LONG POND, Pa. -- Pennsylvania is not Jeff Gordon's home state, but this weekend he'll be wearing the home colors.
Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet SS is decked out in an Axalta/Penn State paint scheme for this weekend at Pocono Raceway.
“I guess the first thing that comes to mind is just the thought of the fan base that we have in Pennsylvania that we’ve had for many, many years," Gordon said. "It really sunk in when we went to the campus and saw the excitement of that campus when I drove this Penn State blue and white car on campus. I was able to do some little burnouts and different things and rev-up the engine and drive around there and wave to all of them and get all the cheers and stuff going. It was awesome. So that got me really motivated for this weekend."
Gordon said the opportunity to visit with students, faculty and a group of engineers at Penn State was an "amazing" experience.
And he agreed with their reaction that "the car looks great."
Now he just wants to make sure Sunday's result looks even better.
"I’m certainly hoping that we continue our Hendrick dominance and streak here and maybe this is our opportunity to get ourselves locked into the Chase (for the NASCAR Sprint Cup)," Gordon said, noting Hendrick Motorsports' five consecutive wins at Pocono. "Right now, for us, all I’m focused on is just performing better each and every week and stepping up what we’re doing. Getting a direction that we can go into in a positive way so we can make gains on not just trying to get ourselves in the top five or into Victory Lane, but do it on a consistent basis.”
Starting fourth, Gordon hopes Sunday's Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 will give the Penn State fans plenty to cheer about.
"In Pennsylvania and here at Pocono we have always had great fan support, not just myself, but NASCAR in general," he said. "I think after having Penn State and those blue and white colors on our No. 24 car we are certainly going to have even more support."
"There’s added pressure to go out there and get it done on the racetrack to make them proud of the car that they’re being associated with."