Gordon hoping for better end

SONOMA, Calif. — Jeff Gordon’s strategy this week at Infineon Raceway is simple: “Attack, attack, attack.”

The four-time NASCAR champion is still getting over last week’s 38th-place finish at Michigan, where he led 81 of the first 88 laps before an engine failure ended his day.

And Gordon can’t help thinking about finishing 30th at Charlotte, fourth at Pocono and 36th at Dover in the weeks leading up to the Michigan disappointment, leaving him sixth in the Nextel Cup standings heading into today’s Dodge/Save Mart 350.

“I’m definitely not happy with the inconsistency of our finishes recently,” said Gordon, who will start from the pole today on the scenic wine country road course.

“Except for Charlotte, we’ve been performing well as a team,” he added. “We just don’t have the finishes to show for it.”

Instead of hanging his head, though, Gordon is more determined than ever to get things turned around right now.

He proved that with his spectacular qualifying effort Friday on the 1.99-mile, 10-turn circuit. Flinging his No. 24 Chevrolet through the turns, Gordon went off course twice but still set a track record while winning his fourth Sonoma pole.

Now Gordon, NASCAR’s all-time leading road course winner, will go after his eighth career victory on the tracks with both left and right turns. In 22 career starts on road circuits, Gordon has 13 top fives and two of his three wins here have come from the pole.

In contrast, the other nine drivers in the top 10 in points going into today’s race have combined for two wins and 14 top five finishes in a total of 78 starts.

Gordon won six consecutive road course events — another record — beginning with the 1997 race at Watkins Glen, N.Y., and ending here in 2000. Since then, he has finished third, 37th and second here.

“Our road course program was strong during that stretch and it’s still strong,” he said. “But other teams have stepped up their programs. You can’t throw away the two road course events if you expect to compete for the championship.”

Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin, two of NASCAR’s best road racers, start second and fourth, sandwiched around Kurt Busch.

Wallace is second only to Jeff Gordon with six road race victories among active drivers and expects to be among the leaders today.

Robby Gordon won both Cup road races last year.