Jeff Gordon on Bristol: "You have to know when to push, and when not to push." Credit: Autostock

Gordon knows perils, pitfalls of Bristol

ATLANTA -- Jeff Gordon knows that success in Sunday's Food City 500 starts with a simple motto.

"To win this race, you must first finish," he said.

Sounds simple, but on the tight, half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, it's anything but.

It appears Gordon knows the secret. In 24 starts at Bristol, he has visited Victory Lane five times and has 10 top-five and 15 top-10 finishes.

	Credit: Autostock
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He's been an exceptionally good qualifier there, as well -- his average starting position is 4.8. However, Gordon is quick to point out that a good starting spot at Bristol is little more than just a good start.

"A good starting position means a lot here and can make for a better result on Sunday, but it doesn't guarantee anything," said Gordon. "Just surviving 500 laps around here is tough."

Six times in his career, top-10 starts at Bristol have resulted in finishes of 20th or worse. Perhaps the worst was in the spring of 2002, when he slammed the wall racing for the lead with Jimmy Spencer early on.

A day that started on the Bud Pole ended with a 31st-place finish.

"You are constantly weaving in and out of traffic, and the goal is to stay out of trouble and be there at the end," he said.

It might be easy for Gordon to feel a need to push the envelope this weekend. He dropped from fourth to 12th in the Nextel Cup Series standings after a first-lap crash relegated him to a 39th-place finish two weeks ago at Atlanta.

The four-time NASCAR champ begins the weekend's action 216 points behind the leader -- and his teammate -- Jimmie Johnson.

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Gordon himself says the desire to force the issue is something he'll have to guard against Sunday.

"This is a tough place to pass with really only one groove," said Gordon. "You have to know when to push, and when not to push."

Gordon says when not to push is at a time when pushing is all you want to do.

"If you're out front in clean air, you want to maintain that position so you're going to push a little harder to keep it. Once you lose it, then you don't want to push as hard.

"That's when guys start to poke the nose of their car inside of you and you go into 'blocking' mode."

And Gordon says that's when trouble happens.

"I might push the limits and make him work for the position for several laps, but, if he's faster, I'll let him go and I'll try to work back into line.

"Too much blocking can lead to a wreck, and it's difficult to win this race behind the wall with a wrecked race car."