GORDON WANTS TO "DE-THRONE" TEAMMATE AT DOVER

    DOVER, Del. - Jeff Gordon, one of only three drivers to win three 
straight races at Dover International Speedway, will look to capture his fifth 
victory at Dover this Sunday in the MBNA Armed Forces Family 400. If he is 
successful, Gordon will deny his teammate Jimmie Johnson from becoming the fourth 
driver to accomplish the "three-peat."
    Gordon, a four-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion and driver of the DuPont 
Chevrolet, knows that Johnson enters this event full of confidence.
    "They have momentum on their side with two wins in the last two weeks at 
Charlotte," said Gordon, co-owner of the No. 48 Chevrolet driven by Johnson. 
"Plus they're undefeated here, having won both races in their rookie season. 
I'm sure their confidence is sky-high right now.
    "Our DuPont team usually arrives here pretty confident, too. We've had a 
lot of success here and have led a lot of laps, which is always good to do in 
DuPont's backyard in front of their customers and employees."
    Along with four victories, Gordon has two poles, nine top-fives, 13 
top-10's and has led 2,048 laps in 20 career starts. In his first victory at the 
1.0-mile speedway in 1995, he led 400 of the 500 laps. In 2001, Gordon led 381 
of 400 laps en route to victory.
    At the one-third mark of the 2003 season, Gordon sits third in the point 
standings, 216 behind leader Matt Kenseth. His average starting position is 
9.25 – three positions better than his 2002 average – and he leads the series 
in laps led with 646. 
    "One of the areas we wanted to improve over the offseason was our 
qualifying performance," said Gordon. "We're leading more laps than we did last year 
and I think that is a direct result of good qualifying efforts on Friday.
    "There is no easy way around this place. It's much easier when you can 
race the track as the leader instead of racing the track in the middle of 10 
cars battling for position. Out front is definitely where you want to be during 
this race."
    Out front is where Gordon has finished 62 times during his Winston Cup 
career, winning on 19 of the 23 tracks currently on the schedule. Johnson must 
be learning from the four-time champion as he has now won on three different 
tracks: Charlotte, Dover and California. Gordon has collected a total of 10 
victories at those three tracks.
    This Sunday, Gordon hopes to collect the winner's share of the purse, not 
the owner's share.