RIDGEWAY, Va. – Two races remain in the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Jeff Gordon will certainly look for success in both of them – at Texas and at Phoenix.
But his focus can also safely shift to the final race of the season as the first of four drivers to lock in the chance to race for a championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“Trust me, we are not going to take that lightly, that opportunity that lies in front of us,” Gordon said. “This is not, ‘OK, cool, we won Martinsville. We get to be one of the four at Homestead. We're going to watch them battle for the championship.’ No way.
“This team is way better than that. Nobody is more driven and excited than this race team is right now. Every resource we have, we'll be putting towards what we have to do to go be competitive enough to win the championship in Homestead.”
That starts with getting the No. 24 Chevrolet SS perfected, and No. 24 team crew chief Alan Gustafson predicted that would get off to an early start after all the excitement of Martinsville Speedway.
“Getting to Homestead, there's a lot to momentum. There's a lot to the positive energy,” Gustafson said. “Everybody I'm sure in our shop will be there an hour early (Monday) ready to go, working hard. We have a couple things we've got to do. I think we've got our Homestead stuff, try to get an advantage on that. We can also use Texas to try some new things, try to get more speed.”
Gordon also pointed to this Sunday’s race at Texas as an opportunity to learn in advance of the finale at Homestead.
“It's an abrasive track at Texas. It's an abrasive track at Homestead. That suits us and it helps,” he explained.
Gordon said he likes Homestead, a track where he has earned one win, seven top-five finishes, 12 top-10s and a pole position in addition to leading 244 laps.
Last season in the finale at Homestead, Gordon earned the pole and led 161 laps en route to a top-10 finish. He’ll be looking for similar success – and an even better result – this time around.
“Why can't we win at Homestead? That's what I say,” Gordon opined.
“This is turning into one of these just incredible storybook finishes to this year, to this career,” he smiled. “Of all years, I mean, of all years, I cannot believe this. I'm so excited it's happening in this year.”