In three hundred and twenty starts, four time Winston Cup Champion Jeff Gordon has amassed an incredible record of winning. Sixty Two times he has brought his Dupont Chevrolet to Victory Lane.

Equally impressive as Gordon’s knack of winning races is his ability as a top qualifier. Qualifying on the pole is something Gordon has done 41 times since he started his Winston Cup career in Atlanta (1992).
This weekends event at the Homestead-Miami Speedway marked the first time in a almost ten full seasons of racing that Gordon did not make the field on speed, and was forced to use a provision start.

Commenting on the end of the streak, Gordon remained focused on the race.

“It was going to happen eventually. Drawing that number one spot (qualifying order). There was something wrong with that set of tires. We put that same set of tires on today and the car was awful and it had been good all day before that. Things happen every once in a while. I can't believe we've gone as long as we've gone without taking a provisional. That's a pretty amazing stat that we had there. All we care about though is winning races, “ noted Gordon.

Gordon’s lap of 150.079 MPH was .009MPH slower than that of Kevin Harvick, the last driver to make the field on speed. Gordon’s first out position in the qualifying order certainly impacted the results as cloud cover cooled the track surface for the last twenty competitors.

Cooler track conditions improve tire grip resulting in faster lap times.

Gordon’s provisional start did not impact the race results as the veteran finished fifth in the event raising him to an overall fifth place finish in the 2002 championship standings. The accomplishment continues another Gordon streak that marks the ninth consecutive year that the driver has finished in the top ten in season ending point standings.