Jeff Gordon drives the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet at Infineon Raceway on June 22, 2008. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR) » More Photos

Gordon was correct. He was not even close. But that’s been his pattern all season, with the exception of the second race of the season in Southern California, where he led 68 laps and finished third, and the spring race at Martinsville, where he wound up second. In the last seven races, he’s led just 53 of a possible 2,092 laps, a decidedly un-Gordonlike figure.

“I feel very fortunate that we finished third today,” the four-time series champion said after Sunday’s race. “Things really went our way to get that third. You know, when we've won out here in the past, we didn't need things to go our way; we were good enough to make up for some of that. Today, we weren't. We weren't bad there at the end, but we still didn't have a car really capable of it. I want to have the fastest car, and it's been a little while since we've had that, Martinsville, actually.”

And the more Gordon talked, the more his frustration boiled over.

“You have to work through it, and I'm just wondering, you know, if we're working in the right direction, because I don't feel like we are,” Gordon said in a moment of candor. “I don't feel like we're getting better and I want to and he (Letarte) wants to, and nobody is working harder. I believe in our team and in our organization 100 percent. We know what our teammates have. We know what we're dealing with.”

Put bluntly, Gordon’s Chevrolets, for whatever reason, simply aren’t fast enough to keep up with Kyle Busch and whoever else is hot in any given race. “I feel like as a whole, we're getting beat, and I'm just talking just the speed of the cars, because the effort we are putting out and the communication and the team work and the pit stops, those are all phenomenal,” Gordon said. “But we've got to go faster.”

Through it all, though, on Sunday Gordon finished third and moved up to sixth in points, which matched his season high and left him solidly positioned to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup with just 10 races left in NASCAR’s regular season. And as bad as his cars have been at times, the team’s racecraft has been outstanding, as Gordon consistently has finished ahead of where his cars have run in any given race.

If crew chief Letarte and the rest of the Hendrick team can unlock the key to milking some extra speed out of his Chevrolets, then Gordon will be back in the title hunt. It sounds odd to say, but it’s true.

“I keep trying to separate the frustration and the up-and-downs, because as a team, we're performing unbelievable,” said Gordon. “And to me, I really do treat it as two different things, they are trying to make the race car, and this is a part of the team, trying to make the cars go fast. And then there's the effort that the team puts in when the race begins, of fighting through every hurdle that comes your way, and in dealing with adjustments and pit strategy and in working together as a team to get the best finish, and in that sense, I think we are one of the best out there. But it is very frustrating that the cars were so good last year, and this year, you know, we're just not where we need to be.”

They’ve got 10 races to get there, then it’s money time. And whether or not Gordon and his minions can figure it out between now and then might just determine who wins the 2008 Sprint Cup championship.

RACE RESULTS: Toyota/Save Mart 350

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor 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 numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. 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