Once he won a championship, then another to prove he was among NASCAR's elite, the rest were a bonus.
"All of a sudden, there's really no pressure," said Gordon, a four-time Cup champion.
There are eight drivers in the 12-driver Chase for the championship field that would love to know that feeling. Gordon, Tony Stewart (2) and Matt Kenseth all have series championships, and Jimmmie Johnson is the two-time defending champ going into the 10-race Chase that starts Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Johnson called driving in the 10 races in his 2006 title run absolutely "no fun," and that he didn't enjoy his successes as much as he did during the first 26 races. Winning one championship eased the pressure in last year's Cup title pursuit, and he found those midweek nerves didn't fray as much as they did in 2006.
"I need to have fun," Johnson said Friday. "I think I operate better and my team operates better when we're enjoying ourselves and having some fun."
Johnson had some fun this season with four wins and enters Sunday third in the standings. Kyle Busch is the leader and Carl Edwards sits in second place -- the pair combined for 14 wins -- leaving some fans and experts believing the championship will be won by one of those three drivers.
"I think all the talk about the three front guys running away with this thing, that's fine, but I don't know if that's how it's going to be," Edwards said.
True, but if the leading drivers can keep their missteps to a minimum and consistently finish out front, Busch, Edwards and Johnson might be battling for that title over the final few races. Even Gordon concedes if Busch keeps up his career-best season, there might be "a deficit we might never be able to overcome."
Edwards understands Gordon's message about pressure.
"There's pressure out here every week on the track and everybody wants to win a championship," Edwards said. "But I can only equate it to winning a race. Once you win a couple of races, everything gets a lot easier. It's the same way with championships and I hope I find out real soon."
All the drivers toward the back of the 12-driver pack hope they can take advantage if a wreck or any other mistake takes out the top contenders.
"You have one race that things don't go well, one bad pit stop, one tire down at the wrong time, one incident with 10 to go, it's 'game on,"' said Jeff Burton, who starts seventh.
The brief history of the Chase shows drivers can win with one hiccup.
Kurt Busch survived one 42nd-place finish in 2004, but won a race and had five other top fives. Stewart won the Cup in 2005 without winning a Chase race, but finished out of the top 10 only three times. Johnson started his title hopes by finishing 39th in the Chase race at New Hampshire two years ago, then rebounded with a five-race span where he had one win and four seconds. Last year, four victories in the final 10 races and no finish worse than 19th allowed him to defend his title.
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SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR RAGAN: UPS is delivering its sponsorship to a new address: David Ragan c/o Roush Fenway Racing.
UPS will make the switch next season and start a sponsorship deal with Ragan's No. 6 Ford, partnering the shipping company with one of NASCAR's most promising young drivers. Ragan just missed a coveted spot in the Chase, ending the "regular season" in 14th place and only 77 points behind Clint Bowyer for the final spot.
The 22-year-old Ragan had five top-five finishes in his second season and entered last week's race at Richmond still in contention for the Chase. But he spun out and had other miscues in a 32nd-place finish that knocked him out of a spot.
"When the checkered flag falls at Homestead, we're going to have a successful year, we're going to be 13th in points and everybody is going to be talking about us," Ragan said.
Crew chief Jimmy Fennig said Ragan would be one of the 12 Chase drivers next season.
"I see the growth, I see the maturity," Fennig said. "At the beginning of this year, I told Jack (Roush) we'd make the Chase. Next year, we will be in the Chase."
UPS joined Robert Yates Racing and NASCAR champion Dale Jarrett in the No. 88 Ford in 2001. UPS followed Jarrett last season when he joined Michael Waltrip Racing. This year, David Reutimann is driving the UPS car.
UPS and Jarrett were known for their witty commercials, and Ragan is looking forward to his shot at the TV ads.
"I think being funny on camera is something that we can all have fun with," Ragan said.
Ragan, who has yet to win a Cup race, was sponsored this year by AAA.
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CUTTING BACK: Roush Fenway Racing president Geoff Smith said Friday that NASCAR's edict that no team will be allowed to have more than four Sprint Cup entries after next season is going to have repercussions beyond its top series.
"We have challenges for cost management," Smith said. "Our Cup program costs have escalated quite a bit. And just because the costs escalate doesn't mean the sponsorships pay for that. Sponsorships don't pay more than the market value that justifies their program.
"Driver salaries are significantly up and we're facing the loss of 20 percent of our operating revenue from our Cup program as we go from five to four (cars in 2010)," he added.
One problem with that, according to Smith, is that Roush has always underwritten its strong truck program from its profits in other areas, particularly Cup.
"We have always made an investment in the truck series," he said. "In fact, we've put 29 teams on the racetrack in the course of the truck series. Bill Davis has put 16 and the other big owners have been less than a handful. And every one of those 29, we've underwritten.
"Our ability to maintain a presence there is going to be significantly challenged as we face the escalation of costs and the drop of revenue. I don't know as we speak here, how that's going to turn out."
Roush is fielding two trucks full-time in 2008.
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PIT STOPS: Bobby Labonte has his thoughts on more than just Sunday's race. He's worried about Hurricane Ike closing in on his hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas. Labonte was born there and storm forecasts predicted Ike would come ashore Saturday near Corpus Christi and move northwest toward Austin and Waco. "Hopefully all of the necessary safety measures have been taken and everyone's well-being will be secure," he said. "We'll be racing at Loudon this weekend, but our thoughts will be with everyone in the path of the hurricane." Labonte and his family now live in North Carolina. ... Race or No Race: NASCAR fan Gary Cote, of Coventry, R.I., turned down the chance to attend the Daytona 500 for a shot at winning $1 million on "Deal or No Deal." He didn't win the money, but will get a chance to see a Cup race. He was given a suite and garage passes for Saturday and Sunday's events and he'll get to meet Bobby Labonte, all courtesy of the driver's sponsor.
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AP Auto Racing Writer Mike Harris contributed to this report.
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