First win at Texas another one of many for Gordon

And then there was one.

As in only one current race track where Jeff Gordon has never won. To understand how remarkable that is in the wake of his victory Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, all you need to know is that even three-time defending points champion Jimmie Johnson is nowhere close to touching him on this one.

Not only that, but the argument could be made that Johnson, exceptional talent though he is, will never reach Gordon's rear bumper in pursuit of this rare feat.

Gordon, who will turn 38 years old this Aug. 4, broke a 47-race winless streak by winning at Texas. But before we get to the most impressive of his numbers, let's take note of a couple of others:

• It was his sixth consecutive finish of sixth or better this season. There have been only seven Sprint Cup races to date, which is why he leads the championship standings by 162 points over -- who else? -- Johnson, who moved into second by finishing second Sunday.

• Sunday's win also was the 82nd of Gordon's illustrious career. Only five drivers in the 60-year history of the sport have won more, and you know all of their names: Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough.

Soon Gordon will be third. He's only one victory behind Yarborough now and just two behind both Allison and Waltrip (although there is a long-held belief that Allison actually should be credited with 85 career wins and not 84, he's still listed tied with Waltrip at 84 in the NASCAR media guide).

That's right. You know it's inevitable now that Gordon will leave Allison, Waltrip and Yarborough eating his dust -- and probably before this season is out. His fast start this season, his steely determination to break his winless streak and chase down a fifth championship -- it all has the feel to it that the Texas win was the beginning of something as big as the state itself.

Gordon may very well be on the verge of catching and passing the aforementioned trio of legends before America celebrates her next birthday and the Cup guys run at Daytona again. He just seems posed to get on that kind of serious roll. (Continued)