Gordon will get No. 500 at the 300
NEW YORK - Four-time champion Jeff Gordon will make the 500th start of his NASCAR career in Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway, dating to the 1992 season finale in Atlanta, which was the last stop in the retirement tour of seven-time champion Richard Petty.
"I was talking to Ricky Rudd at California, and 900, that's a lot," Jeff Gordon said, referring to Rudd's 900th career start, at Fontana, Calif.
"I can't believe that it's going to be 500. That's a lot of seasons, a lot of good seasons."
Jeff Gordon, who has 79 career victories, and Jeff Burton are the only Chase drivers (and in the Nextel Cup Series overall) who have started all 25 Cup races at NHIS. While Jeff Burton owns the most wins (four) at NHIS, Jeff Gordon has recorded three wins, 11 top-five finishes, 14 top-10s, and three Bud Pole Awards.
"I've just been fortunate that I've been healthy throughout all those years to be able to do it consecutively," he said. "That's pretty cool."
While he was the points leader at the end of the 26-race regular season, Jeff Gordon will start the Chase as the No. 2 seed, 20 points behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, the defending champion who earned the top seed after winning six races and 60 bonus points. Jeff Gordon won four races and managed to tally 40 bonus points.
Somehow it just didn't seem fair or equitable to Jeff Gordon.
"Yeah, it is certainly questionable, and I'm sure it's going to be a debate that will be ongoing," Jeff Gordon said. "Last year, when I was, whatever, eighth or seventh coming into the Chase, I was pretty happy about how it all worked out because that put in me in a great [situation] to win the championship. They didn't have the bonus points last year, and I don't know what that would've done - helped us or hurt us - but it probably would've helped us.
"It's easy to say when you're in the position of being No. 1 that it's not fair, but I've been on the flip side of it. In my opinion, I think that we can still win it without being No. 1 [seed]."
Treasure trove
Joey Logano, the 17-year-old racing phenom from Middletown, Conn., will attempt to clinch the NASCAR Busch East Series title in his rookie season driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in today's Aubuchon Hardware 125 at NHIS. Logano will be driving the same car he has driven in all four of his victories this season: Tony Stewart's old Cup car. "It's an old No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet that Tony ran last year and he absolutely hated the car, so we got it," Logano said. "I absolutely love it. Somebody's trash is another person's treasure." Logano, who scored 190 points in his dominant victory at NHIS in June, will need to pad his 82-point lead over Matt Kobyluck (1,753-1,671) by 108 points to clinch NASCAR's first major championship of the season. "We struck gold with this kid," Tony Stewart said . . . Busch East driver Sean Caisse, 21, of Pelham, N.H., will make his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut in tomorrow's New Hampshire 200, driving the No. 03 Toyota Tundra fielded by Germain Racing. Donny Lia of Jericho, N.Y., the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points leader who owns a 188-point lead over Todd Szegedy (1,934-1,746), will also make his debut in the Craftsman Truck Series race . . . The Chasers made the rounds of the New York morning talk shows yesterday, with Jeff Gordon, Johnson, Matt Kenseth, and Jeff Burton making live appearances on ABC's "Good Morning America"; Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin appearing live on CBS's "Early Show"; and Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Johnson, and Jeff Gordon taping a future appearance on "Regis and Kelly." Unlike last year's appearance, in which Kevin Harvick caught a pie in the kisser from Denny Hamlin during a pie-throwing contest, the Chasers were on their best behavior. Asked if he feared a sneak attack from Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin said, "No, I think he was more worried about me than I was about him." Denny Hamlin got his comeuppance last year when Kevin Harvick retaliated during pole qualifying at NHIS. This year? "It was a truce," Denny Hamlin said . . . All 12 Chasers appeared on CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" Wednesday night where the Top 10 list was expanded to 12: "The 12 Reasons I Love Racing." The Chasers' responses, in order of their seeding: No. 12, Clint Bowyer: "We've got special mirrors that show objects the size that they actually are." No. 11, Kevin Harvick: "Sometimes back in the garages, there's horseplay with the airhose." No. 10, Jeff Burton: "Between the G-forces and the fumes, I'm loopy most of the season." No. 9, Kyle Busch: "Switch the 'R' and the 'C' in 'Racing' and you get 'Caring.' " No. 8, Matt Kenseth: "Can hold 8 gigs of music on my new iHelmet." No. 7, Martin Truex: "In a pinch, checkered flags make a lovely tablecloth." No. 6, Denny Hamlin: "Two more wins and I get to marry Ashley Judd." No. 5, Kurt Busch: "You can talk to your car and pretend you're David Hasselhoff." No. 4, Carl Edwards: "How many people can say their 'office' goes 200 miles per hour?" No. 3, Tony Stewart: "Driving fast and starting fights." No. 2, Jeff Gordon: "It's not one of those sports you have to inject stuff in your ass to be good." No. 1, Johnson: "Unlike most guys, I like it when my wife says, 'You're too fast.' "
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