Gordon seeking special -- and needed -- victory
SONOMA, Calif. -- Ella Gordon turned 2 years old Saturday, and her proud papa was beaming about it Friday before qualifying.
"We're going to have a great birthday party, and she's actually going to know what it is this year and enjoy it," Jeff Gordon said. "She keeps saying, 'Happy birthday to Ella, happy birthday to Ella.' She's gone to some other kids' birthday parties, so she's been looking forward to her own."
Dad is hoping for a little celebration of his own come Sunday evening at a venue where he excels. No NASCAR driver has won as much at Infineon Raceway as Gordon. No one comes close.
He has five victories in 16 starts on the 1.99-mile road course. No other driver has more than two. The only active driver on that two-win list is Tony Stewart, the man Gordon needs to beat Sunday.
Stewart leads the standings, 47 points in front of Gordon. Stewart also starts this race five rows in front of Gordon. Stewart qualified fourth, and Gordon was 13th.
Of the six drivers in the field who have won a Sprint Cup championship, Gordon and Stewart stand out as road-course experts. Gordon has nine road-course victories in his career, and Stewart has six.
So what makes them better than other Cup racers at road racing?
"It just comes a little more natural to those guys," Jeff Burton said, who also includes Mark Martin as a road-course star. "I have to work at it. It's easier for them.
"It's not that they brake better. It's not that they accelerate better, and it's not one place on the race track where they have figured out and you haven't. It's putting all of it together and being a little better everywhere."
Sonoma is Gordon's comfort zone, but that has more to do with personal reasons than the on-track racing style.
This is home. He was born down the road in Vallejo and spent his childhood years here.
His mom and stepfather moved to Indiana when Gordon was a teenager to help advance his racing career, but his roots and most of his relatives are in Northern California.
It's also the place where he asked his wife, Ingrid, to marry him in 2006. And the Sonoma race always falls on the week of Ella's birth.
"This is always a very special weekend for me," Gordon said. "I've been racing so hard, so long for so many years, but this is that rare time that gets me close to home.
"It's a great opportunity to see my friends and family. We started doing a little event several years ago to just try to bring everybody together the day before the race. Then I got married, new baby and her birthday weekend. That makes it more special. And it's Father's Day weekend, too."
It's all good, but Gordon freely admits he has two problems entering this race -- a bad back that will be tested on the constant turns of Infineon and a car that he has yet to master on a road course.
Gordon never has won a road-course race in the new car. His last victory at Sonoma came in 2006, the last race here in the old car.
"We've lost some of the advantage we had in the old car," Gordon said. "Yes, that old car was easier to drive on the road course. This one is very challenging. Some of it is about learning this car.
"For whatever reason, the last couple of years we've just not had the speed. A lot of it is in the braking zones to really be able to get the speed out of the car that you need at this track."
If Gordon can figure it out with the car, can his bad back hold up? No track in Cup is more taxing on a driver's back than Sonoma -- 10 turns, up and down hills with constant shifting.
"This is definitely a track that's been on my radar to have concerns about," Gordon said. "We did a test at Road Atlanta a couple of weeks ago and I was pretty happy with the way things were."
Gordon said he had some back pain with shifting at Atlanta, but it was a transmission issue that the team corrected. How his back will hold up for 112 grueling laps Sunday remains an unknown.
But Gordon put those concerns aside Saturday afternoon. It was time to enjoy his family and watch his little girl celebrate her birthday. So what present is she getting from Mom and Dad?
"I'll be honest, we didn't get her a gift," Gordon said. "We got her a party. She's got a pretty good life. She gets to enjoy a lot of things. But I'm sure once she can make a list, its going to be long."
Dad's wish list is a short one this weekend: A checkered flag Sunday is all he needs.
"I'm hoping that we've got back whatever we were missing," Gordon said. "We'll see."
Jeff Gordon is a solid pick to win at Sonoma and get his season jump-started - ESPN