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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Streaks Smashed
It took 17 attempts, but Jeff Gordon finally has won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway
Tom Jensen  |  Posted April 05, 2009   Harrisburg, NC
Jeff Gordon led the most laps in the Samsung 500 and collected the checkers at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

With two streaks utterly obliterated at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, Jeff Gordon sent a warning shot to the rest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup field that this just might be the year he ends an even bigger streak: seven years without a championship.

Gordon, who had gone 47 consecutive races without a Cup victory and over his career was 0-for-16 at TMS, served up a dominating performance in the Samsung 500 to win over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart. Although Johnson pressured him at the end, Gordon was able to put the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS into victory lane for the first time since October 2007.

The four-time Sprint Cup Champion won the 82nd race of his career and widened his points lead to more than one full race in what so far has been a dream season. In seven races so far in 2009, Gordon has one victory, five top-five and six top-10 finishes. His worst race all year has been 13th in the season-opening Daytona 500.

In the process, Gordon also exorcized his Texas ghosts in a big way. Twice he finished 43rd here, the only track where he’s ever finished last in a Cup race. “How ironic is this that we go on this streak and then we end it here in Texas a place that had just eluded us for so long?” Gordon said. “This was an incredible team effort. This whole year has been amazing. What a great car. We've never had a car like this at Texas and we finally had one and put it into position.”

On a windy but Texas Sunday, Gordon led the most laps in the Samsung 500 and held off some aggressive charges from folks like Johnson, Stewart, Biffle and Carl Edwards, four drivers who figure to be in the championship mix again this year. Gordon now has won at every Cup track on the schedule save for Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the marathon NASCAR season will end in November.

And while it’s still early in the season, and Gordon still could crash and burn in the Chase for the Sprint Cup the way Kyle Busch did last year, maybe, just maybe, 2009 is the year Gordon finally completes his drive for five and adds the fifth championship that’s eluded him since 2002.

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