Jeff Gordon

Jeremy Dunn asked:


‘Nothing is as good as the first time’. We have all heard that old adage at some point in time. This is especially true when it comes to NASCAR’s championship format, the Chase for the Championship.

When Brian France and his team of constituents revealed this innovative way of determining the champion in 2004, it was a gimmick indeed, but at the same time, they envisioned an annual barn-burning championship battle, something that was few and far between with the previous championship format.

The new format was widely ridiculed by traditionalists, as well as many drivers. Some fans vowed to boycott the final ten races, but most of them tuned in with curious eyes. As September neared, interest began to pique. On that warm late-summer night in Richmond, Virginia, Jeremy Mayfield and Ryan Newman barely squeezed into the top ten in dramatic fashion while Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, and Dale Jarrett just missed the cut.

Heading into the inaugural Chase for the Championship, Hendrick Motorsports drivers Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon emerged as the favorites as they dominated the first 26 races, winning nine combined. Other solid favorites included Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who won four races during the regular season, and Ryan Newman, who at the time was one of the more streaky drivers and could very well hit his stride as he did in the previous season.

However, Kurt Busch pieced together a masterful run of consistency, finishing in the top ten in nine of the final ten races. Meanwhile, Johnson limped through the first half of the Chase for the Championship, but won four of the final six races to close to within 18 points of Busch. Gordon was a mere 21 points behind Busch heading into the season finale. This was exactly what NASCAR intended, a snug battle to the end, with three star drivers.
The race itself was full of drama. As non-Chaser Greg Biffle dominated the event, championship hopefuls Busch and Johnson had to battle through adversity. Johnson started the race with terrible track position, and Busch had a wheel fall off while pitting under green early in the race. Busch evaded complete disaster and patiently and methodically worked his way back to the front. Johnson and Gordon also made their way to the front. However, Johnson was unable to pass Biffle for the win, and settled for a runner-up finish. Gordon finished in the third position. All they needed was for Busch to slip up. In the latter stages of the race, Busch picked up positions by passing Jamie McMurray and Brendan Gaughan. He rallied to finish in the fifth position, therefore holding on to win his first Sprint Cup championship.

It was intense drama right down to the very last lap. NASCAR could have superciliously laughed in the face of the cynics.

It is a good thing that they did not. Four seasons have come to pass since the suspenseful conclusion to the first Chase for the Championship, and not one of them has even come close to matching the intensity or excitement level. In 2005, Tony Stewart owned a 52-point advantage over Jimmie Johnson heading into the season finale. While 52 points is not exactly a mountain to climb, Johnson would have needed a near flawless race, and a mediocre performance from Stewart. Well, Stewart was mediocre in that race, as one of NASCAR’s most aggressive drivers played it safe, but Johnson blew a tire and finished 40th.

The 2006 rendition of the championship battle was just as anticlimactic. Johnson headed into the season finale at Homestead with a 63-point lead over Matt Kenseth. In 2007, it only got worse. Johnson owned an 86-point lead over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon. It only gets worse from here. In 2008, Johnson owned a commanding 141-point lead over Carl Edwards.

In each of the four years since 2004, the championship battle has become less of a battle and more like a one-man show.

Conversely, under the traditional championship format, this would have been one of the most exciting championship battles of the decade. Johnson would have had a 56-point lead, but by finishing fifteenth while Edwards won the race by leading the most laps, Edwards would have won the title by 16 points. For most of the race, Johnson struggled while Edwards had the fastest car bar none. The drama would have intensified right down to very last lap.

NASCAR has altered the Chase for the Championship format since its implementation, but adding two more slots, and adding ten bonus points for winning a race during the regular season has not remedied the lackluster championship format.

It does not help that the Craftsman Truck Series title, and even to a certain degree, the Nationwide Series battle, came down to the wire under the classic format.

NASCAR cannot turn back the clock on the championship format. What’s done is done, and they must stick to their guns. Obviously, this format is not perfect, but it can be fine-tuned. Unfortunately, even some fine-tuning cannot guarantee an exciting championship battle. Regardless of the format, sometimes there is just one driver and team that are faster and luckier than the rest. Over the past three years, that driver is Jimmie Johnson.



ROCKY

heel75 asked:


My son will turn 6 soon and Jeff Gordon is his idol! All he wants is a card or letter for his birthday signed by Jeff Gordon. I don’t mind if it’s just a stamped reproduced letter, poster, or card sent by his people. Please help!

DOMINIC

KOOLEST DUDE EVA asked:


I love Jeff Gordon’s Dupont Performance Alliance paint scheme he runs every year at the All-Star race. Will he run it this year? Because I think it should be his primary paint scheme. Not the red flames with the blue base. Gotta change it up a bit. Jeff if you see this. Please listen to me!!!! The switch paint scheme is awesome!!!!!!

THEODORE

Fred Peters asked:


Do you have a man who is a NASCAR fan? NASCAR gifts are loved by men. Whether that gift is intended to be a Father’s Day present, a birthday present, or a just because you want to show him how much you love him. He probably already has a Nascar hat and a Nascar t-shirt. If you would like to purchase unique NASCAR gifts for your father, husband or friend, checkout some of these great NASCAR gifts for men.

With spring and summer quickly approaching, racing themed barbeque tool sets make great gifts for men. Get a barbeque tool set with you man’s favorite driver’s number printed on the handles. These specialty racing themed barbeque tool sets often come with matching storage cases or bags. These NASCAR grill tool sets are great, but affordable, gifts for men who like to grill outside.

Did you know that they make NASCAR patio sets? Yes they do. An outdoor patio set with a racing theme is a great, yet unique NASCAR gift idea. Now these aren’t real cheap so this is probably more suited for a very close family member, husband or dad. Make sure that the racing patio set has your loved one’s favorite nascar driver on the seats and table. Some have the names of the drivers and some have the nascar driver’s number. A NASCAR patio set will allow your nascar fan to barbeque in style on race days.

Companies also make racing themed canopy sets. These canopy sets are also really awesome gift ideas for men who love NASCAR. And, you will have to look long and hard to find someone else who has a race car canopy set.

What goes hand and hand with watching a race? That’s right beer or another cold beverage. You man would love to have a NASCAR compact refrigerator with is favorite driver on it. I would love to have a Jeff Gordon compact refrigerator or may a Dale Jr refrigerator. These compact refrigerators would look great in your game room or a dormroom.

If you are looking for a NASCAR gift for a child, toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary school aged children love NASCAR diecast cars. NASCAR diecast cars make very affordable gifts. In fact, most grown men that I know love racing diecast cars. My son and I play racing all the time with diecast cars. He always plays with his Jeff Gordon diecast car and I play with my Tony Steweart diecast car. He won’t let me play with the Jeff Gordon diecast car.

I hope that these gift ideas help you to pick out the perfect NASCAR gifts for men.



STUART

Julie Smith asked:


The usually outstanding NASCAR pilot Jeff Gordon has been suffering of a bad luck streak lately and this Sunday he got caught in an eleven car crash halfway through the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Super Speedway. Gordon has won four times the NASCAR Championship but this time he ended up 36th. This is his second consecutive ending near the bottom of the field.

Gordon and his team handled to put his damaged Chevrolet #24 again on track to at least make up a few places and earn a few additional points in the race. But according to Gordon “…it just doesn’t seem meant to be for the DuPont Chevrolet”.

Last Sunday Gordon was leading a race-high 27 laps before the crash on lap 138 of 188. The famous pilot fell from the 6th position to the 7th with six races remaining for the Nextel Cup Championship. At the end he only lost 27 points to the series leader.

Jeff Burton was fifth before he had to pit with a flat tire just 11 laps from the end. He finished in the 27th place.

Brian Vickers was the eventual winner of the race. He knocked Jimmie Johnson into leader Dale Earnhardt on the last lap and both pilots spun off the track. Earnhardt, whose current position in the points is sixth ended up in the 23rd place and Johnson in the 24th and eight in the points.

The pilot Matt Kenseth finished second. Batesville’s Mark Martin finished eighth and Kevin Harvick finished sixth.

Denny Hamlin started the day in second place but he earned 18 points on Burton although he fell all the way to fifth place after being involved in two crashes and at the end he finished in the 21st place.



OLIVER

jeff Gordon asked:


nfamous “Google Slap” Worked For The Rest of Us

You don’t want to be duped to click a link that promised you one thing but when you actually click on it, it lands on a site that’s not related to what you were searching. Google instituted a Quality Score metric to ensure that the advertisers comply with this relevancy standard. Those advertisers who met this requirement were rewarded with low cost-per-click while the others were slapped with higher Ad costs

Quality Score for Google and the search network is a dynamic metric assigned to each of your keywords. It\’s calculated using a variety of factors and measures how relevant your keyword is to your ad group and to a user\’s search query.

The higher a keyword\’s Quality Score, the lower its cost-per-clicks (CPCs) and the better its ad position.

Thanks to the infamous Google slap, Adwords marketers for sometime now have been forced to serve ads that are relevant to the search terms. This meant that the keywords used, the ad copy and the landing page all have to be be congruent and relevant to the searchers’ queries. The “slap” kicks in (pun intended) when the advertisers failed to meet this simple criteria.

To sum up, the Adwords advertisers who are still in the game are incredibly savvy and the majority of their keywords have been proven money makers or else it would foolish to lose money on keywords that don’t pay. Trust me, the majority of these guys and gals are savvy marketers.

A word about the affiliate product selection. Find a product that offers a reasonable commission. Make sure the product has a high enough gravity which means there’s competition. Competition is a good thing, it shows the product has a purchasing history.

What if you could instantly look under the hood and see these Keywords?

There are several keyword spy tools that you could use to do just that. But, the truth is the data from these spy tools is always stale. You know what I am talking about if you tried to spy on your own Adwords ads.

But what if there was away to do just that? What if you could instantly look under the hood and see these Keywords? What if you could also see all these keywords plus the actual Adwords ads, the landing pages and destination URLs?

What if there’s a tool that allows you to do exactly that and see all these parts of adwords? What if I told you this tool is FREE.

Hold on to your horses cowboy, there’s more. What to do with these Keywords?

What would you do with these Keywords?

I can hear your thoughts, “Of course I will swipe the ads and setup my own Adwords campaign and start bidding”. Well, you could do that. I wouldn’t recommend outright swiping of other people’s marketing info in any event but if you want to incorporate the knowledge you gleaned from this super spy tool, that’s up to you.

But I have a better idea. You see I don’t like to spend money when I can get the same thing for less. How do I do this?

SEO to the rescue!

Ok, don’t groan. SEO intimidates a lot of marketers. But this is not the SEO I am talking about. Remember this one principle about ranking high in the search engines: Use your keywords as the anchor text (the actual text to use on the link itself) and then make sure the link points to the relevant content. Sounds familiar, can you hear the echo from the previous section on Google Quality Score? RELEVANCE!!! RELEVANCE!!! RELEVANCE. That’s it! Be Relevant and you will be rich!

Summary

Find money making keywords and build a linking strategies to rule the search engines.

ANDRE

abustos_ab asked:


This is the second time this season that Jeff Gordon has won consecutive races.

DARIN