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PREVIEWS
Dale Earnhardt described racing at Dover as "an afternoon of running of
sidewalks." The concrete surface at Dover is better than the surface at
Bristol but it's still not asphalt. Ricky Rudd is the defending champion of
the spring Dover race as he won last year after Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon,
and Ernie Irvan were involved in late race accidents. Historically, Dover
has been one of Jeff Gordon's favorite tracks. Located a few miles south of
DuPont Corporate Headquarters (and the University of Delaware. Go Blue
Hens!), Dover has been the scene of some of Jeff's most memorable races.
His win in the Spetember 1995 race all but locked up the 1995 Winston Cup title.
On June 6th, the Winston Cup series will head to Paul Sawyer's Richmond
International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. This race was previously run
in March but was moved to June this season. Rusty Wallace is the defending
champion of the event. In last year's race, Jeff Gordon finished 4th, one
lap down.
Michigan is one of the few tracks on the NASCAR circuit that Jeff Gordon has
not won on. He's usually run well at the 2 mile track in Brooklyn, Michigan
but hasn't visited victory lane. He finished second last year at Michigan
and will seek his first victory on the track in mid-June.
MARKETPLACE
-For officially licensed Jeff Gordon merchandise, visit
http://www.jeffgordonfanclub.com and click on the online store.
WEB SITE UPDATES
-The new site has been completed. Visit www.gordonline.com to check it out.
Let me know what you think of it.
-Coming soon is a "behind the scenes" all-access-pass that will take you
into the garage area with the DuPont team.
Copyright 1998. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a
violation of applicable copyright laws. Source of information is listed
after the story.
'News and Views'
http://www.gordonline.com
Vol. II Number V
IN THIS ISSUE
-Racing Headlines recap California, The Winston, and Charlotte
-Sears Point testing
-Dover, Richmond, and Michigan preview
-Marketplace
-Web Site Updates
RACING HEADLINES:
California Report
Jeff arrived on Wednesday in Southern California in order to be inducted
into California Speedway's Motorwalk of Fame on Thursday morning. Each
winner of the California race will be inducted in subsequent years. In
morning practice on Friday, Gordon was among the fastest cars and drew #4
for qualifying. He made his qualifying run at 1:00 before the track heated
up in the afternoon. The result was his first pole position since May 1997.
The pole guaranteed him a spot in the 1999 Bud Shootout in Feburary at
Daytona.
Jeff's Post-Qualifying Comments:
"California has been good to me and California Speedway has been good to
me. It's great to win the pole here. The guys in the shop did an awesome
job putting this car together. We tuned on it and it got a little faster
every time we took it out. I ran a good lap. The car did everything I wanted
it to do. I was able to get into the corners deep and let it roll through
the corners. The car stuck to the track, but when I saw my time I thought,
'Oh, man, I don't know.' It seems the track slowed down, but we were able to
hold on. It might have gotten warmer and track temperature usually has a lot
to do with it. But otherwise, a lot of guys couldn't understand why the
track slowed down. I'm not really sure why it did myself. But fortunately
for us, it slowed down for everyone." (ESPN2)
On Friday evening, Jeff attended 'NASCAR's Night In Hollywood' staged as a
golden celebration of NASCAR's 50th Anniversary season. He won the NASCAR
Future Legend Award that was voted on by the fans.
Jeff started the California 500 on the pole and led most of the early laps
before the handling started going away on the DuPont Chevrolet. He stayed
in the top 5 all day until a late pit stop put him back in 13th place.
However, he was able to work his way through race traffic to finish a strong
4th and move up to 3rd in the points standings just 47 behind leader Jeremy
Mayfield.
JG's PostRace Comments:
"I feel like we've got the best Chevrolet out there, but I don't know if that's
enough." Talking about the downforce advantage of the Ford Taurus, he said,
"You get Mark Martin and Rusty and Jeremy in cars like that and they're
going to run over you all day long. That's pretty much what they did. All I
can do is keep driving and keep working hard and not worry about it."
Despite the top 5 finish, Jeff expressed his displeasure over how the 1998
season has gone thus far. ""We're happy to have a couple of top fives, but
we're certainly not
seeing the performance we need to see if we're going to win a championship.
We'll keep working on it and see if we can do something about
these Fords. We are racing for a championship."
(charlotte.com)
Sears Point testing
After the California race, Jeff headed up the California coast to Sonoma for
a test session at the Sears Point road course. In an interview before the
season, Jeff was asked what track he'd really like to win on this year.
Without hesitating, he said Sears Point. He lived in Vallejo, California,
which is about 10 miles from the track, until he was 14 and still has a lot
of friends in the area. It wouldn't be like winning at the Brickyard, but it
would still be a great 'hometown' victory if Jeff can win at Sears Point on
June 28.
(thatsracin.com)
Winston Select
After a week off, the Winston Cup series returned to the track for the
non-points Winston Select. Jeff drove an alternate paint scheme during this
race to highlight DuPont's ChromaLusion paint. Jeff qualfied 4th and came
out strong winning segment one of the all-star event. After finishing
second in segment two, Jeff came in for a 2 tire stop. In the final ten lap
segment, Jeff led wire to... well, almost wire to wire. After taking the
white flag, the engine began sputtering as the fuel pressure dropped to
zero. After failing to fuel the car on the final stop, it ran out of gas
one lap from the end. Mark Martin sped past to take the exhibition race win
while JG finished 12th in the final run down. Team members, led by crew
chief Ray Evernham, raised the car's hood in the garage and began pulling
parts off the engine, looking for a culprit. It was simply an empty tank.
The car that Jeff used for the Winston was 'Blacker'; the most successful
car in the stable over the years. Though technologically out of date, the
car was strong and handled superbly in the turns. The end of the Winston
was a disappointment; but the only thing lost is prize money.
After the race, JG graciously answered reporters' questions outside of his
hauler at the track.
--POSTRACE COMMENTS--
Jeff Gordon: "I know one thing, we had an awesome race car. I knew if we
could get out and get some clean air we would be OK. Unfortunately, on the
white flag lap, the thing started sputtering and there wasn't anything I
could do. It acted like it ran out of gas. I'm praying it was a broken fuel
pump because I would much rather something break than for us to make a
mistake. It's unfortunate."
Ray Evernham: "I'm not convinced it was out of fuel. But we've got to find
out what happened. It has all the indications it ran out of gas, but if it did,
we ran out 14 laps (21 miles) short of where we ran last year. That doesn't
sound right. That's a pretty big miss. It could be something plugged up in
the fuel filter or fuel line. It could be lots of different things. But
we've worked hard on our fuel mileage, and to miss our fuel window like
that... well."
(CNNsi.com/Brian Holly)
Coca Cola 600
Qualifying Report:
For the fifth consecutive season, Jeff claimed the pole position for the
Coca Cola 600. He was the 43rd of 51 cars to go out on the track and the
late draw helped him pick up the speed to better Ward Burton's lap.
Post-Qualifying Comments:
"I'm in shock," Gordon said after his run at 182.976 mph. "But, maybe we
had a little fire in us after last Saturday night. That was a big letdown
for us. It's nice to get that out of the way and now have a shot at this
one. Anything to get our minds and get everybody else off the subject of
gasoline would be good." Talking about the gasoline jokes, he said, "It's
hard for me to say they're jokes, because I haven't been able to laugh at
any of them. I went to the parade (Tuesday) night, and there were a lot of
people holding gas cans. Ray isn't laughing. He's taking it pretty hard.
When I left pit road before qualifying, he said 'For me. Do it for me.' He
never, ever says that. So I'm happy to win the pole for him."
Saturday:
When Saturday morning practice rolled around, Jeff Gordon was a no-show in
the garage area. To help out the team, Terry Labonte got behind the wheel
of the DuPont Chevrolet to run some practice laps. As he came down the
frontstretch, something punctured the right front tire. In turn 1, the car
drifted up the track and brushed the wall. Terry did a remarkable job to
bring the car back in one piece. After Jeff arrived at the track, he looked
stunned to see the crew working to fix his car that he didn't wreck. The
right side of the car was replaced in the afternoon and the car was fast in
the final practice session on Saturday afternoon.
(Brian Holly/ Journal Now)
Sunday:
Throughout the grueling 600 mile race, Jeff found himself running in the top
5. Shortly after the start of the race, the team was forced to change radio
frequencies after a number of interruptions on their normal channel.
Despite the radio problems, track performance was not affected. Jeff led at
some points but would lose the lead to Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, and
others as the tires began to wear. With about 20 laps to go in the race,
the caution flag came out. While the others changed two tires, Ray Evernham
decided to change 4 tires on the car. After the restart, Jeff passed Mark
Martin, Dale Jarrett, and Bobby Labonte. He would go on to pass Rusty
Wallace ten laps from the end of the race and would hang on to win the Coca
Cola 600. It's not the first time that Ray has made the right call in the
pits near the end of a Charlotte race. In 1994, Jeff took two tires on a
late pit stop to win his first race. It's been a tough week for the crew.
The Winston gas debacle was no laughing matter; the 600 was vindication.
And a great win to boot.
---Post-Race Comments---
JG: "That was a Rainbow Warrior win. All it took was four tires. The other
guys took two. They couldn't take the gamble, we didn't have anything to
lose. I had no idea we were going to win. When we turned underneath Rusty,
I was either
going to wreck or win this thing."
Ray Evernham: "This is an awesome, awesome team and Jeff is an awesome
driver. To the fans, this one is for you, for the mistake I had (at the
Winston)."
Dover
Richmond
Under The Lights
Michigan
Good Track, Maybe A Win?
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