BROOKLYN, Mich. -- If Jeff Gordon is to win Sunday's LifeLock 400, he'll have to follow the same game plan as four other drivers this season, including Tony Stewart last weekend at Pocono.

“

We saw what a great job Tony Stewart did last week, coming from the back. It's the same thing for us. We know we can do it.

”

JEFF GORDON

During Friday's practice, the oil pump belt came off Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet. The resulting damage to the engine forced the team to switch powerplants before qualifying.

Gordon qualified 27th of the 44 cars entered, with a fast lap of 186.229 mph., but said the backup engine "felt great" during his run. Still, the end result is that Gordon will have to drop to the tail-end of the field when the green flag drops.

"Obviously, we've had a struggle here [Friday]," Gordon said. "We were getting the car better and then had a problem with the oil pump belt and the engine failure. So we know it's going to be a tough day for us. We know we're going to start in the back. And if there's any track where you can start at the back and work your way up through there, it's Michigan."

If there's small consolation, Gordon said Michigan International Speedway is one of those places where passing is not at a premium.

"Michigan's big and wide and there's plenty of room to race out there, so I don't feel that's going to be an issue," Gordon said. "We're going to try and make some adjustments here and still try to get the best qualifying lap that we can for pit location and see what we've got with the car."

For Gordon, this is a bit of deja vu. Two weeks ago at Dover, he went to a backup car after crashing during qualifying and finished 26th. He made up for his only other poor starting position of the season when he went from 28th to sixth at Las Vegas.

Worst-to-first hasn't been as hard as one might expect this season. Matt Kenseth (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Las Vegas), Brad Keselowski (Talladega) and Stewart (Pocono) have accomplished the feat in 2009, with Stewart saying his team put together a perfect effort to win last weekend. That's the mind-set Gordon is taking into Sunday's race.

"We saw what a great job Tony Stewart did last week, coming from the back," Gordon said. "It's the same thing for us. We know we can do it. We've got the car and the team that can do it. And we've just got to make good decisions all day long."

If anything, perhaps starting from the back may change Gordon's recent luck at Michigan. He started from the pole and wound up 27th in the 2007 fall race, went from eighth to 18th last spring and crashed just after the midway point and was credited with a 42nd-place finish after starting fifth last August.