FOCUS STILL THE SAME AS DUPONT TEAM HEADS TO LOWE'S

     CONCORD, N.C. - "This year is certainly not going to be like last year."
    Those words were spoken by Jeff Gordon prior to this year's Daytona 500 
and what a difference a year makes.
    Last year, Gordon held a 334-point lead in the NASCAR Winston Cup point 
standings over his closest pursuer with six races remaining. This year, the 
top 11 are separated by only 324 points heading into Sunday's UAW-GM Quality 
500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway with Gordon tied for sixth, 201 points behind 
leader Tony Stewart.
    As daunting as the challenge seems, Gordon needs only to look back at his 
first career NASCAR Winston Cup start at Atlanta in November of 1992 to know 
that he still has a chance at earning his fifth Winston Cup championship this 
year. In that race, the late Alan Kulwicki rallied to win the championship 
after trailing by 278 points with six races remaining.
    In a time when a good finish is a must, the DuPont Chevrolet that Gordon 
will pilot this weekend is undefeated at Kansas Speedway and, in the seven 
events it has competed in 2002, has one win and five top-five finishes.
    "We're going to have to take more risks now if we hope to win the 
championship this year," said Gordon. "We need wins and top-fives to put 
pressure on the guys ahead of us in points. 
    "Our focus will be the same as it's been all year – focus on our team and 
what we can accomplish. We can't worry about what the other teams are doing. 
We just need to lead laps, run well and finish well and the points will take 
care of themselves. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be.
    "The points race has been crazy this year with no driver showing 
dominance. It's time for someone to step up and put a string of good finishes 
together over the last six races. I hopes it's us."
    In 19 starts at LMS, Gordon has four wins, seven poles, 10 top-fives and 
11 top-10's. He has led 391 laps, but has never led the most laps. He 
captured his first career NASCAR Winston Cup pole at Lowe's in 1993 and his 
first career Winston Cup victory here in 1994.
    A win this weekend would tie Gordon with the late Dale Earnhardt for 
third in all-time victories at the 1.5-mile track, one behind Bobby Allison 
and Darrell Waltrip.
    A win this weekend would also make a statement that Gordon's title hopes 
are still alive.