Ever since Jeff Gordon scored his first and second Winston Cup victories in 1994, a season has not gone by when the four-time champion has not won at least twice.

This year, he's down to five races to go and has won once.

Is he worried? Gordon's post-Brooke image and lifestyle might be different, but many of his answers will always be the same.

"A lot of drivers just hope they can win once a year," Gordon said. "That's something if we're trying to win twice."

Gordon's come close to winning that second race of the year several times. He's finished second three times and, although he's got only five top-five finishes in his past 13 events, he's finished fifth in each of his last four races.

He's hanging around the front and believes he'll break through pretty soon.

"I've always said that if you keep knocking on the door you'll get in eventually," Gordon said. "We've been on a roll recently and I hope we can continue to carry that momentum ..."

If so, the 24 team will be carrying that momentum into Martinsville, Va. this weekend, where Gordon notched his first victory of 2003, taking the checkered flag for the Virginia 500 at Martinsville Speedway after starting on the pole. Although Gordon's struggled at times in his past 13 races, he's had a string of six top-10 starts and hopes to have a shot at the Martinsville pole again -- and perhaps the sweep of the Virginia short track.

"We're pretty confident that we can win," Gordon said. "We want to win every weekend, but it would be nice to get another one before the season's done."

But despite Gordon's previous success at the track, Martinsville certainly is not one of the more manageable circuits to navigate on the Winston Cup schedule for any driver -- including the four-time Cup champ.

	“	I've always said that if you keep knocking on the door you'll get in eventually. We've been on a roll recently and I hope we can continue to carry that momentum. ”
		— Jeff Gordon

"This track was probably one of the toughest tracks for me to learn," Gordon said. "Making a lot of laps in a test here several years back helped me find some things."

Gordon has four career wins and three career poles at the .526-mile Virginia track. Darrell Waltrip has a record 11 wins at Martinsville, which sees more than its share of rough driving.

"Martinsville is rough because it's a tough place to pass and it's a short track. Put those two things together and you have a lot of bumping and banging. Some of it could be paybacks (from earlier races) and some of it could just be hard short-track racing.

"You can't race on the idea that someone is out there to get you. You have to concentrate on racing clean and hard. Hopefully that will help us put the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet back in victory lane."

After Martinsville, the Winston Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway, North Carolina Speedway and Miami-Homestead Speedway. And while Gordon has won at most active tracks on the circuit, he's only two-for-four among those, still hoping for victories at Phoenix and Homestead.

"We don't approach the remaining races differently," Gordon said. "Our approach is the same as it's been all year, to run well every weekend and win when the opportunity presents itself. ... Right now, we're focusing on finishing this year on a positive note."

Rupen Fofaria is a freelance writer living in Chicago and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at rfofaria@espnspecial.com.