THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 10, 1995 TAG: 9507100125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LOUDON, N.H. LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
Jeff Gordon and his NASCAR team will meet Tuesday to talk about handling pressure, among other things.
The team will be facing more pressure than ever now that Gordon's victory Sunday in the Slick 50 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway has given him a 40-point lead in the Winston Cup championship race.
The win, by 1.23 seconds over Morgan Shepherd, is Gordon's fifth of the year and his second in a row. And considering the way he has been running, the championship is now his to win or lose as the second half of the 1995 season gets under way.
But Gordon, whose $160,300 reward included a $50,000 bonus for leading the points race at the season's midpoint, is not relishing the sideshow that inevitably comes with the title chase.
``I'm just asking you, just please try to keep the pressure off me,'' he told the media after the race. ``The only way we're going to win a championship someday is to overcome that pressure. But that is something that is of much concern to me.
``That's why we're downplaying this championship thing. Every time we speak up or every time we mention something about it, bang, that just creates controversy or puts pressure on ourselves.
``We already have a meeting coming up for Tuesday. We've got a lot to talk about, and how to handle pressure situations is going to be one of the topics.''
Added crew chief Ray Evernham: ``We don't want to talk about the points deal. We're not going to start racing for points. We don't want to change anything that we're doing. It shouldn't be any more pressure than trying to win every week.''
But it will be more pressure. And they all know it. And that's why they plan to talk about it.
If Gordon keeps running the way he has been, the pressure will be only a nagging irritant. He was clearly the class of the series in the first half.
Besides his five victories, Gordon has three seconds, two thirds and a sixth. And the only reason he doesn't have a larger points lead over Sterling Marlin is is his three DNF's - races he did not finish.
Sunday's victory was another dominating run for Gordon even though he didn't dominate throughout: Mark Martin, who finished third ahead, of Terry Labonte and Ricky Rudd, actually led two more laps, 126 to 124. But Martin's car faded as the race went on.
``The track changed real bad throughout the day and we were real good at the start, but it slipped away from us,'' Martin said.
And Gordon was untouchable in the end, leading 81 of the last 100 laps.
In the beginning, however, Gordon and his team faced a new challenge: starting back in 21st after Gordon smacked the wall in qualifying Friday. And then when Saturday's final practice was wiped out by rain, Gordon and his team didn't get to fine-tune their car and make sure all the repairs were right.
Guys like Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt (who struggled to a 22nd-place finish after pit problems) face this sort of adversity all the time, but Gordon has won seven poles this year, so he's become used to starting up front.
No problem. Evernham called for a two-tire pit stop (instead of four) during a yellow-flag pit stop on lap 38 and Gordon jumped from 12th to first.
Gordon was a bit concerned that he would lose a lot of the ground he gained from the two-tire stop, but he lost only one spot, giving the lead back to Martin.
``I don't know that everybody out there could have kept up on two tires,'' Evernham said. But he knew Jeff could.
``Sometimes I use up his talent on him a little bit,'' Evernham said.
``That was really the turning point,'' Gordon said. ``Ray told me before the race that we might be doing some two-tire stops. I thought we might fall back. But when we didn't that first time - we stayed with Mark right until the next stop - I thought, ``Man, when we get four tires, we're going to be in really good shape.''
And he was.
Shepherd tried his best at the end, but the view from Gordon's rear-view mirror was of Shepherd's car gradually falling back.
``I was hunting different places to try to gain on Jeff a little bit,'' Shepherd said.
In the final 10 laps, Evernham went into his coaching mode, continually telling Gordon to ``focus on your line'' and ``focus on your rhythm.''
And when he flew under the checkered flag, Gordon was almost nonchalant about win No. 5.
``Way to go, guys,'' he said. ``Back-to-back.''
And Evernham responded: ``That's the way to come back from a problem. Like I said Friday, that's what matters.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photos
Jeff Gordon, who changed two tires instead of four, entered the pits
12th during a caution period on lap 38 and came out first.
Jeff Gordon picked up a $50,000 bonus for leading the points race at
the season's halfway mark.
TOP 10 SLICK 50 300 finishers
1. Jeff Gordon
5. Ricky Rudd
[For complete list, see microfilm.]
Graphic
Results
[for copy of list, see microfilm.]
by CNB