Motorsports

Return to road suits J. Gordon

SONOMA, Calif. - Everything was going so smoothly for Jeff Gordon.

Coming off a second-place finish May 7 at Darlington, the four-time NASCAR champ was second in points, trailing only Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, and seemingly cruising toward a spot in the Nextel Cup's Chase for the Championship.

Fast forward five races and Gordon is floundering. After finishing 30th or worse in four of those events, Gordon heads into today's Dodge/Save Mart 350 in 12th place, 406 points behind Johnson.

Only the top 10 in the standings and others within 400 points of the leader after 26 races are eligible for the title over the final 10 races.

That gives Gordon 11 races to get things back in order, and he couldn't be happier that the first is on Infineon Raceway's 1.99-mile, 12-turn road course, where he has had considerable success.

"Yeah, this is definitely a place we enjoy coming to, no matter if we're coming off a win or a horrible day like we had at Michigan," said Gordon, who fought tire problems last Sunday at Michigan and wound up 32nd. "You know, I hate that we've come in here with that kind of pressure, but ... this is a track where we can get some things turned around."

In 12 starts at the picturesque wine country track - about 15 miles from his hometown of Vallejo - Gordon has four victories (a track record) in his past seven starts, including a win from the pole last year. He again starts from the pole today.

There's rarely much doubt who is the favorite to win when the Cup drivers arrive at Infineon each year for one of only two road course races on the schedule.

"Jeff Gordon is a whale of a race car driver, but everybody in the garage knows that car is incredible," said Mark Martin, who starts third today behind Gordon and Johnson. "It drives the teams crazy, but it is what it is."

Gordon pointed out that one small mistake can spoil your day on a road circuit like Infineon.

"The biggest challenge is the downshifting," he said. "You are driving hard into the corners and braking very deep, all while downshifting the car to get it slowed down and into the proper gear."

Johnson, who leads Greg Biffle by 49 points, has virtually identical equipment as Gordon, his teammate and car owner.

"I'm still learning my way around the road courses," said Johnson, whose only top-10 finish in three starts here was fifth last year. "But I couldn't have a better teacher. As I usually do, I watch what Jeff does and try to learn from that. He really is amazing on the road courses."

[Last modified June 26, 2005, 00:35:07]