NEXTEL Cup Chase: Gordon’s last gasp

He’s the four-time Winston Cup champion. But if he wants to make it five Cups, Jeff Gordon has a lot of work to do.

Gordon is in 10th place in the drivers’ standings as the NASCAR Chase for the Nextel Cup heads to Martinsville, Virginia for Sunday’s Subway 500. A full 216 points separate him from the man in first, Jeff Burton, with just five races remaining in the season. But Gordon has an excellent chance to take a big bite out of that lead; he’s won four of the last seven Cup events at Martinsville, and he’s one of the favorites at +500 to do it again.

Few drivers have proven themselves capable of handling the challenging half-mile paper clip that is the Martinsville track. Gordon has won there seven times, and he has a remarkable 15 Top-5 results in 27 appearances. That includes a second-place finish at April’s event, the DirecTV 500.

That consistency must be contagious, because Hendrick Motorsports placed three other drivers in the Top 10 at the DirecTV 500: Jimmie Johnson (third), Kyle Busch (fifth) and Brian Vickers (eighth). Vickers has essentially been turfed out of the Hendrick garage after announcing his intention to race for Team Red Bull in 2007; he’s far down the odds list for Sunday at +2500, but Johnson (+750) and Busch (+1100) are both in the mix and figure to spend much of the Subway 500 at or near the front of the pack.

Aside from the Hendrick clan, Tony Stewart (+500) is being pegged as a co-favorite despite being out of the Chase. Stewart won April’s event, finished second at last year’s Subway 500, and has already illustrated his desire to finish the season strongly after winning the Banquet 400 at Kansas. However, Stewart has started no better than 13th on the grid in each of his last seven races, and Martinsville is a very difficult place to pass.

Kurt Busch (+800), meanwhile, will have to perform this Sunday without his crew chief. Roy McCauley was suspended for two weeks after a shock absorber failed inspection during qualifying for last week’s Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Both Busch and Team Penske have been docked 50 points as a result. Matt Gimbel will reportedly be the interim crew chief at Martinsville. Busch has one career Cup victory there, but that was in 2002 when he was still with Jack Roush Racing. He placed 11th for Penske at April’s event.