MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- As four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon left the podium in the infield media center at Martinsville Speedway on Friday he shrugged his shoulders and said "It's tough being me."
He was kidding.
AP Photo/Chuck Burton
Jeff Gordon, right, was among the first to congratulate Jimmie Johnson after his teammate's victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May 2003.
Well, kind of.
There is some truth to it.
Had Gordon not recommended in 2001 that team owner Rick Hendrick hire Jimmie Johnson to drive the No. 48 car and work out of the same shop as his No. 24 he might have two more championships.
He would have had one for sure, after finishing second to the three-time defending Cup champion in 2007.
Gordon also might have four more wins, the number of times he's finished second to Johnson. One of those came at Martinsville Speedway, where the two square off on Sunday ranked first (Johnson) and third (Gordon) in points.
When a reporter asked Gordon what it's like to be playing second fiddle to his protégé so often, he smiled and said "It's not easy being in my shoes, is it?"
Gordon has to be careful what he says on this subject. He and Johnson are not only teammates, but good friends. He has great admiration and respect for Johnson.
And yet it has to be tough going from the top dog at Hendrick Motorsports to deputy dog.
All the accolades, wins and titles that used to go to the teacher now go to the student. Since Johnson ran his first full Cup schedule in 2002, he has 46 wins to Gordon's 24 and three titles to Gordon's none.
Even for a guy as classy as Gordon, that has to be frustrating.
"I mean, you hit on a lot of very good points that have some truth to it," said Gordon, who trails Johnson by 135 points. "I don't know if you guys watched the 'Together' documentary. I said in my interview that I think Jimmie and I are always going to be really good friends, but we might be better friends 15, 20 years from now because right now I'm a competitor, like every other competitor out there that wants to beat him."
Never was that frustration more apparent than Martinsville in 2007. Gordon was in the midst of a 23-race losing streak. He had what he believed was the fastest car.
But at Martinsville, a one-groove track, speed doesn't get you past the car in front if the driver doesn't give you room. Sometimes the only way to pass is to nudge the car out of the way.
With 39 laps remaining, Gordon was so hot that he asked Hendrick for permission to do just that.
"Boss better give me the OK 'cause that's the only way it's going to happen," Gordon radioed to Hendrick.
He never got that permission, and when he climbed out of the car with a runner-up finish he was almost red-faced mad.
"I think he knew I was his teammate, and he used that up," Gordon said at the time. "I pushed, I shoved and I did just about everything I possibly could. I don't know what else to do. I'm a little more surprised the way he raced me. We, as teammates, we usually give a little bit more room than that.
"But I know going forward how we're going to race. He's the guy to beat for the championship. He's winning races right now, and we're not."
That's as close as Gordon has come to calling Johnson out over the past eight seasons. That's as close as we've seen the frustration of being in Johnson's shadow boil over.
"Because I'm at Hendrick Motorsports and his teammate, I see everything that goes on and I'm aware of the setups and the driving styles and the data and all those things and sometimes that can make it even more frustrating when you're getting beat," Gordon said. "At the same time it makes you hungrier to want to push harder to do everything you can to go out there and beat them.
"So it's definitely affected our friendship. There's no doubt about it."
You won't see that at the track. Gordon and his team will share their setup with Johnson the same as Johnson and his team will share with Gordon. When Johnson wins, Gordon usually is one of the first to congratulate him in Victory Lane.
"I'm not going to go over and pat him on the back and say how great he is and 'I love you, man' when I really want to beat him," Gordon said. "But at the end of the day I respect him, I know the story of how he got there and I think he's a great guy and a great race car driver."
Johnson understands the frustration. He knows there are a lot of people in the garage and grandstands tired of seeing him dominate.
"I certainly hear the comments," he said. "From my standpoint, we're working so hard and we've been able to pull off some really cool things, but other people seem more confident in our abilities than I do at times.
"It makes me laugh inside when I see that, at times. But you just never know. We're out there doing all we can each week."
Gordon is doing the same, knowing the path to a fifth title for him will have to go through the man he brought into the sport. He'll take small victories, such as starting second Sunday while Johnson is back in 15th.
But it's the big victories, or lack of them, that make it tough being Gordon these days.
"That team has pushed all of us in the sport to be better, to push ourselves harder and to step up," Gordon said. "So I'm thankful for that, and I don't have any regrets about anything."
David Newton
