Gordon hitting his stride 11 races into the season

DOVER, Del. (May 13, 2010) – In the first 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events of 2010, Jeff Gordon has led nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events for a total of 709 laps. To put that in perspective, Gordon led his 709th lap of the 2009 season at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway last October. While Gordon’s 60 bonus points for laps led this season is 10 more than his nearest competitor, he still is searching for his first win of the 2010 campaign – and the 10 bonus points that are awarded for each win, provided he makes the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. “We were leading the point standings at this time last year, but we’re a much better team this year,” said Gordon, who is currently fourth in the standings and 147 behind the leader. “We’re leading more laps, and we’re dominating races. It seems we have had a shot to battle for the victory at each and every event this year. “There are times when I might make a mistake, or the pit crew might make a mistake, or (crew chief) Steve (Letarte) might make the wrong call. We are all in this together, and we have time to work on those details.” In 34 starts at Dover, Gordon has four victories, four pole positions, 14 top-five finishes and 21 top-10 finishes. The driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet leads all active drivers with 2,230 laps led at the one-mile track. If Gordon leads at least 119 laps on Sunday – something he has done on six occasions here, he will surpass his total for 36 races in 2009. “This is a very fast, very high-banked track that is a ‘hold on tight, white-knuckle’ experience,” said Gordon, who will visit DuPont headquarters in nearby Wilmington on Thursday. “The transitions are extreme, but the track has tons of grip and a lot of speed. I think this is one of the more exciting tracks on the circuit – for the drivers and the fans. I love it because it has big, high-banked corners where you can run high, in the middle or low. “As a driver, we really feel the sensation of speed that our cars are capable of more here than any other track we go to. There are a lot of different lanes to race on, and every lap you’re on the ‘edge.’ “But there is a fine line here between pushing the car hard, and pushing it too far.”