Darlington nod goes to Jeff Gordon
On Saturday night at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway the Car of Tomorrow gets its first run on a banked intermediate track in what should be a battle for Victory Lane between Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing.
Those two organizations are out in front when it comes to having success with the COT and Hendrick Motorsports has won all four COT races this season.
Look for it to go five-for-five in COT events as Jeff Gordon rates a slight edge over the other top contenders.
Working in Jeff Gordon's favor
Jeff Gordon is a six-time winner at Darlington. The most recent of those wins came in September of 2002. Jeff Gordon had a truly dominant stretch at this egg-shaped 1.366-mile oval when he won five of seven races from 1995-98.
To go with his six victories he has three poles, 14 top-fives, and 17 top-10s. He has led 1,558 laps in 26 Cup starts at the track called “Too Tough To Tame,” and “The Lady in Black.” The four-time Cup champion is the active leader in wins and laps led at Darlington.
Jeff Gordon is on top in points and he will be looking for his eighth top-five result in his last nine races. He'll also be shooting for his third win of the year, which would give him one more victory than he had in 2006 when he made the Chase for the Nextel Cup and wound up sixth in the standings.
Initially Jeff Gordon wasn't a fan of the COT, but he is no longer critical of it. In fact, he's come around to running it very well. In four COT races, he has three poles and finishes of first (Phoenix), second (Martinsville), third (Bristol), and fourth (Richmond).
Over the last three years the No. 24 Chevrolet has been terrific at Darlington with a third-place result and two runner-up finishes. The switch to the COT should not end that excellence given the extensive testing and data gathering done on the COT by Hendrick Motorsports.
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