J. GORDON LOOKS FOR FIFTH WIN AT ROCKINGHAM

    ROCKINGHAM, NC - Jeff Gordon looks to follow up his ninth-place finish in 
the Daytona 500 with another strong qualifying run and a fifth victory at 
North Carolina Speedway as he enters the Subway 400 on Sunday.
    In 18 career starts at Rockingham, Gordon has four wins, two poles, seven 
top- five and eight top-10 finishes. He also hasn't qualified outside of the 
top 10 here since 1994 and is the only driver to have multiple wins in the 
last five years.
    Most of Gordon's success at Rockingham has come in the February event in 
which he has three wins, two poles and four top-five finishes. That's good 
news for the four-time Winston Cup champion -- bad news for the competition.
    "I've always said that you don't need a good finish in the Daytona 500 in 
order to win the championship," said Gordon. "Going into Rockingham with a 
top 10 already under our belt is certainly encouraging. Now we won't have to 
play catch-up like we have the last couple seasons."
    The two events at Rockingham in 2001 produced drastically different 
results for the DuPont team. In February, they won the pole, led 180 of 393 
laps and finished third. In November, they didn't get the car dialed in until 
late in the race and finished 25th. 
    "We gained some valuable information from the No. 48 team test here in 
January," said No. 24 team crew chief, Robbie Loomis. "This weekend, we plan 
on using that information plus our notes from last spring." 
    "One of the most important things at Rockingham is tire management," said 
Gordon. "The track surface just eats tires up so I think it's important to 
set the car up for long runs. If you're off on the setup you can fade back 
quickly and find yourself a lap down in no time." 
    Another factor for the No. 24 team is that they are using the same car 
that performed so well last spring.
    "We only used this car twice last year, but we feel confident in what it 
can do," said Gordon. "Hopefully we can have a similar run to what we had 
last year but with better results."
    If that's the case then Gordon's competitors could be in for a long 
Sunday afternoon, which doesn't bother him at all.