Jeff Gordon

In his nearly 20-year career driving in NASCAR's top series, Jeff Gordon has won four championships, 86 races (third highest in the sport), $127 million in race purses and millions more in endorsements. But as long as the 41-year-old Gordon is in a race car, all that matters is winning the next race or capturing the next title. And that was wholly evident this weekend at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. Gordon needed a strong finish in Saturday night's race to snag the 12th and final berth in NASCAR's Chase for the Cup, its 10-race championship playoff that starts next week.

Matt Kenseth is back to letting his car doing the talking, thank you. Kenseth on Friday won the pole position for the next Sprint Cup Series race one day after he blasted NASCAR for the penalties levied against the driver and his team following their win last weekend. Kenseth turned a lap of 130.334 mph in his No. 20 Toyota to win the pole for Saturday night's race at the 0.75-mile Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. "One of our goals this weekend was to come here and sit on the pole and kind of quiet down at least part of the noise" over the penalties, Kenseth told reporters in Richmond.

  This post has been corrected. See below. A viral video featuring a new ad for Pepsi swept the Internet on Wednesday. In it, Jeff Gordon supposedly goes undercover to buy a car. Walking onto a lot, he asks a salesperson whether he can test drive a 2009 Camaro. Then he gives the terrified salesman the test drive of his life. You can watch it all above. Problem: Despite what most news outlets reported, the whole test drive was staged. The salesman is an actor. It wasn't an actual hidden camera look at a "Candid Camera" style prank.

Matt Kenseth and his Joe Gibbs Racing team were hit with major penalties from NASCAR on Wednesday following Kenseth's victory Sunday at Kansas Speedway. NASCAR said that in its post-race inspection of Kenseth's No. 20 Toyota, it found the car had an unapproved engine part -- a connecting rod that was too light. Although Kenseth was able to keep his victory, the driver was stripped of 50 Sprint Cup Series championship points, dropping the former Cup champion from eighth in the standings to a tie for 14th with Jeff Gordon.

NASCAR levied a stiff fine on Jeff Gordon for intentionally wrecking Clint Bowyer and helping trigger a wild brawl among their crews Sunday in Phoenix, but Gordon was not suspended for the season's last race this weekend. Gordon was fined $100,000 and docked 25 Sprint Cup Series championship points, although Gordon - a four-time champion - already had been eliminated from title contention. Brad Keselowski has a 20-point lead over Jimmie Johnson heading into the season finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.)

Any sport is ultimately all about the numbers, right? Here's Jeff Gordon -- four-time winner of what's now called the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, three-time Daytona 500 winner, first driver to reach $100 million in series winnings -- and all I really want to say to him is, "Wow! 190 miles an hour! Wow!" The California-born Gordon is one of the second-generation stars of NASCAR, and on Sunday, he brings his No. 24 car to Fontana's Auto Club Speedway, where he's won before, to try to shake out a little more gold from the Golden State.

  An ugly scene took place Sunday when the crews of Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer came to blows after Gordon put Bowyer's car into the wall during the AdvoCare 500 in Avondale, Ariz. As Times NASCAR writer Jim Peltz wrote , "By the time the smoke literally cleared and Kevin Harvick had won the race, the sellout crowd of 87,000 had witnessed the following: " - Jeff Gordon being shoved away for his safety as his crew members and those of Clint Bowyer brawled in the garage after Gordon intentionally wrecked Bowyer.

Jeff Gordon, four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, was angry with himself after finishing second to Denny Hamlin in Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Gordon is currently on the outside of the Chase for the Cup points standings, in which the top 10 drivers automatically qualify for a 10-race playoff while two wild-card drivers are selected based on wins and points. All other Sprint Cup drivers are just circling the track during those races with no hopes of winning the series championship, although they can still pick up the winner's paycheck.

Of all people. Brief feuds between NASCAR drivers break out routinely, but Jeff Gordon versus Jimmie Johnson? What makes their current tiff so compelling is not just that they're friends, teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, but that Gordon helped launch Johnson's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career and that Gordon owns Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet, although that would be enough. Their quarrel also stands out because Gordon and Johnson often are listed as Examples A and B in the modern version of Cup racing that annoys some fans, where buttoned-down drivers generally stick to politically correct public comments that won't upset sponsors, fans and teammates.

Reporting from Indianapolis — It's enough to make NASCAR fans do a double-take, but driver Jeff Gordon — the one-time "Wonderboy" of stock-car racing — turns 40 next week. Before he celebrates his birthday Aug. 4, however, Gordon will try to boost his record of four wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with another victory Sunday in the Brickyard 400. As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to the famed 21/2 -mile rectangular track, Gordon — a two-time winner this season — is seventh in the championship standings with seven races left before NASCAR's Chase for the Cup playoff.

  This post has been corrected. See below. A viral video featuring a new ad for Pepsi swept the Internet on Wednesday. In it, Jeff Gordon supposedly goes undercover to buy a car. Walking onto a lot, he asks a salesperson whether he can test drive a 2009 Camaro. Then he gives the terrified salesman the test drive of his life. You can watch it all above. Problem: Despite what most news outlets reported, the whole test drive was staged. The salesman is an actor. It wasn't an actual hidden camera look at a "Candid Camera" style prank.

If there's anyone who can appreciate what it means to have 28-year-old Brad Keselowski as NASCAR's new Sprint Cup Series champion, it's Jeff Gordon. Gordon won his first Cup title in 1995 when he was 24, earning the nickname "Wonder Boy. " He would go on to win three more. Now 41, Gordon was asked about Keselowski's ability to be NASCAR's leading face, after Gordon won the season's final race Sunday at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway and Keselowski captured the championship, the first driver born in the 1980s to do so. "He'll do great," Gordon said.

NASCAR levied a stiff fine on Jeff Gordon for intentionally wrecking Clint Bowyer and helping trigger a wild brawl among their crews Sunday in Phoenix, but Gordon was not suspended for the season's last race this weekend. Gordon was fined $100,000 and docked 25 Sprint Cup Series championship points, although Gordon - a four-time champion - already had been eliminated from title contention. Brad Keselowski has a 20-point lead over Jimmie Johnson heading into the season finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.)

— There was talk this year about whether NASCAR was becoming a tad boring, with too little passing, too few wrecks, too many colorless drivers and clean-cut Jimmie Johnson seemingly marching to yet another title. The nondescript first half of Sunday's race seemed to buttress that argument. Although NASCAR had once urged its drivers to "have at it" on the track, they appeared inclined to have little of it. That is, until bedlam erupted at Phoenix International Raceway. By the time the smoke literally cleared and Kevin Harvick had won the race, the sellout crowd of 87,000 had witnessed the following: —Jeff Gordon being shoved away for his safety as his crew members and those of Clint Bowyer brawled in the garage after Gordon intentionally wrecked Bowyer.

  An ugly scene took place Sunday when the crews of Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer came to blows after Gordon put Bowyer's car into the wall during the AdvoCare 500 in Avondale, Ariz. As Times NASCAR writer Jim Peltz wrote , "By the time the smoke literally cleared and Kevin Harvick had won the race, the sellout crowd of 87,000 had witnessed the following: " - Jeff Gordon being shoved away for his safety as his crew members and those of Clint Bowyer brawled in the garage after Gordon intentionally wrecked Bowyer.

In his nearly 20-year career driving in NASCAR's top series, Jeff Gordon has won four championships, 86 races (third highest in the sport), $127 million in race purses and millions more in endorsements. But as long as the 41-year-old Gordon is in a race car, all that matters is winning the next race or capturing the next title. And that was wholly evident this weekend at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. Gordon needed a strong finish in Saturday night's race to snag the 12th and final berth in NASCAR's Chase for the Cup, its 10-race championship playoff that starts next week.

Reporting from Sonoma, Calif. — If there's one track where Jeff Gordon would seem poised to break his frustrating winless streak in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, it would be Infineon Raceway. With a record five wins at Infineon, Gordon is the top Cup driver at the 10-turn, 1.99-mile track nestled in the wine country not far from Gordon's hometown of Vallejo. Gordon will try for a sixth victory Sunday when the series returns for the Toyota/Save Mart 350, one of the series' two races on snake-like road courses.

Blunt as usual, Kyle Busch explained in no uncertain terms what it means for a driver to miss NASCAR's title playoff. "We're just going to be another race car … running around in circles for the rest of the year," Busch said. "That's how I feel about it. " At least Busch still has a strong shot to qualify as one of the 12 drivers in NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the Cup that decides the Sprint Cup Series champion. The same can't be said for several other top drivers, including 2011 title contender Carl Edwards, as the series heads to Richmond (Va.)