CHARLOTTE, N.C. (October 8, 2012) – If Jeff Gordon is to break dance on Saturday night, the race shop may need a sweep beforehand.
Gordon, who will drive the No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet with a special paint scheme featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, has promised to break dance in Victory Lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway if he wins the Bank of America 500 this weekend. He ran well here in May in an event won by Hendrick Motorsports teammate – and shopmate – Kasey Kahne.
“I am really looking forward to this weekend’s race – this is as excited as I’ve been heading into Charlotte in quite a while,” said Gordon. “We had a good car here earlier this year and we’ve had some strong runs recently.
“We just need to continue to run in the top five and be in position to battle for the win at the end of the race.”
In the 600-miler here in May, Gordon started 23rd but quickly showed the strength of his No. 24 Impala by moving into the top 10 in just 24 laps. But as the race approached halfway, Gordon lost valuable track position when a caution waved just after he had completed a green-flag pit stop. The four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion battled back from 25th to finish seventh.
“We were really good early in that race, and twice we had to come up through the field,” said Gordon, who moved up four spots to sixth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings following a runner-up finish last weekend. “I think we can be even stronger this weekend because our setups are better now.”
In 39 starts at the 1.5-mile North Carolina track, Gordon has five wins, eight poles, 16 top-fives and 21 top-10’s. Charlotte Motor Speedway is also the site of several NASCAR Cup Series “firsts” for the 41-year-old: his first pole in October of 1993 and his first Cup Series victory in May of 1994. But it is not the performances of old that have Gordon thinking of win No. 87.
“Recently, we’ve finally been getting the finishes to match the strong runs we’ve had during races this year,” said Gordon, who has six top-three finishes in his last seven starts. “If we continue to do that, we’ll continue to move up in the standings.”
And the best way to gain on the points leader is to break dance.
