Loudon might be great place for Gordon to regroup

Jeff Gordon was hot when he arrived at Chicagoland Speedway for last weekend's playoff-opening Sprint Cup race and, hence, a hot pick to win the Chase.

This week, things are considerably cooler for Gordon. And should things go as poorly for him in Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway as they did at Chicagoland, Gordon's hopes for a fifth Cup championship could remain frozen for another season.

"We have to get a little bit better," Gordon, who finished 24th and slipped to 11th in points, said after the race in Joliet, Ill. "We have to qualify better. We can't have days like we had [Monday]. That's for sure."

Gordon had not had too many days like that in 2011. He's won three times this season and has 10 top-five finishes in 27 races. And after a slow first third of the season, he has come on super strong.

Heading to Chicagoland, Gordon had seven top-six finishes in the seven previous races. Included were three consecutive podium finishes with a victory at Atlanta on Sept. 6.

And even at Chicagoland there was good news -- 23rd-place qualifying effort aside. His car was fast; when it was running. It was a torn-up right-front end and, at the finish of the race, an empty fuel tank, that put him in the position he finds himself as he heads into the second of 10 Chase events.

Gordon, who was third in points when the Chase started, has used his Chase mulligan and will pull out onto New Hampshire's flat, tight oval with a plan and a hope.

"Hopefully," he said, "we don't have any issues like [Chicagoland on] Sunday. That is not how we wanted to start the Chase. We battled hard throughout the event, and that's what we're going to do at New Hampshire and the other eight races."

The track in Loudon would seem to be a good place to get things turned back toward the positive for Gordon and his Alan Gustafson-led Hendrick Motorsports team.

Gordon has won three poles and three races at New Hampshire. He has 14 top-fives in 33 starts. His average finish of 11th is third-best (behind Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson) among all drivers who will start Sunday's race.

And his good numbers at NHMS are not from way in the past. In his past five starts there, he has an average finish of 7.6. This past July, he led 19 laps before settling for an 11th-place finish.

"We had a fast car that day [in the July race]," Gordon said, "and I'm really looking forward to going back there this weekend."

New Hampshire isa little more than a mile around. It's banking varies from 2 to 7 degrees in the corners. As opposed to Chicagoland, where higher banks and a bowed backstretch allowed drivers to keep their throttles wide most of the time, brakes and steering wheels will get a workout at New Hampshire.

Perfect, Gordon said.

"I do feel confident whenever we race here, but a lot of that is the car and the setup," he said. "This track has some very unique things that make it challenging, though. It's flat, and there are some bumps getting into the corners. While we ran well here a few months ago; we'll see what we have on Friday when we unload. Hopefully, we'll be just as competitive and battling for the win come Sunday."

But because of a bad day at Chicagoland, Gordon also will be battling for Chase survival come Sunday.

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