ANOTHER CHECKERED FLAG AT DAYTONA FOR GORDON?

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 1, 2008) - According to a special mid-year DuPont car color update, white and black remain two of the most popular finishes on personal vehicles.  Jeff Gordon prefers those colors, as well, albeit in checkerboard design.  On a flag.

In the last 17 restrictor-plate races held at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, Gordon has been the first driver to cross under the checkered flag six times.  No other driver has collected more than two wins during that span.

“At Daytona and Talladega, you’re trying to get yourself into a position to challenge for the victory in the closing laps,” said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet.  “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.”

In 31 starts at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, Gordon has six wins including three Daytona 500 victories, three poles, 11 top-fives and 17 top-10's.  In February, Gordon led five laps during the season-opening event but finished 39th due to a suspension mount failure.

“We were strong during the event,” said Gordon, who is currently sixth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings.  “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.”

Gordon, the all-time leader in restrictor-plate victories with 12, hopes to get “lucky” No. 13 this weekend in Saturday night’s 400-miler.

“The race sponsor has changed,” said Gordon, “but we’re going to do everything possible to get the DuPont Chevrolet – with our Pepsi associate sponsorship – into Victory Lane.”

And collect another checkered flag.