The four-time Sprint Cup series champion dominated for most of the running last Tuesday in the rain-delayed event but had to fend off a charging Jimmie Johnson in the closing laps, finally keeping him at bay to secure three more bonus points towards his Chase seeding.
Gordon has been in the playoff for the past six years but has not been in close contention for the title since 2007, when he was the main opponent of his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate. Back then he won six races, four of them during the regular season, finally coming second to Johnson in the standings.
The 40-year-old believes that his third victory of the season proves he's got what it takes to really be in the thick of the fight for an elusive fifth Sprint Cup series title.
Thus far, he has also led more laps than Johnson this year, proving his outright speed is up there with the current best.
"We've proven that we can win," said Gordon. "I think you have to win to be able to win the championship and you also have to send a message to your competitors that they know you can win.
"And also the laps led. To me it's like getting top 5s is important because if you can get top 5s it shows you can win.
"If you get enough top 5s, usually you'll find yourself into Victory Lane. The same thing with leading laps. You lead enough laps, you're probably going to find yourself getting to Victory Lane.
"And so I think those two things are very significant right now the laps led and the fact that we're pulling off the wins when we're strong."
Gordon claimed his 85th Cup career victory on Tuesday at Atlanta and is now in sole possession of third in the all-time winners list behind legends Richard Petty and David Pearson. His three wins this year are the most he's ever claimed during a year since 2007, all coming at very different tracks: Phoenix, Pocono and Atlanta.
Earlier this year speaking to AUTOSPORT Gordon wasn't as confident of his team having championship-calibre form, specially on intermediate tracks such as Atlanta where it struggled early on. His win this week thus comes as a major boost, as those are the tracks that prevail during the last ten weeks of the season.
The Hendrick driver is optimistic ahead of the playoff and believes he's never been in such good shape entering the Chase since it was implemented in 2004.
"I mean, this is to me the strongest that - I mean '07 we were strong, but you know the difference in '07 was I dreaded going to Phoenix in '07," said Gordon.
"And I know that the track has changed you know since earlier this year where we won there. But I'm looking forward to going to Phoenix, because [crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] is, he's really good there. And they build great race cars for that type of racetrack.
"We've had to work really hard this year at the mile-and-a-half stuff. That's what I love. Right now our momentum has shifted to make us better at those tracks. They're going to be significant in The Chase.
"I feel like when you go into the debriefs and you're talking to the team in the meetings and you look at how we're planning, you know, how we're improving and the areas that we can get better in and how we're addressing it, to me this is the best that we've been since I can remember. Certainly since The Chase has started."
Gordon's last Cup title came in 2001, before the playoff format came into force. Since then, Gordon's best championship result has been his runner up spot in 2007.
