Sore Gordon Wins The Atlanta Pole
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Mar 08, 2008
CIA Stock Photo, Inc.
Jeff Gordon, bouncing back from a hard crash in Las Vegas, felt a whole lot better after winning the pole for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“I was sore, but none of the soreness affected me in the race car, “ Gordon said after posting a fast lap of 185.251 mph on the 1.5-mile Atlanta oval, easily faster than the 184.852 of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“My stomach was sore and my elbow was banged up, but I was able to put that aside in the race car, “ he said after earning his second Atlanta pole and the 64th of his Cup career. “This makes me feel just fine.”
“You know what, this is a tough place to sit on the pole and I’m extremely excited by this. This is a very fast race track and it’s very tough to get around here quick. Today, we got out there in practice and I thought something was wrong with the car, it was so out of control. ”
Gordon said he worked with crew chief Steve Letarte to make the car better and the team made steady progress in practice. “To go out there and put down that kind of lap, it feels great and I’m impressed with this team. ”
The pole victory was Gordon’s first of the season and 64th of his Sprint Cup career. He is just six pole wins behind Cale Yarborough for third all-time.
“I gotta tell you this thing is evil… It is so evil… tonight we have grip in the track, so you can get around some of that, “ said Gordon. “It feels like you are on 20-lap old tires. It’s going to be a handful (on Sunday). ”
Earnhardt bobbled coming to the green flag, and that might have cost him a chance to overtake Gordon, who had gone out earlier in the session.
“It’s really hard to tell whether you think you’ve got a good lap going or not, “ Earnhardt said. “Even in practice when we were the fastest one on top of the chart, I didn’t think my lap was comfortable or fast—it was wobbly, loose and sliding the car really hard.
“It’s hard to tell. When I didn’t beat him, I thought, ‘Where do I think I lost it? ‘ and I think I lost it coming to the green, actually. ”
