CUP: Gordon Scored Most Points In Decade

Sprint Cup

CUP: Gordon Scored Most Points In Decade

Jeff Gordon amassed 55,220 NASCAR Sprint Cup points this decade...

Tom Jensen | Posted December 29, 2009 Charlotte, NC

Jeff Gordon finished third in the season ending driver standings. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Jimmie Johnson won the most NASCAR Sprint Cup races in the decade of the 2000s, and the most championships, too. But it was his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, who earned the most points from 2000-09.

SPEEDtv.com's Tom Jensen interviews Jeff Gordon in Las Vegas in November. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Of course, Gordon, had one significant advantage: He had two extra seasons of racing during the decade, since Johnson didn’t begin running full-time in the Sprint Cup series until 2002.

Here’s how the top-10 NASCAR Sprint Cup point-earners of the just-concluded decade break down:

1. JEFF GORDON, Hendrick Motorsports, 55,220 points — From 2000-09, Gordon posted a total of 55,220 points, winning a championship in 2001, finishing second in 2007 and third in both 2004 and ‘09, as well as winning 32 races over the course of the decade. On the negative side of the ledger, Gordon hasn’t finished ahead of Johnson in points since Johnson’s rookie season of 2002. Still, his sustained excellence allowed him to amass more points than anyone else.

2. TONY STEWART, Joe Gibbs Racing/Stewart-Haas Racing, 55,021 — What’s really remarkable here is that Stewart and Gordon finished with 199 points of each other over a span of 358 races. That’s 0.56 points per race over an entire decade, virtually a dead heat. Stewart, the two-time Cup champion, took titles in 2002 and ’05, and he didn’t miss a beat when he left JGR to become co-owner driver at SHR prior to the start of the 2009 season.

3. MATT KENSETH, Roush Fenway Racing, 52,858 — When you think of Kenseth, “consistency” is a word that comes readily to mind. And the 2003 Cup champion certainly was consistent this decade, as he became one of only three drivers to amass more than 50,000 points, an impressive accomplishment.

4. JIMMIE JOHNSON, Hendrick Motorsports, 48,970 — Had Johnson run the entire decade, there’s no question he would have been the points leader. On a per year basis, he averaged 6,121 points to 5,522 for Gordon, a huge difference. And his four championships and 47 race victories were far and away the best this decade.

5. MARK MARTIN, Roush Fenway Racing/Ginn Racing/Dale Earnhardt Inc./Hendrick Motorsports, 48,524 — That Martin finished fifth after running part-time schedules in 2007-08 is a tribute to his ongoing excellence. And at age 50, he shows absolutely no signs whatsoever of slowing down, figuratively and literally.

6. JEFF BURTON, Roush Fenway Racing/Richard Childress Racing, 48,119 — Burton began the decade looking like he was going to be Jeff Gordon’s most formidable adversary, but he gradually tailed off with Roush Fenway Racing after a career-best third place points finish in 2000. His career got a boost when he moved to RCR midway through the ’04 season.

7. DALE EARNHARDT JR., Dale Earnhardt Inc./Hendrick Motorsports, 47,015. — Earnhardt has had an up-and-down Sprint Cup career, finishing as high as third in the points in 2003. But in the last five seasons, he’s ended the year in the top 10 just once. He’ll be looking to rebound in 2010 after a disastrous ’09 campaign.

8. KURT BUSCH, Roush Fenway Racing/Penske Racing, 45,177 — Busch won the championship in 2004 with the Roush organization, but midway through the ’05 season, he shocked the world by announcing that he was leaving to join Roger Penske’s squad. He was fourth in ’09, his best performance since his title season.

9. KEVIN HARVICK, Richard Childress Racing, 43,777 — Harvick had what might be the most difficult job in racing, taking a seat with RCR just one week after Dale Earnhardt perished in the 2001 Daytona 500. But he’s performed admirably since then and build championship teams as an owner in lower divisions.

10. RYAN NEWMAN, Penske Racing/Stewart-Haas Racing, 40,044 — Newman edged out Jimmie Johnson for 2002 Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors, although he has not matched Johnson’s extreme success in recent years.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED, and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com! Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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