Top 20 countdown: No. 5 Jeff Gordon

(Photos: Getty Images)

2008 statistics

The countdown
No. 20: Martin Truex Jr.
No. 19: Juan Pablo Montoya
No. 18: Kurt Busch
No. 17: Kasey Kahne
No. 16: Brian Vickers
No. 15: Tony Stewart
No. 14: Jamie McMurray
No. 13: Clint Bowyer
No. 12: David Ragan
No. 11: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
No. 10: Denny Hamlin
No. 9: Matt Kenseth
No. 8: Jeff Burton
No. 7: Greg Biffle
No. 6: Mark Martin
No. 5: Jeff Gordon
No. 4: Revealed Wednesday

Editor's note: Yahoo! Sports is counting down the Top 20 drivers going into the 2009 season. The order was determined by a survey, which asked six NASCAR journalists – Ricky Craven, Jay Busbee and Jay Hart (Yahoo! Sports); Jenna Fryer (Associated Press); David Poole (Charlotte Observer); and Nate Ryan (USA Today) – to predict the final standings for the 2009 season. The countdown will conclude on Feb. 6 with the unveiling of the No. 1 driver.

2008 finish: 7th

2009 outlook: Nobody was happier for 2008 to end than Jeff Gordon, who failed to win a race for the first time since 1993. Gordon is a classic demonstration of just how hard it is to win a single race at the Sprint Cup level, let alone cruise to victory lane a half-dozen times a season, which is about what he averaged in the first 15 years of his career.

Bad luck, miscommunication, poor setups – all these and more beset Gordon in 2008, and they added up to zero.

It's become somewhat fashionable to dismiss Gordon as irrelevant, that the sun is setting on the 24. But let's not forget that he was right in the running for the 2007 title before Jimmie Johnson began his stretch run to his second Cup. All the talk about Gordon's skills diminishing, about his attention drifting to off-track matters – it's all speculation. Though he no longer carries the cachet he once did, he still has the talent to run up front.

This is why it's unwise to toss Jeff Gordon on the pile of has-beens.

True, his crew was slower than other elites in figuring out the nuances of the Car of Tomorrow. But with a full year of experience behind them, it's likely that Gordon will get back into the winner's circle in 2009 – more than once.

What you need to know: Gordon ran in the top 10 in seven of the 10 Chase races. He nailed down four poles in 2008 and had an average starting position of 10.7. He was running well in qualifying; something was just not right once the flag dropped. Don't expect that confusion to continue.