Can Jeff Gordon score lucky No. 13 at Daytona?
By SceneDaily Staff
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
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Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images
No one has more restrictor-plate victories than Jeff Gordon, and the Hendrick Motorsports driver would like nothing more than to add another to his resume in this weekend’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
Gordon, the all-time leader with 12 plate victories, has won six of the last 17 races held at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway – tracks where NASCAR mandates a carburetor restrictor plate to slow the cars down.
Restrictor-plate racing requires a different skill set than at other tracks, and clearly Gordon has mastered plate racing.
“At Daytona and Talladega, you’re trying to get yourself into a position to challenge for the victory in the closing laps,” Gordon said. “You have to be smart during the race and understand your surroundings – try to stay away from bad situations.
“But Daytona is much more of a handling track. While the fans will see the usual two- and three-wide racing early in the runs, the better handling cars will make their way to the front later in the runs.”
Gordon has six victories at Daytona’s famed 2.5-mile oval, with 11 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes in 31 starts. His last win, though, came in 2005.
In the Daytona 500 in February, Gordon led five laps before finishing 39th when a suspension mount failed.
“We were strong during the event,” Gordon said. “The car handled well, and we were fast before the failure. We’re going to make sure we don’t have that problem again.
“We’ll arrive with that base setup for this weekend’s race. The conditions will be much different – much warmer, with slicker track conditions – but we’ll work off that setup.”
If crew chief Steve Letarte and the rest of the No. 24 team get the setup right, Gordon could have a shot at being in victory lane for the 13th time on a plate track.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Jeff Gordon
Comments
1 response to "Can Jeff Gordon score lucky No. 13 at Daytona?"
Dr. Spaceman said:
Jul 1, 2008 at 1:18 PMThe 24 team will be fast at Daytona. But the JGR Toyotas will be faster. :(
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