Gordon Seeking Another Martinsville Sweep

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (Oct. 22, 2005) – With time running out on the 2005 season, Jeff Gordon wants another victory -- and another grandfather clock. Gordon, who has 72 career wins, will secure his second Martinsville Speedway “sweep” in three years if he wins this Sunday’s NEXTEL Cup event. In 2003, he won both events from the pole position, leading 503 of 1,000 laps in the process. Overall at Martinsville, he has six victories, five poles, 13 top-fives and 19 top-10s. He has an 8.1 average finish, and has never posted a DNF (did not finish). “I definitely want another grandfather clock,” said Gordon, referring to the clock presented to the winner of each Martinsville race. “And I’d like to get Steve (Letarte) his first win as a crew chief. “We always seem to run well here, and a lot of the credit goes to the DuPont crew. They have given me great cars and haven’t given up when we’ve faced some obstacles. “Before every race in our team meeting, we discuss the need to overcome any obstacles or hurdles that we may face. And we’ve had several hurdles here recently.” During the Spring event here in 2004, Gordon led 180 laps before a piece of the concrete track became dislodged and damaged the right-front fender on his No. 24 Chevrolet. After several visits to pit road to repair the damage, the four-time champion recovered to finish sixth. Earlier this year, Gordon reported a vibration less than 50 laps into the 500-lap race and lost three laps to the leaders before the problem on the right-front was corrected. While NASCAR’s “free pass” rule allows the first car one lap down onto the lead lap if a caution waves, Gordon benefited from that rule only once. On two occasions, he “unlapped” himself by passing the leader of the race. Just past halfway, Gordon was back on the lead lap. He maneuvered into the lead on Lap 464, and led the remaining distance to notch his sixth victory at the .526-mile track.