Jeff Gordon comes into Saturday night’s Air Guard 400 at Richmond International Raceway as one of NASCAR’s most consistent drivers this season. But Gordon is also one of five winless drivers heading into the Chase, at 40 and possibly 60 points behind the leaders.

“I’m not overly concerned whether I go into the Chase 40 points down, 50 points down or even 60 points down,” Gordon said. “I wanted to go into the Chase 10 or 20 points down. That to me was really cutting into it.”

Winless and trailing the leaders Gordon plans to do what he’s done so well all season. “I think at this point we’ve got to look at our strengths and weaknesses of what we have as a team,” he said. “And realize if we’re as consistent and strong as we’ve been at times this year then we can make up those 50 points or whatever that point margin is, so we’ve got to live up to our strengths and we’ve got to step it up.”

But Gordon does not like his odds of winning the Chase championship without winning a single race. “Mathematically it’s possible, realistically I don’t,” he said. “Maybe for Jimmie (Johnson) or Denny (Hamlin) who are 50 points up on everybody it’s possible for them not to win races because they already have a big head start. But I think for us and the No. 24 team we’re going to have to win.

“I still believe we’re going to have to win one or two races and be consistent, finish in the top 5-10 to win the championship,” he said. “I think if we do that it’s not going to matter where we’re seated going in.”

Because he has gone winless, Gordon finds the season perplexing. “I feel like we’re stronger this year than we’ve been in so many previous years,” he said. “And years where we’ve won a race or two or three, we’re way better this year than we were in those years.

“You don’t really know how to explain that,” Gordon added. “The racing gods, luck on your side, races are just more competitive. Who knows what it is but the facts are the facts.”

Therefore Gordon tries to take a philosophical look at the season. “I try to be a pretty patient person and I feel like if all of it comes our way in the Chase I’ll understand what it was all meant for,” he said. “We didn’t win a lot this season because we were waiting for that crucial moment in time when it really counts.”