Jeff Gordon looks to ’11

Associated Press

CONCORD, N.C.

Jeff Gordon has almost finished the lengthy process of building the North Carolina home where he plans to raise his children.

That, team owner Rick Hendrick said, is all the insurance he needs to keep the four-time Sprint Cup champion behind the wheel for a very long time.

“Have you seen that house he’s building? He’s going to be driving at least 10 more years,” Hendrick said.

With a new three-year sponsorship announced Wednesday, Gordon is sure to be driving through at least 2013 to fulfill his new obligation to the AARP Foundation’s “Drive to End Hunger” campaign. Beyond that is anyone’s guess, including Gordon’s.

“There really is no set plan,” he said. “Five years ago, I thought 2010 might be my last year. I was having some issues with my back and I just thought maybe I would be ready to step away. But I’m not. I am so passionate about it. I am still competitive and my health, from my back standpoint, has gotten better and that’s giving me years to be behind the wheel.”

He’s in his 18th full season, is 38 years old, but has just one win over the last three seasons and is mired in a career worst 61-race drought. And, after starting the year strong and establishing himself as a title contender, he’s fizzled in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

With four races remaining, Gordon is fifth in the standings and declared his championship chances over even before his round of bumper-cars with Kurt Busch last weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

A season that had so much promise early in the year — Gordon was ranked second in the standings most of the regular season — has fizzled and nobody knows why.

“I wish I could answer that,” Hendrick said. “He ran so good, and all of the good luck we’ve had over the years, for him to be so snakebit. Speeding on pit road, that’s just not Jeff Gordon, two of those [penalties]. And then just the deal with Busch. It’s been uncharacteristic of that team and again, the way we started, so strong, and the cars have been running good.

“It’s not from lack of being competitive. We’ve led a lot of races, we’ve been up front, just for whatever reason, we’ve been a little snakebit.”

But Gordon is realistic.

He’s accepted all year that his No. 24 team wasn’t running at the same level as teammate Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, who rank first through third in the standings. His only shot, he figured, was to be consistently good over the final 10 races.

Based on how he’d run earlier this year, it didn’t seem to be a stretch.

“I don’t know if we really have been strong enough to be there outperforming the [others],” he said. “I think our key to success in the Chase was to be consistent and get some top-10s and make those guys have to get those wins and make sure they stay on top of their game. That hasn’t gone as planned.”

There was a faulty alternator at Charlotte that spoiled his pole-winning start, the wreck with Busch at Martinsville, and speeding penalties at California and Charlotte.

“I knew it was a long shot for us. But it doesn’t stop how you approach each race and how you go about your focus, your preparation, your mindset,” Gordon said. “You’ve got to stay positive, you’ve got to go into every race thinking you can win and that’s what we do. I believe when we execute to our full potential, we have a shot at winning.

“But we haven’t had some breaks go our way, as well as we need to get ourselves in a position to where we’re executing to being more at the front and not make those big gutsy calls to win the race. We need to be leading more laps, basically, because when we lead a lot of laps we finish well.”

So Gordon is already looking forward to next year, but hasn’t written off a strong finish to this season.

He knows Talladega is up for grabs, and he could get his seventh career win there on Sunday. Then comes Texas, where he’s been strong since grabbing his first career victory there last year. He was in contention for the victory at Phoenix this spring, and he’s not terrible at Homestead.

“I am looking forward to ending out the season and hopefully we can do it on a positive note,” Gordon said.