July 9, 200520 yr 'Wrigley Stadium' curse haunts Gordon July 9, 2005 BY HERB GOULD Staff Reporter Before ticking off Cubs fans by referring to "Wrigley Stadium'' before he sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game'' on May 26, Jeff Gordon had five top-four finishes (three wins, a second and a fourth) in this season's first 11 Nextel Cup races. Since then, Gordon has no top-fives and four finishes of 30th or worse in six races. "I didn't know their curse was going to rub off on me,'' said the four-time Nextel Cup champion, taking heart from a seventh-place finish at Daytona last week, his best since apparently coming under the Cubs' spell. "Now that we're here, hopefully we can get it behind us and move on.'' If the curse of the Billy Goat hasn't been extended to Gordon, he certainly has become a goat in Chicago. ''I expected to come back here and hear some more comments about it,'' said Gordon, who has been good-natured about his gaffe. ''But if it got some attention that helped promote the race, that's a good thing. That's what we're there to to do.'' Fellow driver Kyle Petty made light of Gordon's plight, saying, "Welcome to Wrigley Stadium,'' at a celebrity softball game Friday night in Joliet. ''I don't think Jeff felt anyone was going to see him [at Wrigley],'' said Jimmie Johnson, Gordon's friend and teammate. ''But evidently, everybody in the world did. I don't know if that's exactly why he's had bad luck. But the black cloud found him at Wrigley Stadium, as he called it.'' Gordon, who sat on the pole here last year, continued to struggle in qualifying Friday. He'll start 14th in Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400. ''I don't know if we're panicking,'' said Gordon, who has dropped to 13th in the season standings and is in danger of missing the season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. ''But we're definitely focused on it.'' After running a road race, Sonoma, and a restrictor-plate race, Daytona, in the last two events, many Cup drivers are pointing to the 1.5-mile oval at Chicagoland as a barometer of what they have on the mid-range ovals that predominate their series. And Gordon is one of them. ''Who comes out of here strong is going to show who's got their mile-and-half package down,'' Gordon said. ''This is a track that takes the downforce, the horsepower, the total package. It's pretty interesting that [Greg] Biffle and Johnson are at the top [of the driver standings]. They are the guys that seem to have the best mile-and-a-half programs. Who comes out of here strong is definitely going to show their muscle as far as who the team to beat is.''
July 9, 200520 yr There were two reasons I didn't read this article.... 1. The Cubs 2. Jeff Gordon Not much else needs to be said.
July 9, 200520 yr QUOTE(YASNY @ Jul 9, 2005 -> 06:02 AM) There were two reasons I didn't read this article.... 1. The Cubs 2. Jeff Gordon Not much else needs to be said.
July 10, 200520 yr QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 9, 2005 -> 03:04 PM) I knew somebody would appreciate the wisdom of that post.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.