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2015 Fantasy NASCAR Profile: Jeff Gordon

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By @writered21

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For all the racing luck that has gotten in the way of Jeff Gordon the last several years, you almost understand his desire to step away from the NASCAR Sprint Cup series following one final try at the championship in 2015. Gordon was so very close a season ago, before a crash involving Brad Keselowski took the long-time veteran out of the Chase with one race to go.

From a fantasy perspective Gordon was a solid pick most of the season, as his consistency was a valuable asset. He was fourth in NASCAR in laps led in 2014, piling up 1,083 circuits at the front. Gordon joined Kevin Harvick, Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano as one of the five drivers who dominated that statistic in 2014.

But among that group of top drivers, which includes the series champion (Harvick) and fourth-place finisher (Logano), Gordon was best in another standard category, place differential. Gordon averaged starting in 9th and his average finish was 10.4, a differential of minus-1.4. Only Logano (-1.5) was close. The 10.4 average finish for Gordon was the best in NASCAR.

Now, you get Gordon in 2015 when he’s likely to go on a tear. Having announced this week that 2015 will be his final full season in the Sprint Cup Series, there is nothing more the California native will want than to win his fifth championship.

Gordon won at Kansas, Michigan and Indianapolis a season ago and led the most laps in the spring race at Richmond, the second race at Pocono, Watkins Glen (tied with A.J. Allmendinger) and the fall race at Martinsville. Notably, Gordon didn’t win any of those races.

The expectation for Gordon should be to stay in that form again in 2015 and turn more of those races into wins. Gordon hasn’t won the Sprint Cup series championship since 2001, and in that time has had to watch teammate Johnson win six and rival Tony Stewart win three. Gordon knows now he won’t catch Johnson or all-time leaders Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty (both seven-time champs), but a fifth would cement his legacy as one of the sport’s greatest drivers.

You should hop along for that ride as much as possible in 2015. Gordon is strong at a variety of different tracks, and given how last season ended with the dust-up with Keselowski, it’s unlikely Gordon is going to let anyone or anything stop him from finishing the job in 2015.

Ed Morgans is an ACC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @writered21 and add him to your network on Google.

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