Jeff Gordon: Why Daytona 500 Is the First Step Back to NASCAR Title Race

At one point Jeff Gordon looked like he could rival Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as one of the best drivers that NASCAR has ever seen. Gordon won all four of his championships in a seven-year span from 1995-2001.Since 2001, though, Gordon has been shut out as a Sprint Cup Champion, and his once dominant reign of the Cup Series has since been mediocre.You can blame it on a number of factors, but the main one is the increase of talent. Drivers are much better than in the past and have caused diversity in the sport. No longer do you see guys like Gordon winning 12 races a season. Now, six wins in a year is abnormally high.In the past, most of the fields had 5-10 drivers that had a legit shot at winning, but in the past decade that number...

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