Since a blown engine knocked him out of the Daytona 500 to start the Sprint Cup season, it’s taken Jeff Gordon 20 races to drive into contention for NASCAR’s postseason.

And he’s there – finally. After notching his first victory of the season last week at Pocono, Gordon holds one of two wild cards and would make the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship if it began this week.

“I don’t think a lot of people have really even put much emphasis and recognize, other than ourselves, how consistently we’ve been top-five, top-10 the last eight weeks,” Gordon said as he turned his focus to Sunday’s race on the road course at Watkins Glen. “That’s what’s moved us up into the position we’re in. That’s what put us into position to win that race.”