NASCAR Cup Series

Gordon and Johnson are great, but who's best?

Published Jan. 25, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

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They've both won four NASCAR Cup championships. They've both won the Daytona 500, the Southern 500, the Coca-Cola 600 (three times) and the Brickyard 400 (three times). They've both been dominant on NASCAR's short tracks, one at Bristol and both Martinsville. And they've both been the face of NASCAR's best organization.

But which one is the greatest: Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson?

Gordon was the best driver of the 1990s, winning three of his four titles in a four-year span.

Johnson was the best of the most recent decade, capping it with an unprecedented fourth straight championship in 2009.

Johnson is currently on top of the NASCAR world, dominating his sport as few professional athletes have. He is NASCAR's Tiger Woods or Roger Federer. But has he surpassed his teammate and mentor as the best driver of the current generation?

At first glance, it would certainly appear so. Since he broke into NASCAR's Cup series in 2002, Johnson has won 47 races to Gordon's 24. His four Cup championships match Gordon's career total, but he has won all four in consecutive seasons, setting one of the most impressive records in the sport's history.

Gordon, meanwhile, hasn't won a championship since 2001, or since Johnson became his teammate and the driver for the Hendrick Motorsports team he co-owns.

While Johnson has been close to perfect — he has finished second in points twice and has never finished outside the top five — Gordon, now 38, has stumbled in recent years.

The past five seasons have been among the worst of his career. He missed the Chase in 2005, won just two races and finished sixth in points in 2006, went winless in 2008 and won just once last season.

Johnson has clearly been a much better driver than Gordon, right? Over the past eight years, yes. There really is no comparison. But is Johnson better than the Jeff Gordon of the 1990s? Has he passed Gordon on the list of NASCAR's greatest drivers? Has he already put together a better career than Gordon, who is considered one of the top three drivers in NASCAR history?

Despite the incredible start to his career, despite his current dominance, the answer is a rounding, "No!"

Johnson has a long way to go before he matches the incredible accomplishments of Gordon and puts the finishing touches on a career that outshines his mentor.

Gordon, who broke into the Cup series in 1993, has 82 career victories, 35 more than Johnson. Two more and he will tie Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough for third on the all-time win list. Johnson has won 47 races in eight seasons; Gordon won 52 in his first eight seasons and 59 in his best eight-year stretch.

Gordon owns one of the best three-year runs in NASCAR history, winning 10, 10 and 13 races from 1996 through 1998, a streak unmatched in the modern era. Only Richard Petty has won more races in a three-year span, but that came in the 1960s, when he ran 50 or more races a season.

Johnson has just one 10-win season and his best three-year stretch has produced 24 wins, nine fewer than Gordon's.

Though Gordon never won three straight titles like Johnson and Cale Yarborough, his three championships in four years from 1995-98 might have been just as remarkable.

Gordon won 40 races during that span and knocked the legendary Dale Earnhardt off his throne. He ended Earnhardt's championship reign in 1995 and beat him twice more for the title in '97 and '98. His three titles in the '90s came against such Hall of Fame-caliber drivers as Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Terry Labonte and Dale Jarrett.

While both drivers have won NASCAR's biggest races, Gordon has distinguished himself with a remarkable record in the biggest events. He has won the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600 and the Brickyard 400 three times each, and the Southern 500 five times, including four in a row.

He has also shown tremendous versatility with nine wins on road courses, six in restrictor-plate races and 15 on short tracks, including five at Bristol and seven at Martinsville, two of NASCAR's toughest tracks.

Johnson has never won on a road course, never won at Bristol and has just two restrictor-plate wins.

But perhaps the greatest example of Gordon's superiority is his consistency and staying power through difficult circumstances and changing times.

He won three championships with Ray Evernham, one of the greatest crew chiefs in NASCAR history. But when Evernham left in 1999, Gordon kept on winning, capturing his fourth title just two years later with Robbie Loomis.

When Loomis left in 2005, Gordon continued to win with young crew chief Steve Letarte.

Johnson has had just one crew chief — the brilliant Chad Knaus.

Despite changing technology, a new car and a slew of young, talented drivers, Gordon has continued to win races and challenge for the championship. His six-win season in 2007 nearly captured his fifth title.

And at age 38, he looks to have more wins, and perhaps another championship, in him.

Though Gordon may have lost his edge and is no longer the dominant driver he once was, he continues to add to one of the greatest careers in the sport's history.

Though Johnson is the new king of the sport — and one of the greatest in his own right — he still has a ways to go to establish a record comparable to his mentor.

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