NASCAR Cup
Richmond: Jeff Gordon preview
At Richmond, Gordon need not start first to finish first. RICHMOND, Va. - Jeff Gordon may want to think twice before attempting to win the pole position for Saturday night's Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Gordon, ...
Published: Apr 30, 2003, 5:05 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
At Richmond, Gordon need not start first to finish first.
RICHMOND, Va. - Jeff Gordon may want to think twice before attempting to win the pole position for Saturday night's Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, has four career poles at Richmond. His best finish in those four races: 31st.
However, the last two times Gordon has won the pole for a NASCAR Winston Cup race he won the event. Both occurred at the series' other short tracks, Bristol (August 2002) and Martinsville (April 2003).
"Even knowing that, I'd still rather start first here," Gordon said. "Qualifying is one of the areas where we've improved this year. This team has made an effort to qualify better and I believe that translates into a better finishing position.
"Winning the pole has several advantages, one being the first choice of pit stalls. It may not be as important as Martinsville, but it's still an advantage to qualify well and choose one of the better pit stalls.
"Another advantage is traffic. If you have a good-handling car, it's still tough to pass when both grooves are working. It can take several laps of side-by-side racing before you gain the position.
"The side-by-side racing is why the fans love the racing here. That's why the drivers enjoy it, too."
Along with his four pole positions, Gordon has two wins (1996 and 2000), nine top-five's and 13 top-10's in 20 career starts at the 0.750-mile short track. He enters this Saturday night's event third in points, 152 behind leader Matt Kenseth and feeling fortunate to finish 11th in last Sunday's event at California Speedway.
"California was a tough race for this DuPont team," said Gordon. "We struggled throughout the weekend but almost came home with a top 10. We weren't good on new tires and we lost a lot of time at the start of each run, but we battled through it and came home with an 11th-place finish.
"As I told the crew after the race, a championship team makes the most out of the tough days."
-pprplus-
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 Richmond: Gary Densham preview
Next article Ricky Rudd, Len and Eddie Wood press conference, part I
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jeff Gordon
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
The wildest fights in modern NASCAR Cup history
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Bristol II
The wildest fights in modern NASCAR Cup history
Jeff Gordon can relate to Denny Hamlin's Kansas disappointment
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Kansas II
Jeff Gordon can relate to Denny Hamlin's Kansas disappointment
Latest news
Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
4 h
Spire, Chris Gabehart reject Joe Gibbs Racing premise on deleted texts
Ricky Stenhouse explains his side of Michael McDowell conflict
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
8 h
Ricky Stenhouse explains his side of Michael McDowell conflict
Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 9 h
Barnes: Why IndyCar’s updated licensing system fails its own integrity test
Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
10 h
Why NASCAR is not penalizing Stenhouse, McDowell for post-race theatrics
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