HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Jeff Gordon knows trying to quell talk of a slump year would be futile. Instead, he'll just ignore it.

He's practiced at that.

Gordon, whose latest reign as Winston Cup champion ended when Tony Stewart earned the honor on Sunday, hasn't been his Wonder Boyish self for years, now. Even last year's title season was not a double-digit victory campaign. And yet, he's been consistent -- throughout his career. That cannot be denied.

Don't bring around talk of 2000 and call that a slump. Three victories, 11 top-fives and a top-10 championship finish ain't slumpin' numbers. And don't bring around talk of 2002, either. Three victories, 13 top-fives and another top-10 finish -- continuing a streak he started after his rookie year -- ain't bad at all.

Besides, talking slump might only piss him off again -- and prompt him to win the title dominantly in 2003 like he did in 2001.

"Any time you've been the champion, all you want from then on is to be the champion," Gordon said. "Right now, at the end of the season, we're looking back at where we could have done better and the things we could have done to get us up there into the lead. We're going to go home and try to make sure that we take care of all those things in the off-season to make sure we come out strong next year to win the championship."

Gordon finished the season strong, with four straight top-six finishes -- including Sunday's fifth-place effort in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. That helped him climb to a fourth-place finish in the final points standings -- a respectable way for any driver to end the season ... even the Super G.

"If you look at just a few things that could have gone differently for us, and we'd be right in the hunt," Gordon said. "I'm pretty proud of the effort that was put out with all the circumstances like the pressure of not winning on us all year long, and with my personal issues. With everything that's gone on this year, for us to come out this last third of the season and run the way we've run with that effort, I'm really proud of those guys.

"I appreciate them a whole lot for what they do to support me. To come out of here with a top-five after starting 37th says a lot for us. I think we can gain a lot over the off-season and carry some momentum for next year."

	Gordon scored six top-six finishes in his last eight races.

Behind him will be that winless streak -- the 31 races he went between wins from 2001 to late this year. And he hopes talk of his marital problems will be behind him, too. Although he's still going through the process of ending his seven-year marriage to Jennifer Brooke Sealy, a former Miss Winston, Gordon is clearly not distracted by those issues while on the track, anymore.

Gordon says he hopes he doesn't have to talk about any of those things he puts behind him -- just those things which lie ahead.

"I'm excited about the new (Chevrolet) Monte Carlo we've got coming out and we're going to be testing it here Monday and Tuesday," Gordon said. "I'm excited about some of the things we're doing on the race team. We've got to work on our pit stops a little bit and we've got to work on the race cars. We've got to work just a little bit on a lot of areas. I think our qualifying is probably the key thing for us next year. We want to start with track position instead of having to get it with no tires or two-tire stops."

Although it was never more glaring than this past weekend, Gordon had one of his worst qualifying years, ever. Almost a dozen times he started outside the top 20 -- including on Sunday when, after failing to make the race based on time trials, he was forced to take the first provisional starting position of his 10-year career.

But like Sunday, Gordon believes this problem is fixable.

On Sunday, it was fixed thanks to pit strategy and using a caution flag to stay on the lead lap, then patiently weaving his way to the front.

"It was just great pit work, great strategy, and track position was everything," he said. "There were some good calls by Brian (Whitesell) and Robbie (Loomis) in the pits and I'm real proud of this effort. I thought we were going to get a third or fourth out of it, but we got messing with a few guys and just couldn't get by them. We'll take a fifth place finish and be happy with it."

And next year, he'll take a championship and be happy with that.

"I think if we correct some of the things we need to work on and continue the momentum we've built up here late in the season, we'll be in great position," he said. "That's the ultimate goal, so we'll just see what happens."

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for The Raleigh News & Observer.