Gordon hopeful for Texas repeat

FORT WORTH, Texas. (Nov. 3, 2009) – Earlier this year, Jeff Gordon led a race-high 105 laps to secure his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in his 17th start at Texas Motor Speedway. Now the four-time champion hopes to match that success during this weekend's 500-mile Chase for the Sprint Cup event. “To get that first win here was great for us," said Gordon, who is third in the championship standings and 192 behind leader Jimmie Johnson. “To get another win, though, we’ll need to take another step forward. If we showed up this weekend with the same setup we used in April, we’d run 15th. That’s just the way the sport is. Everybody is constantly learning and the competition is constantly getting better and quicker.” Gordon and the No. 24 team certainly have adapted on the intermediate tracks since last year's Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. In 17 races on 1.5-to-2-mile ovals during that span, the 82-time race winner has 12 top-five finishes, 16 top- 10s and a 4.35 average finish. His lone finish outside the top 10 was a 14th-place result in the rain-shortened event at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May. “This whole DuPont team has worked hard to make our intermediate program better,” said Gordon, who has seven top-fives and nine top-10’s in 17 starts at the Texas track. “With this track being a part of the Chase, we also knew we needed to improve here. “We’re really looking forward to this weekend’s race.”