Jeff Gordon's Disappointing Last Run at Sonoma Mars Near-Perfect Weekend

What could have been wasn’t. What should have happened didn’t.

And so Jeff Gordon moves on to what is now 20 races left in his illustrious Sprint Cup career.

It should be that simple, but it isn’t.

Gordon had the perfect opportunity to win for the final time on his home track, in the backyard of where he spent the first 11 years of his life, surrounded by numerous family members and friends —and a crowd that Sonoma Raceway hasn’t seen in at least a decade.

If someone took a poll, I’d be willing to bet that at least 75 percent of those who attended Sunday’s Toyota/SaveMart 350 came out to see Gordon’s 23rd and final run at Sonoma.

He’s an icon in the Bay Area. He’s from there. He’s one of its very own. Sunday's race had all of the elements that no matter what happened the rest of the season, this was Gordon's best chance to win in 2015 because of all that the track and the area have meant to him.

“I was really optimistic going into the race,” Gordon told Fox Sports 1 (via NASCAR Talk). “Our car was good in practice, we qualified well. They dropped the green and we were moving forward. I was pretty happy with it.”

That’s why Gordon’s 16th-place finish was so unfair. At the end of the 110-lap race, he deserved better—at least a top-five finish, for sure.

But a setup on his race car that went south too soon, and then several attempts by his crew and crew chief Alan Gustafson to try to correct things, only seemed to make things worse.

Instead of going toward the start-finish line, Gordon went back and back and back some more.

End result: Another mediocre finish in a season that was supposed to be marked with plenty of wins and top-five finishes, not…well, for lack of a better word…mediocrity.

There’s no finger of blame to point. It’s not Gordon’s fault and it’s not Gustafson’s fault that his driver’s final Sprint Cup season has not been the kind envisioned back in February before the Daytona 500.

In a perfect world, Gordon would have won at Daytona, certainly at Sonoma, maybe at Indianapolis coming up, make the Chase and end his career with his fifth championship.

Right now, however, he’s at a point where he is slowly slipping away and potentially out of Chase contention.

Look at the numbers: The Chase field is made up of 16 drivers. Right now, with 10 races remaining until the playoffs, Gordon is 11th in the standings.

But in reality, because Kyle Busch’s win Sunday made him the 11th different race winner this season, there are now just five open spots to make the Chase on points.

With both fellow winless drivers Jamie McMurray (ranked seventh) and Kasey Kahne (eighth) ahead of him, Gordon is now technically 14th on the Chase grid.

If the Chase were to start tomorrow, he’d make it. But 10 weeks from now, things could be completely different.

What’s more, there are four other winless drivers ranked lower who are within 32 points of Gordon. If one or more of them wins in the next 10 races, Gordon could quickly find himself on the outside looking in come Chase time.

And what kind of way would that be for him to end his career without a win and, worse, not make the Chase or have a chance to win that elusive fifth championship—something he’s been chasing since 2001?

Getting back to Sunday, Gordon was his usual classy self after the race, even though the disappointment had to bother him.

Eric Risberg/Associated Press

And it wasn’t lost on those who observed him.

As FoxSports.com’s Jared Turner wrote, “Although Sunday's race near his hometown didn't go as he had hoped, the driver of the No. 24 Chevy could still smile when reflecting about his final trip to Sonoma, where fans honored him by holding up No. 24 towels on Lap 24, and skywriters wrote a No. 24 in the sky during pre-race ceremonies.”

So, no matter how it wound up, it was still a memorable weekend, one that he and his family and friends will never forget.

And even though he could, he said there was no regret with the way it actually played out.

“It was a great weekend,” he said. “Nothing’s going to take away from this weekend for me. I know it wasn’t the finish we wanted, but it was still a very memorable weekend.”

Even though the record books won’t show it, Jeff Gordon was still a winner Sunday.

And no matter what happens between now and then, if he makes the Chase or not, if he wins the championship for a final time or not, that’s the way he’ll still end his career 20 weeks from now: as a winner.

Follow me on Twitter @JerryBonkowski