Subway 500 - Jeff Gordon Notes

GORDON LOOKING TO CONTINUE LONGEST MULTIPLE-WIN STREAK WITH MARTINSVILLE ‘SWEEP'

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - In Jeff Gordon's illustrious 11-year career that includes 62 NASCAR Winston Cup victories, he has ‘swept' both races at a venue only three times. Gordon, who won the Virginia 500 earlier this year, will look to do it again this Sunday in the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

In 1996, Gordon swept both races at Darlington Raceway and Dover International Speedway. In 1998, he won both North Carolina Speedway events during a season in which he visited victory lane 13 times.

A win this Sunday would also extend his number of consecutive seasons with multiple wins to 10, the longest current streak in the Winston Cup Series. The only season Gordon failed to record multiple wins was 1993, his rookie season.

"I always feel good about Martinsville," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet. "It's been a good track for us in qualifying, and it's been a good track for us in the race. We had a good, strong car all day long here earlier this year and we've been discussing ways to improve on that."

In 21 starts at Martinsville, Gordon has four wins, three poles, 11 top-fives and 15 top-10's. He has led at least one lap in 14 events and has led a total of 1,355 laps at the 0.526-mile track.

"This track was probably one of the toughest tracks for me to learn," Gordon said. "Making a lot of laps in a test here several years back helped me find some things. Each year, the crew does a great job of making the cars better.

"Martinsville is rough because it's a tough place to pass and it's a short track. Put those two things together and you have a lot of bumping and banging. Some of it could be paybacks (from earlier races) and some of it could just be hard short-track racing.

"You can't race on the idea that someone is out there to get you. You have to concentrate on racing clean and hard. Hopefully that will help us put the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet back in victory lane."

And make it a "clean sweep" for Gordon at Martinsville in 2003.

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