Post by dalejrfan on Jun 17, 2006 18:49:29 GMT -5
Gordon comfortable after last week's crash
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- After last week's hard hit at Pocono Raceway, Jeff Gordon may be bruised but he's not beaten.
Still, Gordon admitted he planned to run just as many laps as he needed to feel comfortable in the car before he starts second in Sunday's 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway (1 p.m. ET, FOX).
Gordon made 29 laps in Saturday's first practice and 22 more in the final session. He was 13th in Happy Hour, with a best lap of 178.878 mph.
"We're basically going out there and making very few laps," Gordon said. "I think that anything we've had happen are long-term effects, several laps, several miles on the cars and stress on the cars. So today was pretty easy for me."
If anything, Gordon was thankful for recent safety improvements, as he was able to walk away from a car that was totaled last weekend. That's especially critical as Gordon sits 25 points out of the final spot for the 2006 Chase for the Nextel Cup.
"Knowing that I can go through what I went through for me is definitely a confidence booster," he said. "I recognize that you can't beat your head too many times that hard or you will have permanent damage, but knowing that I didn't have damage and the CAT scan showed up good with no broken bones, it just absolutely blows my mind how far we've come in safety and it's a very comforting feeling.
Now it's a matter of putting the accident behind him and focusing on the task at hand.
"We're obviously still feeling like we're barely making the Chase," Gordon said. "We've got some work to do to catch back up. We've got some heavy hitters right behind us and right in front of us."
One thing that plays in Gordon's favor is the schedule. He has two Michigan wins and has done well at Sonoma and Daytona -- the next two stops.
"We've got to go to the racetracks that we're strong at and make the most of them," Gordon said. "This is a track we can be strong at. We haven't been the last couple of times.
"We've got Sonoma and Daytona coming up and those are tracks we can be really strong and solid at and we need to make sure we are."
A couple of drivers had brushes with the Michigan wall during the final 45 minutes. Kasey Kahne and David Stremme scraped up the right sides of their Dodges, with Kahne's hit being the harder of the two. The No. 9 team was working on hammering out the dents after practice ended.
"I was wondering how bad it was [when I was driving back to the garage]," Kahne said. "You hit hard enough to mess things up. It'll take a little time to get the body back exactly like we want it, but it'll be just fine."
Kahne, who will bring the field to the green flag Sunday unless he is forced to go to his backup car, was fourth fastest despite his incident.
Michael Waltrip spun coming out of Turn 2 late in the session but kept his Dodge off the wall.
Roush Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Mark Martin were the two fastest cars. Biffle's best lap was 181.970 mph, while Martin was clocked at 180.741.
"The car is really fast," Biffle said. "It looks like we're one of the fastest cars.
"We'll just wait and see what happens. There are a bunch of ways to lose these races as there are to win them, so we'll just have to wait and see."
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- After last week's hard hit at Pocono Raceway, Jeff Gordon may be bruised but he's not beaten.
Still, Gordon admitted he planned to run just as many laps as he needed to feel comfortable in the car before he starts second in Sunday's 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway (1 p.m. ET, FOX).
Gordon made 29 laps in Saturday's first practice and 22 more in the final session. He was 13th in Happy Hour, with a best lap of 178.878 mph.
"We're basically going out there and making very few laps," Gordon said. "I think that anything we've had happen are long-term effects, several laps, several miles on the cars and stress on the cars. So today was pretty easy for me."
If anything, Gordon was thankful for recent safety improvements, as he was able to walk away from a car that was totaled last weekend. That's especially critical as Gordon sits 25 points out of the final spot for the 2006 Chase for the Nextel Cup.
"Knowing that I can go through what I went through for me is definitely a confidence booster," he said. "I recognize that you can't beat your head too many times that hard or you will have permanent damage, but knowing that I didn't have damage and the CAT scan showed up good with no broken bones, it just absolutely blows my mind how far we've come in safety and it's a very comforting feeling.
Now it's a matter of putting the accident behind him and focusing on the task at hand.
"We're obviously still feeling like we're barely making the Chase," Gordon said. "We've got some work to do to catch back up. We've got some heavy hitters right behind us and right in front of us."
One thing that plays in Gordon's favor is the schedule. He has two Michigan wins and has done well at Sonoma and Daytona -- the next two stops.
"We've got to go to the racetracks that we're strong at and make the most of them," Gordon said. "This is a track we can be strong at. We haven't been the last couple of times.
"We've got Sonoma and Daytona coming up and those are tracks we can be really strong and solid at and we need to make sure we are."
A couple of drivers had brushes with the Michigan wall during the final 45 minutes. Kasey Kahne and David Stremme scraped up the right sides of their Dodges, with Kahne's hit being the harder of the two. The No. 9 team was working on hammering out the dents after practice ended.
"I was wondering how bad it was [when I was driving back to the garage]," Kahne said. "You hit hard enough to mess things up. It'll take a little time to get the body back exactly like we want it, but it'll be just fine."
Kahne, who will bring the field to the green flag Sunday unless he is forced to go to his backup car, was fourth fastest despite his incident.
Michael Waltrip spun coming out of Turn 2 late in the session but kept his Dodge off the wall.
Roush Racing teammates Greg Biffle and Mark Martin were the two fastest cars. Biffle's best lap was 181.970 mph, while Martin was clocked at 180.741.
"The car is really fast," Biffle said. "It looks like we're one of the fastest cars.
"We'll just wait and see what happens. There are a bunch of ways to lose these races as there are to win them, so we'll just have to wait and see."