Nothing could spoil the day for Jeff Gordon.
Not the overwhelming dominance of Dale Earnhardt in the season-ending NAPA 500, nor the mysterious handling problem that made his Chevrolet Monte Carlo feel like it was traversing an icy surface throughout most of Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.As tough to accept as that combination might have been at another time, it meant very little on this day to the 24-year-old Gordon, who clinched his first Winston Cup championship despite finishing 32nd in the 42-car field.
"It's been a spectacular year," Gordon said. "Our goals were not quite this high. Last year, we were eighth, and realistically we thought top five this year. We wanted to win more than the two races we won last year and more than the one pole we won each of our first two years."
Gordon finished the season with series-leading totals of eight poles and seven wins, led 29 of the 31 races - including Sunday's - and finished in the top 10 23 times.
Gordon was unbeatable, even with Earnhardt, working hard to win his third straight season title and to break the overall mark of seven championships he shares with Richard Petty, chopping a 305-point lead to 34 in the last five races.
Earnhardt, 44, put together a near-perfect finale to a solid year, overrunning the field as he led 268 of the 328 laps on Atlanta's 1.522-mile oval.
The victory matched Cale Yarborough's record of seven Atlanta victories and gave Earnhardt five wins for the season and 68 in his career.