Unless your name is Jeff Gordon, winning the Winston Cup championship in the last six seasons has proven to be more of a career jinx than the start of a legacy.

Don't believe me? Just ask Terry Labonte, Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte. After winning the title and earning the cheers of adoring fans, their careers have taken a pronounced skid downward.

Example 1: After earning his second career title in 1996 (his first was in 1984), Terry Labonte fell into an ignominious spiral that saw him go from first to sixth to ninth to 12th to 17th to 23rd in the succeeding years. He's also been winless in his last 109 starts.

Labonte even admitted earlier this year that there were several times, particularly in the last two seasons, that he questioned whether he still had the drive, desire and, most importantly, the ability to continue racing at the highest level of stock-car competition.

	T. Labonte

Fortunately for him, Texas Terry is on a bit of rebound this season, finding himself in 16th in the standings. But if there were ever a driver who was a prototypical example of how quickly fortunes can turn south, Labonte would be the poster child.

Shortly after he won his second title in 1996, the talk was Labonte, teammate Gordon and team owner Rick Hendrick would form the most dominant triumvirate to ever captivate the sport. While Gordon and Hendrick have kept up their parts, Labonte hasn't, just another example of how parity has made winning one race difficult enough in a season, let alone capturing a championship.

Example 2: Almost no one has worked harder or overcome more obstacles to win a championship than Jarrett. Much of the reason for that was how he fought tooth and nail to break out of the shadow cast from the success of his father, Ned.

When he finally broke through with four victories that propelled him to the crown in 1999, Jarrett appeared poised to become the next dominating driver on the circuit, joining the likes of Gordon and the late Dale Earnhardt, who is tied with retired Richard Petty for most career titles (seven).

Instead, Jarrett has been involved in a freefall of his own. He finished fourth in 2000, one year removed from his title, and then dipped to fifth last season (after jumping out to an early lead in the points, backed by four wins).

	Jarrett

Then came this season, which began with a new crew chief, Jimmy Elledge, who lasted all of six races before he was fired and replaced by his predecessor, Todd Parrott. Jarrett is mired in an abysmal slump, going winless in his last 30 starts. Falling as low as 29th in the standings (he's currently up to a season-high 13th), Jarrett has battled ongoing problems that have hampered the performance of both his car and that of teammate Ricky Rudd, as well as continuing to deny rumors that he'll be leaving Robert Yates Racing at season's end.

Problems and distractions like those take their toll behind the wheel, yet Jarrett continues to muster on. If anything, he's probably working harder today than he did prior to 1999, intent on proving his first title was not a fluke -- nor will it be the only one he'll win in what's left of his career.

Example 3: Bobby Labonte dominated the 2000 season, leading the points for 31 of the season's 34 weeks, joining older brother Terry as the only siblings to ever win the title. And with the further maturing of cohort Tony Stewart, Labonte and his young teammate appeared poised to turn Joe Gibbs Racing into a dominating force during the first few years of the new century.

Instead, Labonte struggled miserably in the first half of 2001, falling as low as 25th in the standings after just the first seven races. An admirable second-half rally helped him climb back upward to an eventual sixth-place finish in the standings.

	B. Labonte

Still, Labonte again finds himself struggling in 2002. After a win at Martinsville, Va., in April, the younger Labonte took an immediate nose dive from 12th to 22nd in the standings three races later, but has climbed back to his current seat -- 18th in the standings.

Even Gordon, who won the championship in 1995, '97, '98 and '01, isn't completely immune from the champion's curse. He struggled to win the title last season, a laborious quest that saw him need nearly a half-dozen races in the waning days of the 2001 campaign before he could finally claim the crown for his own.

And while it may not look that way judging by his third-place ranking in the points, Gordon has still had a rough time of it in the first 13 races of 2002. The defending champ has yet to win a race in 2002, stretching his current winless streak to 21 races, his last triumph coming more than 8½ months ago (at Kansas last September).

That's why it's nothing short of amazing that Gordon has managed to rank as high as he has without taking a checkered flag.

Other drivers have experienced the champion's jinx as well. Bill Elliott (1988) and Rusty Wallace (1989) have gone more than a decade without earning another championship. It was the same with retired driver Bobby Allison, who, despite having 84 career wins (third on NASCAR's all-time list), managed just one crown (in 1983).

Has winning the Winston Cup championship become a jinx upon a driver's career? Gordon would likely say no -- and his performance would back him up.

But if you're the Labontes, Jarrett, Elliott, Wallace or even Allison, you might agree that as hard as it was to win the title, it's even tougher to be competitive after the cheers have died down and you've placed that trophy on your mantle.

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.