Gordon Glad to See September

RICHMOND, Va. (Sept. 6, 2003) – Jeff Gordon turned 32 in August. Unfortunately, growing older may have been the highlight of a month in which he finished 28th or worse in four of five races. Gordon enters this Saturday night's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway fifth in points, 591 behind leader Matt Kenseth, and thinking about what lies ahead. "August was a rough month for us and I'm glad it's over, but we've always been a team that doesn't dwell on the past," Gordon said. "We just look to the races ahead of us and how we can improve. "Of course, it's not hard to improve on our results from last month." Gordon went through a similar slump in August of 2000. During that stretch, he had four finishes outside the top 20 in four races. However, Gordon and the DuPont team rebounded with 10 top-10 finishes -- including a win at Richmond -- over the final 11 races of the 2000 season. "It was our first year with crew chief Robbie Loomis and our finishes weren't indicative of how well we were running," Gordon said. "The results started to show at the end of that year and we carried that momentum into our championship year of 2001. "That's how I look at this past month. We've led laps and had some good runs; we just don't have the good finishes to show for it." It hasn’t all been bad in August. Gordon set the record for most NASCAR Winston Cup Series road course victories during August of 2001 and has captured a record three Brickyard 400s during the late-summer month. With August gone, Gordon must now focus on the 11 races remaining in the 2003 season. In 21 starts at Richmond, the four-time Winston Cup champion has two wins, four poles, nine top-fives and 13 top-10s. He has led 606 laps and has a 6.5 average starting position. "I'm really looking forward to Saturday night," Gordon said. "I really enjoy racing here and we always seem to be competitive. "And, it's September."