Jeff Gordon Confident About Chase, Not Ready To Say He Is Locked In

Following last week’s win at Pocono Raceway, many believe Hendrick Motorsports’ Jeff Gordon is a lock for this year’s Chase. Everyone, that is, but Gordon.

“I don’t feel like we’re safe,” Gordon said. “I saw that at the end of the race, I saw some quotes and they were showing some clips for a show that I was doing and they were saying that this pretty much locks us in. I don’t agree with that. I think there’s too many races left, too many guys to me around us outside the top-10 in points that can win two or more races before the Chase starts. I don’t think that we can really take these huge risks.”

Coming off his second win of the season, Gordon is encouraged by the team’s progress as of late. After scoring the first win of the season early in the year at Phoenix International Raceway, the team began to struggle and suffer from poor luck. The past two weeks, however, Gordon has had back-to-back top five finishes, including the win at Pocono.

With teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. running strong week-in and week-out, Gordon admitted the No. 24 team has had to work a bit harder to be competitive again. Yet the organization has been producing strong cars and the No. 24 pit crew has been solid each week, giving Gordon the confidence to go out and race his way into the Chase.

“I think that we’ve got plenty of races left here to not only get ourselves in the top-10, but get some more wins and get ourselves really solid in the ranking when it comes to that Chase,” Gordon said. “I think about a month ago or month and a half ago I was worried and nervous and thinking we don’t have a chance of getting into this thing, but the last couple weeks – running good at Kansas, running good at Pocono has gotten me really fired. We’re going to do more than just squeak our way into the Chase.”