Top Winless Drivers Like Jeff Gordon Still Searching for NASCAR Victory Lane

As the 2008 season begins to come to a close, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, and Jeff Gordon all have yet to visit victory lane.

For Matt Kenseth, this team came into 2008 with high hopes. It had a strong run last year, finishing fourth in the overall standings. Kenseth ended the year with a victory at Homestead-Miami and hoped to carry that momentum into speed weeks.

In 2007, he had an average finish of 12.9, with an average start of 19.8. So 2008 was supposed to be a bigger and better year for this Wisconsin native. In 2008, as of Martinsville, his average finish and start is about 17.1.

Daytona in February was a sign of things to come for the No. 17 driver and crew. At Daytona, he started deep in the pack in 28th and finished 36th. So far this year, he has had engine failures and part failures, along with pit road penalties.

All factors in why what was supposed to be a great year has been a struggle for this team to stay in touch with the leaders.

Kenseth has also had his share of hard luck. He has numerous times been wrapped up in someone else's mess, taking him out of contention. But, many times, poor qualifying and an inability to keep up with the racetrack has put him in the back of the pack, where you run the risk of someone making a mistake and taking you out.

Kenseth is still looking for his first win, and hopes that with that win the team can find its confidence and the one thing it has been lacking all year—momentum.

For Kevin Harvick, he has had just an up and down year himself. In 2007, he ended the year in 10th place in the standings. With one win at the Daytona 500, Harvick and Co. struggled to find the victory lane the rest of the year. With an average finish of 15.5, 2007 was one they liked to forget.

This year carried a lot of promise for Harvick. He had strong runs through the first eight races of the season, sitting fifth in points and steadily improving. Soon Harvick  struggled in keeping up with the new car and saw his once-consistent finishes begin to slide.

Harvick, who holds the modern day record for consecutive finishes of running at the end of the race, has yet to fall out of a race completely, but his run came into serious threat most recently at Talladega.

For Harvick, this offseason brings much-needed time to regroup and refocus on what his team seems to have lost over the last two seasons. This team knows how to win, and when it gets hot it can win several races in the span of a few weeks.

Harvick looks to end his winless streak at tracks like Atlanta and Texas, where he has ran well.

For Jeff Gordon, he surprised everyone this year—by not winning. After dominating statistically in 2007, when he won six times and carried an average finish of 7.3, Gordon has struggled in 2008 with the new car relegating him to eighth in the standings.

For this team, the tracks that hurt them were the larger 1.5 tracks. They struggled early on, finding the right setup and comfortability for Gordon. The team has tested more this year than it has ever before, and finally you can see all those man hours paying off.

In recent races where events have been held at 1.5 tracks, Gordon has not only been competitive, he has been contending for wins. This could be a sign of things to come for the remainder of the season and next year.

Martinsville for Gordon is most likely his best place to find his first victory. He has never finished outside the top 12 in his career. Matt Kenseth could find victory lane at  Homestead or Atlanta. For Kevin Harvick, Phoenix represents his best chance where he has two wins and one pole at the desert destination.

Continued testing is necessary for all three of these teams in the offseason to help them build up their information on the current car. These three will win this year; it's a matter of when and not beating themselves.