NASCAR Cup

Jeff Gordon preview

Bristol 500

Edited: Jun 1, 2018, 12:48 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

BRISTOL TO PROVIDE A MAXIMUM MOMENT FOR GORDON?

Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 15, 2011) - "Bristol Motor Speedway? It's the ultimate."

Five-time Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) winner Jeff Gordon believes the 0.533- mile high-banked track provides the 'ultimate' experience, whether you are sitting inside the No. 24 Chevrolet or sitting on the edge of one of the 160,000 grandstand seats during Sunday's Jeff Byrd 500.

"Bristol is the ultimate, and (the late) Jeff (Byrd) did an amazing job making sure it's a great facility for the fans and drivers," said Gordon, who will drive a specially painted No. 24 Pepsi MAX Impala during a weekend when Pepsi also launches a

'Maximum Moments' promotion. "To have racing here for 50 years is quite an accomplishment. To me, it's not just about 50 years of racing, though, it's about putting on a great event and having some of the best racing we've ever had for such a long period of time.

"When I was running in the Nationwide Series, I'd go up in the spotters' stand and watch Ernie Irvan, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip and Davey Allison out there battling during the night Cup races. What a cool experience that was for me as a race car driver watching the racing as a fan.

"While I don't get to do that anymore, Bristol is still definitely the ultimate fan experience. And, the ultimate driver experience, too."

The 83-time winner, who won earlier this year at Phoenix but was also involved in accidents at Daytona and Las Vegas, has five poles, 14 top-fives and 20 top-10's in 36 starts at the Tennessee track. But much of his success at BMS occurred before a track reconfiguration in 2007, and Gordon and the No. 24 team are looking to change that trend.

"A lot of our success was on the 'old' Bristol," said Gordon, who is 19th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. "Even though the changes made to the track a few years back were slight, we haven't had the same type of strong runs we were used to since the change.

"I learn as a driver each time I race here and we learn as an organization each time, as well. After talking with (new crew chief) Alan Gustafson and the team about Bristol, I'm hoping we can make more gains this weekend and contend for the win." Ending this weekend in Victory Lane would provide the No. 24 team with their own 'maximum moment.'

-source: pprp

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

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Denny Hamlin preview

Next article Travis Kvapil preview

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

2 h

Yamaha may not be competitive immediately in MotoGP's 850cc era, says Pramac

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

Formula 1

With rallying back in the spotlight, it could probably teach F1 a thing or two

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

MotoGP

Qatar GP

You Ask The Questions: Jack Miller

Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

6 h

Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario

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