During one of the greatest careers in contemporary NASCAR racing history, Jeff Gordon has won four NASCAR Sprint Cup Championships (1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001), won 81 races and placed in the top 10 328 times. The 1993 NASCAR Rookie of the Year, since 1994 Gordon has also won a race every single season he has competed.

However, for the first time since that first winning year, in 2008, Gordon and his #24 DuPont-backed Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet failed to win a race in the 36-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. And while one of the best drivers — if not the very best driver — in America’s premiere racing series looked both flustered and frustrated at times last year in his determination to find a way to Victory Circle, the Californian recently insisted that he has put the season behind him and very much looks forward to beginning of the 2009 season at Daytona on Sunday, February 15, 2009.

“Last year we could handle it,” Gordon recently reasoned. “We do it for another year and that’s going to get a little bit tougher to take because I think you go two seasons in a row and that’s when things start to sink in a little bit more of: ‘Where am I at in my career and where are we at as a team?’ So, I’m certainly hoping we don’t have to deal with that but, I don’t want to think about that right now.”

In fact the last time Jeff Gordon actually won a Sprint Cup race came in Charlotte, North Carolina at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on October 13, 2007. While it’s been said that misery likes company and he too was every bit as frustrated as his driver in 2008, crew chief Steve Letarte is not afraid to reflect back on their winless campaign.

“I’m the guy that wants the ball, so I’ll take credit for everything, and I’ll take blame for everything, and I’m fine with both,” Letarte told SceneDaily.com. “The pit crew’s not good enough, you’re welcome to blame me; if cars aren’t fast enough, you’re welcome to blame me; if we’re not winning, you’re welcome to blame me. And I’ll take credit for all three, so with that said, I think Jeff is a fabulous driver, but I take a lot of responsibility in how that car performs, and I think our communication and our pit strategy and the simple fact that we’re there to win races and to lead laps, all of that stuff adds in. So there’s a lot you can do. You can communicate better with the driver, you can call better races, you can give faster pit stops. You know, really as a crew chief if you say anything’s outside your control, you’re really just kind of making excuses because really there’s no such thing as luck. You kind of create your own, you’ve got to make good decisions and have fast race cars.”

Gordon, a 16-year veteran in NASCAR’s elite series, has been teamed with Letarte for the last four seasons and he, like his wheelman, is keen to race towards the green flag on Daytona International Speedway.

“There’s no one more disappointed with our performance last year than I am, and there’s no one in this building or in this complex [at Hendrick] that’s going to work harder to make sure it doesn’t happen again than I will.

And whether that elusive first win comes at the season opening Daytona 500 or it doesn’t, both driver and crew chief are confident things will come there way in 2009 and see the number 24 Monte Carlo SS roll into Victory Lane.

“In my opinion, I don’t think any situation becomes desperate until you make it desperate,” philosophized Letarte. “I think as soon as you become desperate and you go into a prevent defense, usually that’s when they score the most points,” Letarte said. “So we’re going to make sure we stick to our facts. Last year, we didn’t win a race and by all means I’m embarrassed to think that’s the performance we put up but … this sport’s always going to have roller coasters, and I think if we let it become a desperate situation, and we get off our game, then we’ll be failures.”

Jeff Gordon has not clinched a Sprint Cup Championship in seven years and not won a race since the autumn of 2007 — both an eternity for a racer of his caliber. Can he turn it all around in 2009 and climb from his Chevy a winner and drive deep into the mix for a shot at his fifth Sprint Cup? Time will soon tell.

Eric Johnson