Can Jeff Gordon Bounce Back to Make the Chase?

Once again, Hendrick Motorsports has become NASCAR's most dominant team in 2012. Jimmie Johnson is back to his old winning ways, Kasey Kahne has been experiencing success with the #5 team (That success included a win at the Coca-Cola 600 a few weeks ago), and Dale Earnhardt Jr has become Hendrick's highest-running driver in the Sprint Cup standings with his level of consistency each week throughout the entire season.

Unfortunately for Jeff Gordon, he has been the only Hendrick Motorsports driver who has struggled to find success in 2012. For Gordon, his best finish of the season came after finishing 4th at the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway back in April. Since then, he has only one top-10 finish (7th place finish at the Coca-Cola 600).

Is there any hope for the 4-time Sprint Cup Champion to make the Chase this year?

At this point, his chances of making the Chase are about slim to none. After Pocono, Jeff is currently 22nd in the standings.

The way I see it, Gordon's only way of making the chase would be for him to have a miracle summer. That means he will need to finish in the top-5 or top-10 almost every week before Richmond, and he would need atleast 2-3 victories.

Jeff Gordon cannot afford to have anymore bad luck. He cannot afford to finish outside the top-10 every week either. He needs to start performing now. Otherwise, the 2012 campaign will be the worst of his entire career.

Can Jeff Gordon bounce back to make the Chase? You can tweet your response to (as well as follow) Brandon on Twitter (@butlerb92), or leave a comment in the comments section.