Gordon aiming to check another track off the list

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Texas Motor Speedway has been an unkind place to Jeff Gordon. It was in the fall here two years ago that Jimmie Johnson overtook him for the points lead, and eventually the championship. It was here last spring that Gordon crashed and finished last for just the second time in his otherwise illustrious career.

The 1.5-mile track is one of only two active Sprint Cup facilities -- Homestead-Miami Speedway being the other -- where the four-time series champion has never won, a fact he's reminded about each time he visits Fort Worth.

"I know this is a track that we definitely have been hit or miss," said Gordon, whose best finish at Texas is second. "I want to win here bad. This team deserves to win here. They put ourselves in position to win here a couple of times and just haven't had all the things that you need to have happen at the end of the race go our way. I really think we can win this thing this weekend. Our 1.5-mile program has really improved, and I'm excited about getting into our race setups and runs, because I think we got something that can work very well here."

The events of this weekend have shown that Gordon and his No. 24 team are indeed capable of checking another track off the list. He finished 11th in Saturday's final Sprint Cup practice, backing up his second-place qualifying attempt from the day before. Gordon made 41 laps around Texas during practice Saturday, his quickest at 181.665 mph. Johnson and Denny Hamlin tied for the top speed in the session, both posting top laps of 183.717. Thirty-three drivers recorded their fastest practice laps in their first circuit around the track Saturday.

Gordon is coming off one of his better Texas runs, winning the pole and finishing second behind Carl Edwards this past fall. It's all given him hope that the breakthrough will come eventually.

"It was great to get the pole last season here in the fall and finish second, but we really focus on this track knowing that we need to run better," he said. "Track position is key here, and we got the track position and weren't really able to maintain it. We just weren't good enough in the race. You know, obviously we [wanted] to qualify good again ... but we're really focused on the race and the race setup. As well as things have gone with our 1.5-mile program this year, I think we have a good shot at being much better."

Elsewhere in final practice:

• Kurt Busch, who dominated the last Sprint Cup event on a 1.5-mile tri-oval, at Atlanta on March 8, continued to struggle. After qualifying 28th, Busch was 24th in final practice Saturday. "We've got a tight race car getting in and a loose race car coming off the corners," he said. "So we've got our work cut out for us [Saturday night]."

• Can Bobby Labonte contend Sunday? He qualified 24th, and posted the 12th-fastest speed in final practice Saturday. The Corpus Christi, Texas, native also finished fifth at another 1.5-mile track, Las Vegas. "I think we've got a good package for the bigger tracks right now," Labonte said.

• Carl Edwards, who swept the two races at Texas last year, posted the eighth-fastest speed of final practice. Other notable past Texas winners included Jeff Burton (sixth), Mark Martin (10th), and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (20th).