Gordon goes for three in a row at Michigan
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
August 16, 2001
5:47 PM EDT (2147 GMT)
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- With 14 races remaining in the NASCAR Winston Cup season, there is plenty of time for the title to be won or lost. But with a track record that holds three previous championships, Jeff Gordon rates a heavy favorite’s role heading into Sunday’s Pepsi 400 presented by Meijer at Michigan International Speedway.
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Two races ago, Dale Jarrett and Jeff Gordon were tied for the points lead.
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When the 43-car field comes to the line on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, TNT; 1:30 p.m., MRN Radio), the 200-lap, 400-mile test will go a lot farther towards separating the pretenders from the contenders.
Gordon was never a factor in this race on the two-mile oval a year ago, but he won here in June and in August 1998.
The 1995, 1997 and 1998 NWCS champion is undefeated in two races since he celebrated his 30th birthday the day before the Aug. 5 Brickyard 400, so a third straight at MIS, where he has only two career victories but 10 top-three finishes in 17 starts, isn’t out of the question.
“I think we've got a great shot this weekend -- our confidence level is sky high and we've built up a lot of momentum,” Gordon said.
The Chevrolet Gordon is bringing to MIS is one of the team’s best cars. It has been to Victory Lane in its last two races (Michigan and Indianapolis) and, in six races this season, it has finished outside the top five only once, because of a pit road incident at Charlotte in a race that it had dominated up to that point.
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Jeff Gordon has become a regular fixture in Victory Lane.
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"We've been able to hit the right setups with this car and it has paid off with a bunch of top-fives and a couple wins," Gordon said. "Hopefully we haven't used up all that good fortune."
Robert Yates Racing teammates Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd might have something to say about that, if they have any hope of staying in the title hunt. With varying degrees of ill fortune over the last three weeks, Rudd and Jarrett have fallen 194 and 265 points, respectively, behind Gordon in the standings.
“Gordon is so good right now that we are going to have to be flawless from here on out and hope for a little luck,” said Rudd, who finished second to Gordon in June at Michigan. “We almost won here in June but Gordon was able to get the win on the last lap. I'm ready for some close competition this weekend, but I have confidence in our team.”
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Dale Jarrett has dropped to third in points, behind Gordon and teammate Ricky Rudd.
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Jarrett, the 1999 Winston Cup champion, is in a position that is even more dire than his teammate's. At both Pocono and Watkins Glen, Jarrett’s No. 88 UPS Ford crashed twice and sank from a tie with Gordon to his current deficit. Only the blessed presence of gravel traps rather than concrete or steel outside WGI’s Turn 1 kept him from falling even further behind.
Jarrett’s first Winston Cup win -- the first of three at MIS -- came in 1991. He and Rudd also have the extra incentive of gaining team owner Yates’ 50th Winston Cup victory.
The 45 entered teams will have two hours of practice Friday, starting at 11:05 a.m. ET, to prepare for Bud Pole Qualifying. The two-lap qualifying session is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. and will determine whether Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chevrolet can defend its record pole performance of 2000. Junior’s lap was 37.667 seconds, an average speed of 191.149 mph.
"We were .006 seconds behind Gordon for the pole in June," Rudd said. "I feel like the Texaco car can sit on the pole any given weekend with the right conditions, and I'm looking forward to trying to sit on the pole Friday."
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Ricky Rudd is second in points, 194 behind Gordon.
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Final race preparations will be made in a pair of 45-minute practice sessions on Saturday.
“It's nice knowing that as a driver you can help yourself out and you're not relying so much on the car,” said Tony Stewart, whose hot streak was blunted by a 26th-place effort at Watkins Glen that dropped him to fifth in the standings. “Regardless of what everyone else is doing, you can find a way to help yourself out. It makes you feel good knowing that because the place is so wide, you can move around and basically, earn your money that day."
Stewart’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, defending Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte, is the race record-holder at MIS. He set the mark of 157.739 mph in 1995 while driving for Bill Davis.
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Rusty Wallace, coming off a last-place finish at Watkins Glen last weekend, is the defending race champion.
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““The win last August at MIS definitely wasn’t one of those ‘I deals,’ because it was a total team effort there that day,” said Rusty Wallace, speaking for all the competitors who have been reduced to strictly hunting race wins, with their title hopes all but evaporated in the ugly smoke of DNFs or inconsistency.
“We had a great car, the engine was super, the pit stops were lightning-fast all day. It was just a total package deal. We dominated and had the best car for most of the day and it came home taking the checkered flag.”
Wallace’s second engine-related DNF in the last four races, which relegated him to last-place finishes at New Hampshire and WGI, have reduced the Penske Racing driver to ninth in points, 521 out of first. He was the dominant race-winner at Michigan a year ago, however, in his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford and has five victories here.
Rudd summed up the feeling of the contenders.
"We've been close the past two races at Michigan,” he said. “Maybe this time we can close the deal."
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