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GORDON SEARCHING FOR
FIRST 10 IN '10 |
DOVER, Del. (May 11, 2010) -
Although he has
10 more bonus points for laps led compared to the competition following last
Saturday night's race at Darlington Raceway, Jeff Gordon heads to Dover
International Speedway this weekend for the Autism Speaks 400 presented by
Hershey's Milk and Milkshakes still searching for his first 10 in '10 for wins.
In the first 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events of
2010, the driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet has led nine events for a total
of 709 laps. To put that in perspective, Gordon led his 709th lap of the 2009
season at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In October.
While Gordon's 60 bonus points for laps led this season
is 10 more than his nearest competitor, he is still searching for his first win
of the 2010 campaign - and the 10 bonus points that are awarded for each win
provided he makes the "Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup."
"We were leading the point standings at this time last
year, but we're a much better team this year," said Gordon, who is currently
fourth in the standings and 147 behind the leader. "We're leading more laps and
we're dominating races. It seems we have had a shot to battle for the victory at
each and every event this year.
"There are times when I might make a mistake, or the
pit crew might make a mistake, or (crew chief) Steve (Letarte) might make the
wrong call. We are all in this together and we have time to work on those
details."
In 34 starts at Dover, Gordon has four victories, four
poles, 14 top-fives and 21 top-10 finishes. He leads all active drivers with
2,230 laps led at the one-mile track. If Gordon leads at least 119 laps on
Sunday - something he has done on six occasions here, he will surpass his total
for 36 races in 2009.
"This is a very fast, very high-banked track that is a
'hold on tight, white-knuckle' experience," said Gordon, who will visit DuPont
headquarters in nearby Wilmington on Thursday. "The transitions are extreme, but
the track has tons of grip and a lot of speed.
"I think this is one of the more exciting tracks on the
circuit - for the drivers and the fans. I love it because it has big,
high-banked corners where you can run high, in the middle or low.
"As a driver, we really feel the sensation of speed
that our cars are capable of more here than any other track we go to. There are
a lot of different lanes to race on, and every lap you're on the 'edge.'
"But there is a fine line here between pushing the car
hard, and pushing it too far."
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