Sport's media star shines in media capital of world (cont'd)

"I don't mind it," he said. "I kind of grew up racing on ESPN. Because I was so young getting into sprint cars, there was a little bit more attention around me. So I got to get a little bit of experience at a young age. Any experience you get in it helps. Some of it you enjoy, some of it you just put up with. Some guys go into it with such a negative attitude that's it hard to ever get through it. I just try to make the best of it and enjoy it whenever I can. The times when you're not really crazy about what you're doing, you just do it and move on. But I do think the experience I had at a young age helped me get comfortable with it."

Not every driver feels the same way. Gordon crosses paths with many of his competitive peers over the course of the day, and it's clear that some of them are suffering through it or just gutting it out. "I can't believe anybody lives there," Kansas native Clint Bowyer would say later of New York. But Gordon knows the city well enough to give his driver directions to the tucked-away side entrance of ABC's Good Morning America, and avoid the crush of people at Times Square -- the one part of New York where he's guaranteed to be besieged by fans and autograph-seekers, and purposely tries to avoid.

He knows the drill: through security, up a massive elevator big enough to hold a racecar, a touch of powder in makeup, and then into the green room to chitchat and wait until the scheduled 8:30 a.m. spot. NASCAR is booking these appearances in groups, trying to push the Chase rather than one individual driver, a scenario that proves a touch clumsy at times as hosts try to interview multiple subjects at once. The previous evening, all 12 drivers appeared on David Letterman's late-night program, delivering a top 12 -- not the usual top 10 -- "reasons I love racing." Gordon is No. 2: "It's not one of those sports where you have to inject stuff in your ass to be good." He's savvy enough to know that some of his more sensitive fans may object to the curse word.

The appearance on Good Morning America won't be nearly as edgy. Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton soon join him in the green room, and the conversation is dominated by talk of fantasy football. Country music singer Kenny Chesney, unrecognizable in sweats and without a cowboy hat, comes in to say hello to Gordon. Chesney is performing on the program to promote a new album, but he's up against a juggernaut. "Kanye [West] is killing everybody," he says. Gordon, ever the pro, introduces the musician to everyone in the room, right down to public relations reps and a reporter along for the ride.

Then it's back down the big elevator and out to the street, and GMA's open-air set on the corner of Broadway and 44th. It's little more than scaffolding covered by a corrugated aluminum roof, but noisy, sign-toting fans push in from all edges. Even from 10 feet away, it's impossible to hear the questions posed by host Chris Cuomo, or the drivers' answers. But after the three-minute segment -- expanded from an original length of one minute, a fact that pleases the NASCAR rep to no end -- Gordon is smiling. "They talked to everybody. And he knew everybody's names," he said. "I was very impressed."

Gordon has about an hour until his next appearance, a spot with Johnson, Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick on Live with Regis and Kelly, a program he's co-hosted several times. He fills the gap with breakfast and an in-transit telephone interview with ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning. Chatting with hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic before he goes live, he calls the upcoming 10-race stretch the Chase for the Championship. The exasperated NASCAR rep flips over a sheet of paper and frantically scribbles "Chase for the Nextel Cup," with the next-to-last word underlined, and hands it to the driver. "Hey, I don't have one of those," says Gordon, who won all four of his titles under the Winston banner. "I'd like to."

The radio interview addresses familiar topics: cheating, the forthcoming Chase, and of course future teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. "I think we're going to give him a good car and a good race team, and I'd be surprised if he didn't make the Chase next year," Gordon says as his SUV heads toward the Upper West Side studio where Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa host their mid-morning talk show. Gordon has come to know these streets well. He still has a place in Charlotte, a condo in a high-rise uptown. He used to split time between the two locations. Baby Ella, whose picture adorns the screen of Gordon's cell phone, changed that. For the time being, at least, daddy is New Yorker.

That fact seems to fascinate local writers, many of whom Gordon will meet with later in a print media roundtable. He's become the circuit's voice on all issues pertaining to the city. Why hasn't the sport seemed to catch on here? Why is it so hard to find NASCAR fans? Why does this place need a racetrack? His answers are all cogent. Because New York is an international city with international interests. Because big-city sports fans dominate big cities. And because if New Yorkers are going to go to a race, they need a place to call their own. Pocono, at 97 miles away the nearest Nextel Cup venue to the city, won't do it. (Continued)