AP Photo/Jim Bounds

It hasn't been the kind of season on the track Jeff Gordon, left, was hoping for. Daughter Ella Sophia, center, and wife Ingrid Vandebosch, right, check out the No. 24 before the race at Martinsville.

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- One Hendrick Motorsports driver is on the brink of his greatest moment. Another one could be a week away from one of his biggest disappointments.

While Jimmie Johnson will probably celebrate his historic third consecutive Cup title next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, teammate Jeff Gordon will probably shake his head over a winless season and wonder what happened.

Gordon needs a victory in the season finale to continue a 14-year streak of winning seasons. His rookie year of 1993 is the only time he failed to win a race.

Gordon won six races one year ago when he finished second to Johnson in the Chase. He ranks seventh in the 2008 Chase after another bad day Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway.

An engine failure resulted in a 41st-place finish. It was a slow and painful end as he limped along with seven cylinders before the motor finally blew.

"I'm not sure what happened to the engine," Gordon said. "I felt it early on. I started to lose some power, but I didn't pay much attention to it because we were still getting plenty of RPM.

"The car still was running good, then all of a sudden it started really going down and I felt it lose a cylinder. It was probably a valve. We tried to ride it out as long as we could, but we knew it was a matter of time."

Time isn't on Gordon's side now. He needs a victory at one of the two tracks where he never has won (Texas is the other) to keep his winning streak alive.

Gordon thought he had a shot at winning on the 1-mile oval at Phoenix. He was running fifth when the engine started to sputter.

"That's the kind of year we've had," Gordon said. "It's pretty disappointing. We've had a lot of stuff happen to us, but engines haven't been one of them. Now we can add that to the mix. It's just unfortunate.

"We had a good run going today. But every time we get the car running good, something happens. We were moving up in points and doing everything we needed to do to close out this year on a positive note. Not going to be now."

But winning at Homestead isn't out of the question. Gordon has finished in the top 10 in five of the past six races on the 1.5-mile oval, including four times in the top five.

A victory would be a satisfying way to end a disappointing season -- Gordon in Victory Lane while his teammate celebrates his third consecutive title.

In some ways, it must be hard to understand. Gordon's and Johnson's cars are built in the same building by the same guys. But Johnson now is the star of the sport while Gordon is trying to find the magic that made him one of the best in NASCAR history.

And Gordon is the man who brought Johnson to Cup and convinced Rick Hendrick to hire him.

"Jeff is a real champion," Hendrick said. "He's had a rough year, but I've seen him put his arm around this organization when we just didn't give him stuff good enough."

Win or lose next weekend, Gordon will celebrate Johnson's achievement and congratulate him. Gordon also may wonder why his season didn't match up.

-- Terry Blount

Nationwide Series: Edwards reels in Bowyer

Clint Bowyer's Nationwide Series championship hopes nearly vanished in an instant Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway. Bowyer, though, rebounded like a champion -- which he may well become at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Bowyer got into the back of David Ragan as cars stacked up on a Lap 79 restart and damaged the front end of his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Bowyer took the ensuing restart in 25th -- which would have been quite problematic on a day when Carl Edwards wound up in Victory Lane yet again.

But Bowyer fought his way to a fourth-place finish and lost just 35 points off of his lead. Bowyer now leads the defending Nationwide Series champion by 56 points heading to Homestead.

If Bowyer finishes eighth or better under the lights in South Florida, he'll clinch the championship no matter Edwards' result.

If Bowyer finishes ninth or worse, it opens the door for Edwards as he continues trying to complete a monumental comeback that has seen him gain 151 points on Bowyer in the past six races.

Edwards has eight straight top-5 finishes, with three victories among them. If he wins the championship, he'll become just the second driver in 27 years to overtake the points leader heading into the finale. Rob Moroso overcame a 19-point deficit to Tommy Houston in 1989.

The smallest margin heading into the finale came in 1986, when Larry Pearson led Brett Bodine by 17 points. Bodine chopped 10 points off the deficit, but it wasn't enough.

Edwards, though, hopes to fare better than Bodine did that year, even though Edwards is facing a bigger deficit. He cut into the gap at PIR by leading the final 78 laps.

"We needed this today. We need to win this race," Edwards said Saturday. "We needed to lead the most laps. I'm really proud of how my guys performed. They made up for any of the bad [pit] stops with that last one, so that was good. [It was] definitely a good day; a fun race. I like this race track a lot. Some of the best races that I've had have been here and I enjoy it."

Not surprisingly, Jack Roush was ecstatic to see Edwards' Roush Fenway Racing Ford in Victory Lane. He made the decision to replace crew chief Pierre Kuettel with Drew Blickensderfer back in June, and the move sparked something in the team.

It might be enough to earn the championship. Either way, Roush was happy in the Valley of the Sun.

"I'm in the presence of fast people again. I enjoy the presence of the guys and the girls that put this race team together. They keep it working," Roush said. "Drew came on the scene with Carl about a third of the way into the season and rebuilt the thing for strength to bring some fresh ideas. Today the unsung heroes were for sure the pit crew, who got Carl out first there. He had a fast enough car and he was able to hang on to it.

"But it is hard to pass here. I heard Carl comment to the track manager, 'Don't ever repave this racetrack.' A surface that is worn down like this where you slide around … gives a driver a chance to do his business. Drew was on his game with his tire pressure and they made just a little tweak on the pit stop. The pit stops the last time, I think, that he actually didn't make a change but had one little change before and it all came together. But Carl was the man of the hour standing up on the seat, pushing on a bent gas pedal."

Bowyer's rally kept him in the driver's seat for the championship, but if the past eight weeks are any indication, Edwards won't go down without one more fight.

-- Mark Ashenfelter

Craftsman Truck Series: Benson, Hornaday remain in lockstep after Phoenix

These guys are made for each other. As Ron Hornaday Jr. said Friday night, maybe he and Johnny Benson should go fishing for the Craftsman Truck Series title. First bite wins.

Trying to come closer to resolution on the track didn't go so well.

Hornaday, gunning to become both the first back-to-back and the first four-time series champion, started the evening at Phoenix's mile oval six points down and appeared to throw the title bid away on the third turn of the first lap. Starting on the pole, Hornaday battled second-starting Kyle Busch on that first lap as if it were the last, losing control and skidding up into the wall. He sustained damage on impact, and on the way back down the track, he smacked trucks that couldn't avoid his mess.

"It looked like I never raced for a championship in my life," the Kevin Harvick Inc. veteran said.

As the No. 33 Chevrolet completed its sad trickle to the infield grass, Benson's No. 23 Toyota caught a piece and drove away with a mangled right side. But the Bill Davis Racing points leader was able to continue driving.

Hornaday was forced behind the wall for some 28 laps' time while the KHI crew along with helping hands from other teams made extensive repairs. The truck made it back out, but it was destined for no better than a finish in the mid-20s unless major mayhem ensued the rest of the night.

That wasn't to be, but Hornaday got all the mayhem he needed -- a crash by Benson. On Lap 87, Benson slammed the wall after a run-in with T.J. Bell and needed repairs just as extensive as Hornaday's.

Benson's truck never got fully righted, crashing again with 24 laps to go and ending the night behind the wall in 26th, 52 laps down. Hornaday, amazingly, finished 25th at 34 laps down and chopped half his points deficit in a night that appeared lost on Lap 1. He now trails Benson by a scant three markers.

It might have been the guilty-pleasure race of the year in all of NASCAR. (By the way, it was won by Hornaday's teammate and owner, Kevin Harvick). Why watch your title contenders battle for a win when you can see them turn their rides into junkers appropriate for your local track's Saturday night demolition derby? They should have been sent home with no prize money or points and told to come back the next night and try again.

Instead, they'll come back Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway to settle the closest title battle in series history. Benson and Hornaday should battle until the last lap -- unless, of course, they don't. Even then they'll probably still find one another, back in the pack or behind the wall. It's been that kind of fight.

-- John Schwarb