Bleacher Report by Kelly Crandall 8/18/2008

Ah yes, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

From Ryan Newman in the Daytona 500 to Tony Stewart following his teammate, Kyle Busch, across the start finish line at Watkins Glen. There have been repeat winners and last lap losers. Oh, how there's been plenty of losers. Drivers who have been waiting, some longer than others, for their moment in the sun.

Much has been made of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s long return to victory lane at Michigan in June, after watching others celebrate for two years. Now the attention has turned to Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart who find themselves without a victory through the first twenty-three races of 2008.

For Gordon it's been twenty-eight races, Lowe's last October, since he's seen the checkered flag first. The only thing he's seen this year is a lot of cars in his windshield.

"The first thing that happened was we just had a bad pit stop that put us back there, and we shouldn't have been back there to begin with. We finally had a great car. It's pretty disappointing that got us back there to begin with."

A year ago Gordon dominated the Cup circuit but it appears that this season he and crew chief Steve Letarte are just not clicking as they used to.

Which is why many have looked to Tony Stewart who has been running slightly better than Gordon, and just like Gordon a little thing called luck, has not called his name. He finished second at both the Pocono and Watkins Glen races.

Stewart may sit sixth in points but many are asking if his lack of wins could be from lack of focus. He announced he was departing from Joe Gibbs Racing and has divided his time between racing for the championship and building Stewart-Haas Racing.

At first we all said, "Wait until the summer months because when it heats up so will Stewart." The summer is here but the wins are not, or at least not yet. There's no doubt that Big Orange is getting closer.

Only I feel it's necessary to look at some other big names in the field who are win less in 2008, and there's a couple who have been waiting for about five years.

Let's break it down:

Robby Gordon is one of the best road course racers in NASCAR and is considered amongst the favorites when racing at Sonoma and Watkins Glen. With the Cup Series recent visit to the Glen it marked the five year anniversary of Gordon's last win.

It was 2003 when he swept both road course races. Since then Gordon has been swept into the background.

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Another driver that's in the background, despite his TV personality, is Michael Waltrip. In 2003 Waltrip won his second Daytona 500 and the second Talladega race. Since that time he's become an owner/driver and has struggled to make races and compete for wins.

Tony Stewart fans are hoping the same doesn't happen to him in 2009.

The 2003 Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway not only marked Bill Elliott's last ride in the No. 9 dodge, it was also the site of Bobby Labonte's last win.

Ironically Labonte, then driving the number 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, passed Elliott on the final lap when Elliott cut a right rear tire.

Labonte now drives for Petty Enterprises and recently signed a contract extension. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't mind seeing Labonte or the King back in victory lane.

Let's move on to another Elliott, Elliott Sadler said that this weekend he's celebrating his two year anniversary of his driving for Gillett Evernham Motorsports. He would like to celebrate the snapping of his four year win less streak. His last win coming in the 2004 September California event.

If there was a list of drivers that fans wouldn't mind seeing in victory lane it might be Mark "the kid" Martin, as Kenny Wallace calls him. Martin's last visit to victory lane came during his retirement tour in 2005 in the Banquet 400 at the Kansas Speedway.

Martin didn't retire and currently drives for DEI, and badly wants to win a race for them. Just as Earnhardt Jr. did before him, Martin will leave the company for Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the year.

Here's where we're going to switch it up and play musical chairs.

Everyone is talking about the dominance of Kyle Busch and Toyota but there's another Toyota driver that's making some noise, Brian Vickers. Vickers had announced early in 2006 that he was departing from Hendrick Motorsports but before leaving he desperately wanted to win for the No. 25 team which was so important to his friend Ricky Hendrick.

He finally was able to pull the No. 25 into victory lane at Talladega but it didn't come without controversy as he spun teammate Jimmie Johnson and leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. Vickers has since joined Red Bull Racing and has starting knocking on the door for his second career victory. It's almost a matter of time before he busts through.

As for the driver that replaced Vickers at Hendrick Motorsports, Casey Mears, he was able to bring the Mears name back to victory lane on Memorial Day Weekend during last seasons Coca-Cola 600. Now Mears isn't only searching for his second career win, he's also searching for a job.

The Mears era is ending and Mark Martin's is getting ready to begin.

But what about the others who are searching for their first win in over a year?

Kevin Harvick brought Richard Childress back to victory lane at Daytona in last year's 500. Harvick fans and myself thought this would lead to a couple wins and a title contending year, instead Happy's win-less clock had struck 59 races.

The second race of the year and the last race were won by Mr. Consistency, Matt Kenseth. This year it seems that Kenseth along with his teammates not named Carl Edwards, are running consistent but not enough to catapult them to victory.

However, this weekend at Michigan all five Roush Fenway cars finished in the top ten. And oh yeah, a man named Carl Edwards won the race.

Which brings us to two drivers who have won last year that have yet to pick up a "W" this season. Anybody know who? You have until the next paragraph to figure it out.

Martin Truex Jr. is from New Jersey which makes Dover International Speedway his home track. So, with teammate Earnhardt Jr.'s pending departure, Truex Jr. knew he was soon going to be the main man at DEI.

On Jun. 4 at Dover he showed he was ready for the job a he led the most laps and won the Autism Speaks 400.

Truex has recently resigned with DEI and his fans hope that with that distraction behind him, victory is not far ahead.

And so, we're down to one, or should I pronounce that Juan?

He's NASCAR's international star and has no problem mixing it up with the best. When he won at Sonoma a year ago it wasn't all the surprising considering it was a road course race. But it does seem surprising that he didn't win Watkins Glen or even come close to competing this year.

Montoya is one of the sixteen men looking for the black and white flag as they come out of turn four.

The race for the Chase may be taking center stage but for NASCAR's biggest stars the race to capturing their first checkered flag is just as important.

And we haven't even begun to discuss the drivers searching for their first career victories in 2008...