BRISTOL, Tenn. -- As he gets set to take on one of his best tracks, Jeff Gordon has already put his 2015 campaign on the right track.
Gordon's final full-time Sprint Cup Series season began with finishes of 33rd and 41st, pushing him as far back as 36th in the points standings.
But in Las Vegas, he earned his second pole of the season and took home an 18th-place result. Since then, he has earned four consecutive top-10 finishes and has moved as high as 13th in the standings.
As tracks -- and fans -- continue to honor Gordon on a weekly basis, the driver said he hopes he can give back just as much through his success this season.
"Every week it really kind of overwhelms me and is very cool to see what the tracks are doing. I’m very appreciative of that and the fans getting involved," he said. "Nothing really to me is better than at Martinsville taking the lead and seeing the fans go crazy. That to me is what I enjoy the most. I hope we can do some more of that."
Gordon has yet to win his first race of the season, but a two-tire gamble by No. 24 team crew chief Alan Gustafson at the end of last week's Texas Motor Speedway tilt helped turn a tough evening into another top-10.
“That was a great gamble, great call by Alan," Gordon said. "We saw early some guys take two tires and made it work for a short period of time."
The strategy gained Gordon 11 spots on pit road and he was able to take a restart with 21 laps to go in second position.
"Alan made a great call there at the end to take two tires and that is what got us to seventh," Gordon reiterated. "Obviously we have got some work to do and I have got to figure this package out. We struggled but we fought through it and we didn’t give up."
Now, Gordon is ready to continue his streak of top-10s at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he is tied for most wins among active drivers. He is also the active leader in pole positions, top-five finishes, top-10s and laps led at the high-banked short track.
But he knows he has his work cut out for him after earning a 23rd-place starting position during Friday's qualifying.
"That’s going to be challenging," Gordon said. "But it’s a long race. We’ve got a great team and between pit road and pit strategy and adjustments and me searching around the race track, I feel like we’ll be able to get up front."