Both times he looked to the great Dale Earnhardt for the trick to winning here. Stacy Compton took the pole position, followed by Sterling Marlin and Bill Elliott. Gordon will start 13th in his Chevrolet but plans to finish first.
Luck is self-explanatory.
If there is a big wreck, you're more likely to get caught in it. Gordon has shown he can run well at the superspeedways, where in 33 starts he has recorded 15 top-five finishes. However, none of Gordon's top fives has come under the new rules package instituted last October. In 1988, restrictor plates were put on the carburetors for superspeedway races to slow the cars after one traveling 210 mph nearly sailed into the grandstands. With restrictor-plate racing came bunched cars and tough racing conditions, and the key to winning became figuring out how to pass.