Jeff Gordon, left, and crew chief Robbie Loomis have questions to answer. Credit: Autostock

Gordon gains at MIS; concerns over car linger

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Jeff Gordon used "a 30th-place car" Sunday at Michigan International Speedway to gain more ground in his quest to make the second annual Chase for the Nextel Cup.

But despite his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet's 15th-place finish in the mileage derby that the GFS Marketplace 400 became, and moving from 13th to 12th in the points, Gordon expressed great concern over his car's performance.

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"It was not a good day for us, performance-wise," Gordon said. "We've got a lot of work to do before we go to California, because we can't run like that.

"That part of it was disappointing, but you've got to play the game -- and we played the fuel mileage game and it paid off for us."

The field for the 10-race Chase will be determined in three more races. Gordon came to Michigan 67 points out of the 10th-position cutoff for qualifying for the Chase -- and left 58 points behind 10th place Jamie McMurray.

"It wasn't pretty, but it was a good points day for us," Gordon said. "I'm not exactly sure what it did for us in the points, but I know that [we gained]."

Far from complaining about the fuel mileage aspect of the race, Gordon -- who before the end game started playing out in the last 20 laps was as low as 30th in the standings -- was exceedingly thankful to finish 15th with a car that he said deserved less.

"Heck no -- I think we had a 30th-place car, so I'm actually pretty happy right now," Gordon said when asked if he thought his car was worthy of 15th. "I'm not happy with the way we ran all day, but I'm pretty happy with the way we finished because it seems like it's the first time in a long time that something's actually gone our way."

Gordon referred to a stretch in which he finished 30th or worse in six of eight races, knocking him to his team's low point this season -- 15th in the standings and 126 points out of 10th.

Gordon, who has only led two laps in his past five races, picked up the 15th spot on the last lap and said there was no way of telling how important three more points might be in three more races.

"Well, it could be [critical] -- you never know, and so you've got to get everything you can get," Gordon said of his late-race duel with Bobby Labonte. "I was running around at half-throttle [to save fuel].

	Jeff Gordon hasn't been happy with his car's performance. Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Jeff Gordon's career stats at the three tracks before the Chase Track No. W T-5 T-10 Bristol 25 5 10 15 California 10 3 5 5 Richmond 25 2 10 16 2005 Totals 23 3 5 8

"It's just funny because me and Bobby were riding around there, saving fuel and I was drafting off of him and he wanted to let me go one time and I was like, 'No, no -- I'll stay right here.'

"There at the end when I saw the white flag, I got inside of him and raced him off Turn 4 and beat him to the line (laughing)."

It was a minimal highlight in Gordon's long day.

"We were so, so tight the whole time -- even in practice on Friday we were really tight," Gordon said. "We kept freeing it up [in the race] and freeing it up and then there at the end, we were so loose that I couldn't even drive it.

"That's the thing with the cars these days, it's just so hard to get it right, and we're not getting it right, you know, on these types of tracks and we've got to figure out what we're doing wrong."

Gordon qualified second Saturday, but was unsure of how good of a car he'd have in the race.

When the show was over, he knew more work was at hand, and he only wished he knew which direction to turn.

"It was horrible -- it's embarrassing, you know?" Gordon said. "And I don't know what we've got to do. We've got to find something because we've tried everything, and it's not working."

Gordon said he was pleased with the performance of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, including a ninth by Brian Vickers and 10th by Jimmie Johnson, who clinched his spot in the Chase if he starts each of the next three races.

He even praised rookie Kyle Busch, who led 28 laps before his car's engine blew up.

"Kyle Busch was really good, so we've got to figure out what I'm doing wrong -- what we're doing wrong as a team," Gordon said. "We got fortunate on qualifying day but it certainly didn't pay off for us in the race [and] we've got to be better than that.

"My big concern is California. That's going to be an important race and very similar type of racetrack and we need to be better than we were here."

Gordon found himself somewhat bemused at the fact that his team had tested at Michigan. Gordon also has tested at Bristol and plans to test at Richmond, the final race before the cutoff.

"When we found ourselves struggling outside the top 10 the way we were, we came here and tested," Gordon said. "There's definitely been a heavy load put on the guys to make the Chase, and know that it's not only to make the Chase but it's trying to figure out where we're off and how we need to get better.

"I think the performance of our cars has definitely gotten better over the last month [and] I'm definitely happy about that."

But Michigan proved there's still ground to cover, and Gordon said his team had not used any two-day tests, so it still had some days in reserve.

"We are very serious about it," Gordon said. "We just need some good things to go our way."