Friday's pole was the 67th of Gordon's career, but the first he's won at Texas. That and his racy practice speeds certainly caught the attention of the other drivers, who dismiss the notion that Gordon has had difficulty understanding the new car being used full-time in the Cup Series by NASCAR this season.

"This is going to sound silly, but I think Jeff is one of the most underrated drivers our sport has ever seen," said Jeff Burton, who will start 38th in his No. 31 Chevy for Richard Childress Racing. "When we talk about the greats of our sport, his name doesn't seem to come up -- and I think that's because he didn't do it in the way that Dale Earnhardt did it. Dale just got him a handful of wheel and whatever happened to be around him got knocked out of the way. He just was real aggressive and won championships like that.


Drive for five
Jeff Gordon won his fourth title in 2001 and hasn't seen one since. Bill Kimm and Raygan Swan debate whether or not Gordon will ever see that elusive fifth title.

Complete story, click here
"Jeff has won championships in a much more finessed [way]. But I think the facts are facts -- and Jeff's ability to be successful in this sport for a long time kind of speaks for itself."

Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Roush Fenway Ford, said the fact Gordon is sixth in points after all the adversity the No. 24 team has been forced to sift through this season is actually impressive.

"The 24 team this year has really, really impressed me from, 'Oh, there's Jeff a lap down in the second run of the race. He's in huge trouble.' Next thing I know, he's right behind me -- and the next thing after that, he's running third," said Biffle, who will start in the 19th position Sunday.

"At Charlotte, the side of that car was smashed in on the first or second run, he was a lap down and couldn't keep up, and now he's out front leading and I can't catch him. It looks like he's gonna win, and then something else happens and he ends up in 15th or something. It's just been unbelievable."

Gordon has said all along he refuses to let himself get overly frustrated. He sees improvement coming, and hopes that the capturing of Friday's pole is a sign that it's right on the horizon.

Letarte said after the Bank of America 500 in Charlotte recently that he was putting "a lot of chips" on the No. 24 team doing well at Texas and Homestead -- the only two tracks where Gordon has never won. With only those races remaining on the 2008 schedule plus one race at Phoenix sandwiched in between, it's time to let the chips fall where they may.

"See, Steve is funny because he has different measuring tools of what makes a great crew chief and a great year and all those things," Gordon said. "The guys give him a hard time -- because if he wins at Martinsville, the guys back at the shop are like, 'Oh, that doesn't count. Jeff's won at a lot at Martinsville.' Same thing if we would win at Sonoma, or Talladega.

"So for Steve, the way he can put a notch in his belt is to win someplace I've never won before. That win at Phoenix [in the spring of 2007, when he tied Earnhardt on the all-time wins list] is probably the one that stands out the most to Steve, and I think he knows how much it would mean to win here or at Homestead -- because we haven't won at either place before."

Then again, believe it or not, Gordon insisted that he'll be good with it even if he doesn't win a race this season.

"It would be OK if we didn't win this season and it means next year we were winning multiple races and battling for the championship," said Gordon, who has won at least two races every season since 1993 -- only his second season of running full-time in the Cup Series. "If we don't win this season and then we don't win next season, I'm going to be very disappointed. But I'm looking long term instead of just short term. I've had an amazing career, won a lot of races, and one winless season isn't going to be the end of it for us. We're here for the long-term."