Post by dalejrfan on Jun 11, 2005 21:02:31 GMT -5
LONG POND, Pa. -- Jeff Gordon's rough stretch of race weekends continued Saturday in Bud Pole Qualifying for the Pocono 500.
During his qualifying run, Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet loosened up exiting Turn 1 and slapped the wall with its right side. Gordon's lap in 54.428 seconds relegated him to 31st; 1.19 seconds behind pole winner Michael Waltrip.
The effort was Gordon's worst of the year.
"We've been fighting a real loose condition when we put the car in qualifying mode," Gordon said. "That's part of the impound deal.
"Once you get the car right for the race, you've got to really find that right combination to get to qualifying. We just haven't been able to find it."
Gordon's free-fall over the past few races has been marked by three finishes of 30th or worse and has knocked him from second to 11th in the Nextel Cup standings.
Saturday, Gordon's trouble marked a bad day overall for Hendrick Motorsports in the latest version of an impound race. Teams had two practices Friday and are now off until race time Sunday.
Rookie Kyle Busch also cuffed the wall off Turn 1 and only Brian Vickers -- in third -- qualified within the top 20. Point leader Jimmie Johnson was 21st, Terry Labonte was 28th and Busch was 38th.
Gordon said his car's damage was mostly cosmetic -- and was less consequential than his car's lack of speed.
"It's not really that badly damaged," Gordon said. "We're slow anyway (so) we're probably just going to repair the damages and just start in the rear."
Gordon said he took a lot of comfort in how well his car performed in race runs on Friday, when he was 22nd and 27th in the two practices.
"We got the car really good with the race set-up and I was pretty happy with it," Gordon said. "So hopefully once we pull the tape off the front and everything, it'll be good."
Gordon did say he was experiencing a degree of frustration as his dry spell continues.
"It has been frustrating (because) we were really far off," Gordon said. "We're trying to do things here at Pocono that we do at places like Texas and when you don't get to that comfort level, this can be a really tricky place.
"I felt like we really hit on some things yesterday in the second practice for our race set-up, but we made one qualifying run and it was horrible.
Poc-oh no!Jeff Gordon hits the wall during his qualifying run
"We've tightened it up a ton from there but it was still really loose. There is not much we can do about that."
Gordon said he still had confidence for Sunday on a track on which he's won three times, the last in 1998.
"You can't say I'm not used to this," Gordon said. "I've been there and done that -- that's just part of racing.
"Trust me, I don't like it, but we've been in this position before and come out fine on race day."
During his qualifying run, Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet loosened up exiting Turn 1 and slapped the wall with its right side. Gordon's lap in 54.428 seconds relegated him to 31st; 1.19 seconds behind pole winner Michael Waltrip.
The effort was Gordon's worst of the year.
"We've been fighting a real loose condition when we put the car in qualifying mode," Gordon said. "That's part of the impound deal.
"Once you get the car right for the race, you've got to really find that right combination to get to qualifying. We just haven't been able to find it."
Gordon's free-fall over the past few races has been marked by three finishes of 30th or worse and has knocked him from second to 11th in the Nextel Cup standings.
Saturday, Gordon's trouble marked a bad day overall for Hendrick Motorsports in the latest version of an impound race. Teams had two practices Friday and are now off until race time Sunday.
Rookie Kyle Busch also cuffed the wall off Turn 1 and only Brian Vickers -- in third -- qualified within the top 20. Point leader Jimmie Johnson was 21st, Terry Labonte was 28th and Busch was 38th.
Gordon said his car's damage was mostly cosmetic -- and was less consequential than his car's lack of speed.
"It's not really that badly damaged," Gordon said. "We're slow anyway (so) we're probably just going to repair the damages and just start in the rear."
Gordon said he took a lot of comfort in how well his car performed in race runs on Friday, when he was 22nd and 27th in the two practices.
"We got the car really good with the race set-up and I was pretty happy with it," Gordon said. "So hopefully once we pull the tape off the front and everything, it'll be good."
Gordon did say he was experiencing a degree of frustration as his dry spell continues.
"It has been frustrating (because) we were really far off," Gordon said. "We're trying to do things here at Pocono that we do at places like Texas and when you don't get to that comfort level, this can be a really tricky place.
"I felt like we really hit on some things yesterday in the second practice for our race set-up, but we made one qualifying run and it was horrible.
Poc-oh no!Jeff Gordon hits the wall during his qualifying run
"We've tightened it up a ton from there but it was still really loose. There is not much we can do about that."
Gordon said he still had confidence for Sunday on a track on which he's won three times, the last in 1998.
"You can't say I'm not used to this," Gordon said. "I've been there and done that -- that's just part of racing.
"Trust me, I don't like it, but we've been in this position before and come out fine on race day."