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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Repeat For Gordon Now Questionable

Compiled From Wire Services

The kind of weekend Jeff Gordon has had so far at Atlanta Motor Speedway is definitely not what he had in mind.

Gordon, who needs only to finish 18th or better in today’s season-ending NAPA 500 to wrap up his second Winston Cup championship, put himself in a deep hole on Saturday with an uncharacteristic mistake.

Gordon slid sideways and slammed hard into the stopped car of Bobby Hamilton warming up his tires before the race. The collision forced both drivers to switch to their backup cars.

Quietly confident Dale Jarrett, who trails Gordon by 77 points, and Mark Martin, who is another 10 points back, hope to take advantage of Gordon’s troubles. Both of the pursuers are going after their first title.

On a day when the 48 top qualifiers surpassed the previous track record of 186.507 set last March by Robby Gordon, Jeff Gordon, whose crew scrambled to put his qualifying motor in a backup car, wound up deep in the pack at 190.673.

In fact, while Jarrett starts third and Martin ninth, Gordon will be 37th in the 43-car field and will have to find a way to move up front on the redesigned and repaved 1.544-mile oval.

Chad Little of Spokane qualified 24th at 192.493 mph.