASCAR's statistical loop data. Of 65 drivers that have competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2010, Gordon ranks 63rd of 65th in the "closing" category -- defined as a driver's net gain or loss of position in the final ten percent of a race.

Gordon has conceded 44 total spots during the closing laps of races this season for an average of 2.1 spots every race. Only Juan Pablo Montoya (-81) and Jeff Burton (-85) have more.

Admittedly, the numerical ranking for Gordon and other frontrunners is a bit skewed. Positions are much easier to lose at the front than to gain at the back with interesting pit strategy. Still, one driver who beat Gordon late at Pocono -- Denny Hamlin -- tops the list with an average of three positions gained per race in the final segments, for a total of 64 spots moved up.

In NASCAR's traditional points format, one could argue that Gordon's performance could actually be beneficial if he was sacrificing positions in the interest of finishing. But with a Chase for the Championship format favoring multiple-time winners during the final 10-race stretch, Gordon knows getting the checkers may be worth the risk of ending up on the wrecker.

"I think as a team, we're really strong and solid," Gordon said. "That's what it takes to win a championship. But it is a little frustrating that we haven't won a race. We certainly would like to be in victory lane right now."

WHO'S HOT: Carl Edwards has now reeled off four-straight top-10s in the Sprint Cup Series and has finally seemed to move out of the spotlight for his Nationwide Series drama with Brad Keselowski two weeks ago. Edwards isn't a championship threat yet, but he has moved to 10th in the standings and the Ford program seems to be improving.

WHO'S NOT: From Phoenix in April to Pocono in June -- a span of eight races -- Kyle Busch won twice and didn't finish outside of the top-10.

Since then, Busch has reeled off seven races with mediocre results, with an average finish of 22nd after his 23rd-place finish on Sunday. A lone top-10 at Indianapolis stands out while Busch has dropped from second in points (19 markers behind the leader Kevin Harvick) to sixth, 356 points behind.

QUOTABLE: : "I never doubted myself whether I had the ability to win at this level. I guess sometimes you can start doing that, but I never did. I just was frustrated that we haven't capitalized on some of the opportunities that we've had." -- Greg Biffle, after snapping his 64-race losing streak.

NOTABLE: After recording two straight wins to close June and start July, Jimmie Johnson's success hit a brick wall with finishes of 31st, 25th and 22nd. August, it seems, might go a little better.

After leading a race-high 96 laps, Johnson faded a bit but still managed to wind up 10th, his 12th top-10 of the year.