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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Jeff Vs. Jeff For The Title?
Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton are both solidly in the Chase...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted September 04, 2010   Hampton, GA
Jeff Burton (31) leads Jeff Gordon (24) earlier this season at Talladega. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Could there be a Jeff vs. Jeff battle for the Sprint Cup championship, as in Gordon vs. Burton?

It wouldn’t necessarily be surprising. Both drivers have been absent from NASCAR’s top rung for far too long.

Gordon’s last championship came in 2001.

Burton’s next championship will be his first. Like Mark Martin, Burton has had good teams and great cars over the years and has come close to the title but hasn’t closed the door.

Both Jeffs should be in the better half of the dozen drivers who will qualify for the Chase despite the fact that neither has won a race this season. Gordon has done everything but win this year, and Burton has benefited from the dramatic resurgence at Richard Childress Racing, which is likely to have three drivers in the Chase.

“I think we’re really solid,” Gordon said. “I think we have an awesome shot at the championship. I don’t like us spotting the 11 [Denny Hamlin] and 48 [Jimmie Johnson] 50 points going into it. If we could cut into that the next couple of weeks, I think we have as good a shot as anybody.”

Both Jeffs are in the position of having teammates who figure to have better shots at the championship. Johnson has won the last four titles and, despite a summer that can be defined as a significant slump, certainly can’t be counted out in the Chase. Kevin Harvick has led the RCR upswing and easily has been the tour’s most consistently excellent driver this season.

“I think Harvick is having one of those years,” Gordon said. “Childress has gotten its program much stronger. I don’t want to say he [Harvick] is owed one or due, but he’s a solid driver and they’re a solid organization. I think they’re going to be tough to beat.

“With the Chase format, I’ve really not put a whole lot into what goes on during the regular season. Right now, with two races to go, they [the 48 team] could win the next two races and I’d say they’re the absolute favorite.”

Harvick, like Burton, would figure to have won a championship by now – by most measures. He has finished in the top 10 in five of nine seasons. Burton has been a solid top-10 driver for most of his career, with the exception of the transitional years as he was winding down at Roush Fenway Racing and moving into the RCR stable.
Jeff Burton has never won a NASCAR Sprint Cup title. (Photo: Getty Images)

Burton has finishes of third, fourth, fifth (twice), sixth, seventh and eighth in points.

“You are what your record says you are,” Burton said. “For me, I feel like there have been four years when really I had an honest shot. In each one, there was a different circumstance when I wasn’t able to capitalize.

“It’s hard to put your finger on it unless it’s a specific race. When I go back and look at my career, I feel like I can pinpoint those things. There’s a reason some quarterbacks win the big games and some don’t. It would be the biggest disappointment of my career if I don’t win one. It wouldn’t ruin my life, but never having won a championship would be a disappointment.”

Gordon has two seconds, two thirds and two fourths in points in addition to his four championships.

“Right now we’re not doing a lot of testing for next year,” Gordon said. “We’re concentrating on how we can win the championship.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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