Gordon, Evernham want strong finish

JEFF SHAIN

Thursday, Oct. 22, 1998 | 12:58 p.m.

While Jeff Gordon's amazing season has NASCAR observers checking the archives to see what else he can accomplish, the only goal for crew chief Ray Evernham in the final three weeks is a strong finish.

"I just want to be able to leave Atlanta this year with people knowing that if this team did have a flaw, that we went to work on it and actually got it better," he said.

A 358-point lead in the Winston Cup standings puts Gordon on the verge of his third title in four years, turning the stretch run into something of a three-week coronation.

If Gordon scores 12 points more than Mark Martin on Sunday in Phoenix, he'll become the first driver to clinch the title with two races left since Dale Earnhardt won the last of his seven championships in 1994.

And though Richard Petty's modern record of a 722-point margin in 1975 is virtually untouchable, Gordon could challenge the second-best spread of 489 points by Earnhardt in 1987.

But Gordon and Evernham aren't interested in history right now.

"It never ends," Gordon said. "There's always something left to accomplish. What drives me is being competitive for wins. That's what keeps us motivated."

So does the team's reputation for a fall swoon, despite championships in 1995 and last year and a second-place finish two years ago. The final five weeks each season were winless struggles.

In 1995, Gordon held a 302-point lead with four races left. But finishes of 20th, 30th and 32nd left him just 34 points clear of Earnhardt at the end.

Two years ago, Gordon led teammate Terry Labonte by 111 points with four races left. But finishes of 31st and 12th helped Labonte slingshot past and win by 37.

Gordon led by 125 points with four races remaining last season, then finished 35th, 17th and 17th to win the closest three-way battle in Winston Cup history. He beat Dale Jarrett by 14 points and Martin by 29.

"We know that we have dropped off at the end of the season," Evernham said. "It's not by design. It's something that we hate that happens to us. Now that we've got some experience, we're learning more and understanding more and being more prepared for it."

They proved that last Sunday in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Despite a 37-minute rain delay with five laps remaining, Gordon won from the front in a dash to the finish, holding off Bobby Labonte's furious challenge on the final lap.

Gordon said he drew strength from a similar sprint a few years ago in which he beat Earnhardt.

"I told myself I'd been in this situation before and I'm confident," Gordon said. "Somebody who hasn't done that before might say, 'Man, this is the worst position to be in.' I said, 'I've done it before and I can do it again."'

To Evernham, it was another example of Gordon's greatness.

"It's like the Bulls with Jordan," Evernham said. "Somebody else could win in that car, but not the way he does it. He's got a real good knowledge of things."

Gordon can cross another item off his to-do list by winning Sunday in the Dura-Lube 500.

Phoenix International Raceway is one of just three active tracks where he hasn't won, and the only one that was on the schedule when he debuted in 1993. Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which opened this year, and two-year-old Texas Motor Speedway are the others.

"We're hoping we can go to Phoenix and run strong and have a good finish," Gordon said. "I feel like we can't really change the way we're doing things."

Gordon is working on a modern-era record of 17 consecutive top-five finishes. His 31 victories over the last three seasons and 38 in four also are unprecedented.

Another win would give Gordon 12 this year, the most since Darrell Waltrip won a dozen times in 1982. With 4,817 points already in the bank, Gordon should have little trouble breaking Cale Yarborough's 1977 mark of 5,000 points - the best since the current system was implemented in 1975.

But history can wait, Evernham said. Three more dates remain on the calendar.

"There's always another race," he said. "Someday, we'll be able to kick back and say this was really great.

"But what motivates us right now is the next one."