Gordon in 'Limbo' at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. (April 28, 2005) - With his best restrictor-plate car currently sitting in Daytona USA, defending Aaron's 499 race winner Jeff Gordon is in "Limbo" for this Sunday's event at Talladega Superspeedway. Earlier this year, Gordon drove the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet named "Soldier" to victory at the season-opening Daytona 500. The day after NASCAR's Super Bowl, Gordon helped induct that car into Daytona USA where it will be on display for one year. "It took about five or six months to build the car that's in Daytona USA," Gordon said. "You hate to lose a good car that the team spent so much time on, but it's an honor to have it there and to be the 2005 Daytona 500 championship team. "With only two months since that win, the team hasn't had enough time to build a new one so we'll bring another car out of our stable." "Limbo," named because it took so long to build, will be used by Team DuPont this weekend. The car, with its special DuPont/Pepsi/Star Wars paint scheme, visited Victory Lane at Daytona and Talladega in 2004. In fact, Gordon has won three of the past four restrictor-plate races held on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup circuit. While the two restrictor-plate tracks have similar characteristics, there is one glaring difference between the two. "Talladega is not a handling track while Daytona is," Gordon said. "At Daytona, the car must handle well through the corners. At Talladega, handling is not much of an issue." In 24 starts at the 2.66-mile Alabama track, Gordon has posted three victories, 10 top-fives and 13 top-10's. He has led in 19 of those events for a total of 501 laps, the most of any active driver. But there's only one lap Gordon wants to lead on Sunday – the last one. "During the race, you'll work with teammates and other drivers to put yourself in the best possible position," Gordon said. "But don't expect too much. You can work with a driver all race long, just don't expect them to be your friend when a victory is on the line. "I enter this weekend's race knowing I don't have any friends, but hoping I don't have any enemies."