by Darrell Waltrip

Updated: October 17, 2007, 5:51 PM EST 186 comments

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Now, he is going to five racetracks where he's pretty darn good, Martinsville Speedway is one of his favorites. He always runs well there. He and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson had a wonderful battle there in the spring. While Johnson won that race, and both drivers are good there, I give the edge to Gordon. With a win in the spring, the No. 24 team seems to have figured out Phoenix International Raceway. Probably the only track Jeff has to concern himself with right now is Texas Motor Speedway because he hasn't had good luck there. It's one of the few places where he's never won.

Jimmie is good at all of those places, too. There are a few tracks where he might even be better than Jeff. For example, he really has to capitalize on the mile-and-a-halfs remaining, like Texas and Atlanta Motor Speedway. It's a toss-up when you get to the season finale at Homestead. It will come down to whether Jeff's got a big lead or enough of a lead that all he has to do is finish well or if Jimmie has a big lead and all he has to do is finish well.

Early in the Chase, I may not have considered Clint Bowyer a threat to win a title. But I've watched him the last few weeks at Talladega and again at Charlotte, and the No. 07 car has been very competitive. Crew chief Gil Martin has done a great job in the pits. Bowyer is showing a lot of maturity and good judgment on the racetrack.

If Jeff and Jimmie just focus on each other and forget about Clint, the second-year driver is hanging in there close enough that if either one of those guys stumbles, look out. Bowyer's just kind of lurking and I like it. If he doesn't win the championship, it's still going to be a great experience for him, giving him a lot of momentum going into 2008.

Success on the track certainly provides a lot of motivation for Gordon, but probably the bigger motivation doesn't weigh but eight or 10 pounds right now. Her name is Ella, and I just know when I had my two girls, they energized me. When we had our first child, Jessica, I was walking on Cloud Nine. Everything was perfect, and I was racing pretty darn good.

A lot like the late Dale Earnhardt, Gordon kind of keeps his emotions in check and doesn't let you really see the soft side of him. But he jumped up and down, hollered and screamed after he won the Talladega race because it was the first time that his little angel was in Victory Lane with him. It was a special moment in Jeff and wife Ingrid's life. Unless you've been there with that first child in victory circle and experienced the thrill of a lifetime, it's hard to describe. You're excited, not because you won the race, but you've got that little angel with you.

I always told my crew members, "Be careful when you handle her because you might break her wings." My second daughter, Sarah, had her little wings, too. But the guys used to kid me. They'd say, "She's never going to learn to walk if you don't put her down." I just never wanted to put her down. Trust me, folks, my children motivated me. Those little girls changed my life, and they changed it for the better. I can see the same thing with Jeff Gordon.

When your personal life is good, it seems like your professional life is that much better. I'm proud of Jeff. He's got it going in all the right ways. I congratulate him on the success he's having. My 84 wins are special to me, and I'm sure they're special to Bobby Allison. But there's no question that Gordon is going to win a lot more than 84. I actually think he'll end up winning over 100 races. He's 36 years old and he's a got a good 10-15 years ahead of him if he wants it. I'd almost say that his goal is to win seven or eight championships and at least 100 races. That's going to be an incredible accomplishment for a guy that just started in Cup racing in 1992.

He's the man. I called him Big Daddy earlier this year, and he's definitely living up to it. He is the Big Daddy of Nextel Cup racing right now. There ain't nobody in a league with him.

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Oh, by the way

I took a lot of heat about the Talladega race, and it was just a misunderstanding. I didn't say it was exciting. I said the whole weekend was entertaining. The races were boring. When the drivers ride around there in single-file up next to the wall, that's no fun. Nobody enjoys watching that. But the ARCA race, the Craftsman Truck race and the Cup race were entertaining.

Just go back and read what I said. The go-or-go-homers dominated qualifying, and some new faces ran up front all day long. My brother won a pole position with all that's going on with him and his team right now. It was just an entertaining weekend. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not a fan of the COT because that stands for the Car of Today. We just figured that out. It was COT, Car of Tomorrow, but now it's COT, Car of Today.

We can complain all we want about the car. I can tell you how bad I think it is. The drivers can too, but as we say in our sport, you've got what you've got. NASCAR won't do away with the car. I don't think they're going to make too many changes to it so you might as well just learn to live with it.

Back in 1981, we went to the small Buicks, Monte Carlos, Pontiacs and Thunderbirds, and we had our hands full. We complained bitterly about the car and said that somebody was going to get hurt in the stupid thing because it drove so poorly. After a year or so, we got used to it, and it was never mentioned again.

The same thing will happen when we don't have the current car running one week and the COT running the next week. When all we've got is the Car of Today, then it will become very comfortable to everybody. All the complaining will stop, and all the whining and all the "I wish they'd do this, I wish they'd do that" will go away. Then, you've just got what you've got.