CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon's 2004 season included a lot of firsts.
First in top-10 finishes with 25
First in average finish at 11.39
First in races led with 25
First in victories from pole with two
First in races leading the most laps with seven
First in points after the "regular season"
First in "What if?" standings (full season, without the Chase)
But the one first that mattered most slipped away from Gordon's considerable grasp: The first Nextel Cup championship, which would have made Gordon a five-time champion, went to someone else.
Oh, it was close, very close. Kurt Busch beat Jimmie Johnson by a scant eight points, with Gordon only 16 behind Busch. But close, of course, doesn't count in NASCAR.
Still, the 2004 season was one his most successful since winning the title in 2001.
But 2004 won't be remembered for Gordon's big numbers, his five victories or his six poles. No, for Hendrick Motorsports, its drivers, teams and employees, 2004 will be remembered for the tragedy in southern Virginia on Oct. 24.
Team owner Rick Hendrick lost son Ricky, brother John, nieces Kimberly and Jennifer, engine builder Randy Dorton and general manager Jeff Turner in a plane crash minutes before the race in Martinsville, Va.
Four others -- DuPont executive Joe Jackson; Scott Lathram, a pilot for Tony Stewart; and Hendrick pilots Richard Tracy and Elizabeth Morrison -- were killed.
Hendrick teams weren't informed until after the race, which Johnson won. The following weekend, Johnson won again at Atlanta, and all four Hendrick Cup drivers wore their hats backward in Victory Lane as a tribute to Ricky Hendrick.
For Gordon, though, the race was bittersweet. Gordon was forced behind the wall on lap 179 of the MBNA Bass Pro Shops 500 to repair a broken rear-end gear, and he ended up finishing 34th.
That was his worst race in the 10-event Chase for the Nextel Cup, and it proved to be the difference in the championship. But that didn't really matter at the time.
"This is a very special day for Hendrick Motorsports organization," Gordon said then. "I am just so proud of Jimmie and Chad (Knaus, Johnson's crew chief) and this entire Lowe's team. We all wanted a victory here, and all four of us were trying so hard to win this race. I just know that this had brought a lot of smiles out there. That is so awesome and I am just so proud of the whole organization for coming together and stepping up by the way they did.
"We all wanted to win this race for the Hendrick family and for all those who were part of that tragedy and the families who are still grieving. This certainly doesn't take that pain away but, boy, it helps a little bit. It's amazing to see how this organization has come together.
"It was a great day and a great victory for Jimmie and the team. I'm so proud of him for pulling it off. But we've still got a championship to win, and both of us can still do it."
A determined Gordon reeled off three consecutive third-place finishes in the remaining races, but it wasn't enough to overcome Busch or Johnson.
"I'm very disappointed," Gordon said after Homestead. "I think that it put a whole different meaning on the championship for us. We wanted it for Hendrick Motorsports. We knew Rick was here. We knew it was an emotional weekend for him coming back. We knew how much it would mean for us to stand up on that stage in New York and honor those guys as champions, Jimmie or myself, whichever one could get it done.
"It's a disappointment no matter what, knowing that we had an opportunity to do something really special like that. It made it that much more meaningful, but it also makes it that much more disappointing."
Gordon's season was special nonetheless, even if it started with a provisional in the Daytona 500. Gordon rallied to finish eighth in the season-opener, but after a blown engine at Darlington, Gordon found himself out of the top 10.
But Gordon and crew chief Robbie Loomis seemed to thrive on pressure, bouncing back to finish ninth or better in the next six races, including back-to-back victories at Talladega and California.
The Talladega victory will be remembered for helping NASCAR decide to end races with a green-white-checkered finish in case of a late caution. At Talladega, Gordon was inches ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. when Brian Vickers spun to bring out a caution.
With laps dwindling, NASCAR didn't display the red flag, causing many in the grandstands to litter the track -- and Gordon's No. 24 -- with debris.
"When they were throwing all that stuff out there, it made me smile and laugh," Gordon said. "I wanted to enjoy it. I actually stopped so they could throw it on me and hit the car. And then I did a burnout to spit as many cans out the back of the car that I possibly could."
Not long after the controversy, NASCAR changed its rules to include a green-white-checkered finish in all three national series.
Meanwhile, Gordon was riding along in third place in the Nextel Cup points standings. But the next few weeks would test the team's mettle.
First, Gordon finished seven laps down in 30th place at Charlotte, all while Johnson was dominating the race.
To add insult, Gordon crashed at Dover the following week and finished 36th. After a brief respite with a fourth at Richmond, Gordon won the pole and was dominating at Michigan until the engine blew.
Gordon and Loomis wouldn't stay down long. The No. 24 won the next three poles and the next two races, dominating at the Infineon Raceway road course and beating Johnson and Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona.
He was hardly done, finishing fourth at Chicago, fifth at Pocono and winning the Brickyard 400 for the fourth time.
After a seventh-place finish in the second Michigan race, Gordon was the points leader. He held it for one more week, lost it after blowing up at California before regaining it as the Chase began.
Gordon was seventh at New Hampshire, falling to third place in the standings -- but nine points out of the lead. With a third at Dover, Gordon was back in the lead.
Back-to-back finishes outside the top 10 -- 19th at Talladega and 13th at Kansas -- knocked Gordon back to third, but he was still a threat.
Gordon erased the Charlotte debacle with a runner-up finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and then finished ninth at Martinsville.
Gordon raced as hard as ever in the final three races, but 2004 wouldn't be a storybook season.
It will, however, be memorable.
"With everything that's happened, that just put that much more meaning on this championship," Gordon said. "For me every one that I've won has gotten that much sweeter. I think it's because I appreciate them that much more. I know how hard they are to win. This one with the new points system is so much harder to win so it's more meaningful in itself.
"Then you put on top of that everything that happened Martinsville weekend. It would have been an emotional championship celebration for us. We didn't do it.
"(Hendrick's) so proud of the effort that we put in to try to get it for either (Johnson or I). He's not disappointed in how the organization pulled together through all that happened, and that's something to be very proud of."
First in top-10 finishes with 25
First in average finish at 11.39
First in races led with 25
First in victories from pole with two
First in races leading the most laps with seven
First in points after the "regular season"
First in "What if?" standings (full season, without the Chase)
But the one first that mattered most slipped away from Gordon's considerable grasp: The first Nextel Cup championship, which would have made Gordon a five-time champion, went to someone else.
Oh, it was close, very close. Kurt Busch beat Jimmie Johnson by a scant eight points, with Gordon only 16 behind Busch. But close, of course, doesn't count in NASCAR.
Still, the 2004 season was one his most successful since winning the title in 2001.
But 2004 won't be remembered for Gordon's big numbers, his five victories or his six poles. No, for Hendrick Motorsports, its drivers, teams and employees, 2004 will be remembered for the tragedy in southern Virginia on Oct. 24.
Team owner Rick Hendrick lost son Ricky, brother John, nieces Kimberly and Jennifer, engine builder Randy Dorton and general manager Jeff Turner in a plane crash minutes before the race in Martinsville, Va.
Four others -- DuPont executive Joe Jackson; Scott Lathram, a pilot for Tony Stewart; and Hendrick pilots Richard Tracy and Elizabeth Morrison -- were killed.
Hendrick teams weren't informed until after the race, which Johnson won. The following weekend, Johnson won again at Atlanta, and all four Hendrick Cup drivers wore their hats backward in Victory Lane as a tribute to Ricky Hendrick.
For Gordon, though, the race was bittersweet. Gordon was forced behind the wall on lap 179 of the MBNA Bass Pro Shops 500 to repair a broken rear-end gear, and he ended up finishing 34th.
That was his worst race in the 10-event Chase for the Nextel Cup, and it proved to be the difference in the championship. But that didn't really matter at the time.
"This is a very special day for Hendrick Motorsports organization," Gordon said then. "I am just so proud of Jimmie and Chad (Knaus, Johnson's crew chief) and this entire Lowe's team. We all wanted a victory here, and all four of us were trying so hard to win this race. I just know that this had brought a lot of smiles out there. That is so awesome and I am just so proud of the whole organization for coming together and stepping up by the way they did.
"We all wanted to win this race for the Hendrick family and for all those who were part of that tragedy and the families who are still grieving. This certainly doesn't take that pain away but, boy, it helps a little bit. It's amazing to see how this organization has come together.
"It was a great day and a great victory for Jimmie and the team. I'm so proud of him for pulling it off. But we've still got a championship to win, and both of us can still do it."
A determined Gordon reeled off three consecutive third-place finishes in the remaining races, but it wasn't enough to overcome Busch or Johnson.
"I'm very disappointed," Gordon said after Homestead. "I think that it put a whole different meaning on the championship for us. We wanted it for Hendrick Motorsports. We knew Rick was here. We knew it was an emotional weekend for him coming back. We knew how much it would mean for us to stand up on that stage in New York and honor those guys as champions, Jimmie or myself, whichever one could get it done.
"It's a disappointment no matter what, knowing that we had an opportunity to do something really special like that. It made it that much more meaningful, but it also makes it that much more disappointing."
Gordon's season was special nonetheless, even if it started with a provisional in the Daytona 500. Gordon rallied to finish eighth in the season-opener, but after a blown engine at Darlington, Gordon found himself out of the top 10.
But Gordon and crew chief Robbie Loomis seemed to thrive on pressure, bouncing back to finish ninth or better in the next six races, including back-to-back victories at Talladega and California.
The Talladega victory will be remembered for helping NASCAR decide to end races with a green-white-checkered finish in case of a late caution. At Talladega, Gordon was inches ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. when Brian Vickers spun to bring out a caution.
With laps dwindling, NASCAR didn't display the red flag, causing many in the grandstands to litter the track -- and Gordon's No. 24 -- with debris.
"When they were throwing all that stuff out there, it made me smile and laugh," Gordon said. "I wanted to enjoy it. I actually stopped so they could throw it on me and hit the car. And then I did a burnout to spit as many cans out the back of the car that I possibly could."
Not long after the controversy, NASCAR changed its rules to include a green-white-checkered finish in all three national series.
Meanwhile, Gordon was riding along in third place in the Nextel Cup points standings. But the next few weeks would test the team's mettle.
First, Gordon finished seven laps down in 30th place at Charlotte, all while Johnson was dominating the race.
To add insult, Gordon crashed at Dover the following week and finished 36th. After a brief respite with a fourth at Richmond, Gordon won the pole and was dominating at Michigan until the engine blew.
Gordon and Loomis wouldn't stay down long. The No. 24 won the next three poles and the next two races, dominating at the Infineon Raceway road course and beating Johnson and Earnhardt Jr. at Daytona.
He was hardly done, finishing fourth at Chicago, fifth at Pocono and winning the Brickyard 400 for the fourth time.
After a seventh-place finish in the second Michigan race, Gordon was the points leader. He held it for one more week, lost it after blowing up at California before regaining it as the Chase began.
Gordon was seventh at New Hampshire, falling to third place in the standings -- but nine points out of the lead. With a third at Dover, Gordon was back in the lead.
Back-to-back finishes outside the top 10 -- 19th at Talladega and 13th at Kansas -- knocked Gordon back to third, but he was still a threat.
Gordon erased the Charlotte debacle with a runner-up finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and then finished ninth at Martinsville.
Gordon raced as hard as ever in the final three races, but 2004 wouldn't be a storybook season.
It will, however, be memorable.
"With everything that's happened, that just put that much more meaning on this championship," Gordon said. "For me every one that I've won has gotten that much sweeter. I think it's because I appreciate them that much more. I know how hard they are to win. This one with the new points system is so much harder to win so it's more meaningful in itself.
"Then you put on top of that everything that happened Martinsville weekend. It would have been an emotional championship celebration for us. We didn't do it.
"(Hendrick's) so proud of the effort that we put in to try to get it for either (Johnson or I). He's not disappointed in how the organization pulled together through all that happened, and that's something to be very proud of."
