Is 13th the charm for Gordon at Texas?

DAVID POOLE, dpoole@charlotteobserver.com

Wednesday, Apr. 11, 2007

Something’s got to give in Sunday’s Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The story of the 2007 Nextel Cup season has been the strength of Hendrick Motorsports, which has won the past four races. Jimmie Johnson has three of those victories, including wins at Las Vegas and Atlanta – both sister tracks to the 1.5-mile Texas layout.

But no active Hendrick driver has ever won a Cup race – or a Busch race, for that matter – at Texas. Terry Labonte won the Cup race in 1996, but he’s no longer driving.

What makes that even more remarkable is that 12 different drivers have won the 12 Cup races held at Texas, but neither Johnson nor teammates Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Casey Mears is in that group.

Gordon has 75 total Cup victories and has won Cup events at 19 of the tracks currently on the schedule. He hasn’t won in the premiere series at Homestead or Phoenix, but he has won Busch races at both of those tracks.

At Texas? Nada. Not even a pole. “We've been in contention to win there before, but we've also had races where I felt we didn't have a car capable of being on the lead lap,” Gordon said.

The 12 drivers who’ve won Cup races at Texas are Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, Labonte, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Jarrett, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart.

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