Records are nice, but Jeff Gordon cares more about winning.
The four-time Sprint Cup champion can do both this weekend with a checkered flag at Darlington Raceway.
• Fantasy: Biffle No. 1 | Bleacher Report: Picks
A Gordon win in Saturday night's Southern 500 would tie Cale Yarborough for fifth in all-time career wins with 83. Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip are tied for third with 84 wins.
While Gordon appreciates the lofty company he will join whenever that next victory comes, he is trying to keep things in perspective in his drive for a fifth title.
"It's cool to be mentioned in the same sentence as guys like Cale, Bobby and Darrell and it's something I'll look back on at the end of my career," Gordon said. "But we arrive at the race track each weekend focused on trying to win, not on catching or passing people on a list.
"Our real motivation is winning the championship, and we hope we can win races as we work toward that goal."
Based on his past performance at the historic 1.366-mile South Carolina track, the odds are definitely in Gordon's favor to reach the fifth spot on the all-time victory list Saturday night.
Gordon has won at Darlington seven times during his Sprint Cup career and knocked down 16 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes in 28 starts at the track.
However, though he comes into the weekend with a 10-point lead on Kurt Busch in the Sprint Cup Series standings and off to a solid start in the season's first 10 races, there are still questions about Gordon's health.
Back issues have plagued Gordon for more than a year and a recent test revealed arthritis.
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| A victory at Darlington and points leader Jeff Gordon can tie Cale Yarborough for fifth all-time with 83. (Getty Images) |
"When I know how I'm going to treat it, I'll let you guys know," he told a group of reporters. "I don't believe it's anything serious. It's just something that's causing the pain. There's a little bit of arthritis, which is not totally unnatural, but there's also some other things that come from what they can understand from trauma or a crash or maybe just years of beating it up.
"Heck, I don't know, I might have picked up my luggage or something and then tore something up in there."
While Gordon might have been joking about lifting his luggage, it's nothing compared to the baggage Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been carrying this week -- again.
Last week's poor performance in Richmond, coming only days after a season-best runner-up finish at Talladega, has again put Junior in the crosshairs of criticism.
He has fallen to 18th in the standings and unless there is a miraculous change in the way the No. 88 car runs over the next 16 races, any hopes of making the Chase are close to going out the window.
Despite the hill he has to climb and coming off his 27th-place run in Richmond, Earnhardt remains optimistic about his playoff chances.
"I think we're doing a better job on pit road," he said. "I think we changed some things around with individuals. We got a little bit faster pit crew. We did a real good job this weekend. Other than that, we got a couple good racetracks coming up."
Junior Nation had better hope one of those is Darlington.
Who's hot
Jeff Gordon: Gordon leads all active drivers with seven victories at Darlington, with his most recent win coming in 2007 after starting 10th. The only two drivers that stand ahead of Gordon in wins at "The Track Too Tough to Tame" are Dale Earnhardt Sr. (nine) and David Pearson (10). In 28 Darlington stats, Gordon has led in 23 for 1,604 laps, won three poles and holds an 11.5 average finish.
Jimmie Johnson: Johnson has competed in 10 races at Darlington. He has finished in the top 15 in every race except the 2003 spring race, where he finished 27th. In 2004, he swept both races at Darlington after leading 69 laps in the spring event and 124 in the fall. Johnson's 7.4 average finish leads all drivers that have entered four or more events at the 1.366-mile speedway.
Greg Biffle: Biffle dominated the 2005 and '06 races at Darlington after leading a combined 346 laps en route to two victories. His only other top-10 finish came in the 2003 August race when he led 70 laps before ending up 10th.
Who's not
Kasey Kahne: The new Dodge engine can't come fast enough for Kahne as the Richard Petty Motorsports driver sits 17th in the series standings. Kahne has competed in six races at Darlington and in 2004 he started on the pole and finished 13th. In the next two races he finished fifth and third, respectively, and he claimed his second pole in this event in 2005. Kahne won one more pole, but has posted an average finish of 21.0 in his past three starts.
Carl Edwards: Edwards is still winless this year and will need to turn around his recent misfortunes this weekend at Darlington, where he has been pretty good of late. Edwards's average finish at Darlington Raceway took a major hit in 2006 after he ended up 39th when the No. 99 suffered an engine problem. In his two starts before that, Edwards finished seventh and ninth, respectively. The past two races have resulted in Edwards's first top fives (fifth and second) at Darlington.
Casey Mears: He did have a top 10 last week in Richmond but Mears hasn't finished better than 17th in his past five Darlington starts.
Make a note
• The historic South Carolina track celebrates its 60th year of racing this weekend, honoring former Darlington winners in prerace festivities.
• Chevrolet is the winningest automaker at Darlington with 37 victories.
• Darlington is Jeff Burton's best track on the circuit, based on his 11.5 average finish in more than 20 starts.
• Tony Stewart will be shooting for his fifth top five in the past six races in 2009.
• Ryan Newman has finished in the top five in four of his past six starts at Darlington.
