NASCAR Cup

Jeff Gordon Talladega Preview

GORDON STREAKS HIS WAY THROUGH THE MODERN ERA AND 1998 TALLADEGA, Ala. Jeff Gordon's fifth-place finish last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway was his 15th-consecutive top-five, tying him with Cale Yarborough for the modern era record.

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

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GORDON STREAKS HIS WAY THROUGH THE MODERN ERA AND 1998

TALLADEGA, Ala. Jeff Gordon's fifth-place finish last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway was his 15th-consecutive top-five, tying him with Cale Yarborough for the modern era record. Yarborough did it twice, the last time was 20 years ago.

Going into this weekend's Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Gordon has a chance to break that record. He also has the opportunity to drive his DuPont Automotive Finishes Chevrolet to a third Winston No Bull 5, $1 million bonus this season.

Another modern era record that Gordon has tied this season is the four-in-a-row win streak that only six other drivers have accomplished between 1976 and 1993. Gordon did this by winning races at Pocono, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen and Michigan in four consecutive weeks.

Gordon also has tied the modern era record for the most wins in three consecutive seasons having won 30 races in three years. Gordon has won 10 races so far this year and has won 10 in each of the last two. That has not been done in over a decade since Darrell Waltrip won 30 races between 1981-1983. Darrell won 12, 12 and six, respectively.

"Everybody always talks about these statistics," said Gordon. "I don't know that I'll really comprehend what it all means until later in life when I can sit back and look at everything we've accomplished."

"For now we're just taking it one race at a time trying to win races, finish consistently in the top five, accumulate points and, ultimately, win championships."

"Winning the No Bull 5 twice this year has been unbelievable. Although the money is great, the fact that we finished ahead of Mark Martin in those races is more important. His team has been so strong this year, and with five races left anything can happen. He gained on us last weekend and if we don't completely focus on what it is we need to accomplish this week and keep doing what we've been doing, then we'll continue to lose to Martin."

Gordon feels good about Talladega and Daytona being the next two stops on the 33-race Winston Cup schedule.

In 11 starts at the 2.66-mile high-banked oval, Gordon has one win, four top-five and five top-10's. In as many starts at Daytona, he has two wins, one pole, six top-five and seven top-10 finishes.

"Everybody wants to know if I'm nervous going into the superspeedway races because of the 'big wreck' that can happen," said Gordon. "Big wrecks happened at Charlotte last weekend. Big wrecks can happen anywhere."

"At Martinsville you're getting hit every lap. If you worried too much about that stuff you wouldn't be able to race hard."

"Daytona and Talladega have been good tracks for us and with the points race being so tight, you want to race at tracks where you run good."

Be it modern era records or modern era millions, Gordon hopes to remain a modern era champion.

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