Wins few, but Gordon feels team's come far

FORT WORTH, Texas – In many ways, this has been one of Jeff Gordon's best seasons in Cup racing.

With three races remaining, he has been in the championship hunt nearly from the start of the season and has 16 top-five and 23 top-10 finishes – stats almost as good or better than when he won series titles in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001.

He has finished first or second in nine of the 33 races and will start from the pole in Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

But something is missing – race wins. He has just one, the spring race here at Texas.

Even his closest competitors find that surprising considering how well Gordon and his No. 24 team have performed this season.

"I'm surprised to hear that. He's only won one race this year?" said Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson.

"Heck, I would never have guessed that. Yeah, he's had a great year, been up front so much. I assumed that he'd won more races."

Unfortunately for Gordon, he hasn't. And it's ironic that Gordon’s lone this season came at Texas, where until April he had never won in 16 visits to the track.

"I know it meant a lot to him here to break his streak, to win at this track," said Johnson, who starts 12th on Sunday. "As we know, this track has been pretty tough on him over the years.

"I'm sure he's drooling at this opportunity."

Perhaps so, but Gordon admitted this weekend he was "a little disappointed" with only one victory in 2009 so far.

"We've had a bunch of second-place finishes this year, so we've been close," Gordon said. "But it is disappointing we haven't been able to get more victories. It gives us something to work on for next season."

That doesn't mean, however, Gordon doesn't appreciate what he has accomplished this season.

Would he consider 2009 one of his best even if he doesn't win the title? Gordon didn't hesitate.

"Definitely. We've had a great year' all season long. We've been consistent and solid and strong," he said.

"We're not as strong as we need to be to win the championship, but we're still very happy with how we've been able to improve the results from last season.

"I think we're not as close to (Johnson) as we were in 2007 when we battled them for the championship or with Kurt (Busch) in 2004. Other than that, I'd say this has definitely been our best effort."

Although it's unlikely he can catch Johnson and deny his teammate a fourth consecutive title, Gordon can add to his own impressive season in the final three races. Starting from the pole certainly helps his cause at Texas.

"The whole key to winning races is keeping yourself in the top three or four, especially in the second half of the race; getting yourself in that position (and) being able to maintain that," he said.

"We believe starting up front gives us a better opportunity to do that."