NASCAR Cup
Gordon grabs 50th career pole
Hendrick horsepower conquered the DEI powerplants, earning Jeff Gordon the pole for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. This is Gordon's 50th career pole, and fourth this season. Jeff Gordon. Photo by Kurt Dahlstrom. "I ...
Published: Jul 3, 2004, 2:51 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Hendrick horsepower conquered the DEI powerplants, earning Jeff Gordon the pole for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. This is Gordon's 50th career pole, and fourth this season.
Jeff Gordon.
Photo by Kurt Dahlstrom.
"I think it says a lot," said Gordon of the No. 24 Chevy. "If you look at our other poles on the year, they were on short tracks. We really have our cars handling well and we have tremendous power under the hood."
Gordon's lap of 188.659 mph just beat Michael Waltrip's lap of 188.620 mph, dropping Waltrip into the outside pole position.
"Plate races anybody can get it done," Gordon continued. "In February we were embarrassed. The 8 and the 15 could do anything they wanted to. We don't take to that very kindly. I think we've caught up, but I don't think we are there all the way. Talladega is a very different race track than Daytona. You have to run wide open and just not have the power and the speed."
"I would love to have a showdown with Jr. and the DEI cars."
This is Gordon's third consecutive pole this year, and shows a rally by the No. 24 Chevy team as they charge for their fifth championship.
"You always want momentum on your side," Gordon explained. "If we are going to be battling for the championship we can't have bad races."
Ford made their mark on the 2.5-mile super-speedway this weekend, with Ricky Rudd and Dale Jarrett grabbing third and fourth.
"I am really pleased," said Rudd. "This is the car that qualified on the pole at Talladega. I am real happy with it."
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. completes the top five.
Points leader Jimmie Johnson had a disappointing run, considering teammate Gordon landed the pole, as Johnson's No. 48 Chevy was only 20th quickest.
Forty-nine cars attempted to qualify for the forty-three car field, failing to make the show were Chad Blount, Tony Raines, Derrike Cope, Eric McClure, Kenny Wallace and Morgan Shepard.
The No. 38 Yates Ford of Elliott Sadler failed post race inspection for having both rear quarter panels too low. His 9th place time was disallowed; he will take the green flag from the 39th spot.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Daytona II: Ford - Ricky Rudd interview
Next article Daytona II: Dodge teams qualifying quotes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Dale Jarrett
Elliott, Busch clash would turn “ugly” in normal times – Jarrett
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Darlington II
Elliott, Busch clash would turn “ugly” in normal times – Jarrett
Jarrett slams “consequences” of Talladega manufacturer orders
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
Jarrett slams “consequences” of Talladega manufacturer orders
Robert Yates reflects on Hall of Fame career with posthumous speech
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Robert Yates reflects on Hall of Fame career with posthumous speech
Latest news
The 10 key moments that defined Sergio Perez's F1 career
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
39 min
The 10 key moments that defined Sergio Perez's F1 career
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?
Cadillac 'honoured' to have Sergio Perez as special 300th race celebration planned for Mexico GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
2 h
Cadillac 'honoured' to have Sergio Perez as special 300th race celebration planned for Mexico GP
Porsche wants 2030 unified rules framework by Christmas before Le Mans decision
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 2 h
Porsche wants 2030 unified rules framework by Christmas before Le Mans decision
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe