Busch test brings relief to Gordon, Evernham

Thursday, Feb. 25, 1999 | 9:58 a.m.

It is clear who does the bulk of the worrying in the new partnership between Jeff Gordon and Ray Evernham.

Gordon and Evernham, co-owners of a new NASCAR Busch Series car that Gordon will debut in next Saturday's Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, completed a successful two-day test Wednesday at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Evernham, who serves as team manager and crew chief of Gordon's No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet in the Winston Cup circuit, looked especially relieved after the Pepsi-sponsored Chevy's first test.

"Actually, I'm a little bit scared that we're going to come here and really not run so good -- at least, I was," Evernham said. "We really don't know, honestly, how we stack up.

"Joe Nemechek is our only judge right now and he's a little bit quicker than us. We don't expect to be at the top level that you can be at until it starts racing."

Unofficial lap speeds showed that Nemechek was running about a tenth of a second off last year's Sam's Town 300 pole time of 33.215 seconds (162.577 mph) during his testing and Gordon was not far behind.

"It has been going well," Gordon said. "It truly is (a test) for us because this is the very first time this car has ever been at a race track.

"We've really got a lot of things to try and it's getting me a lot of laps in a Busch car, and it has been a while since I've been behind the wheel of one of these Busch cars."

Gordon, a three-time Winston Cup champion and winner of the 1999 Daytona 500, said he is not expecting to dominate the five Busch Series races he is running this year. The 27-year-old California native will be attempting to run his first Busch Series race since 1992.

"I'm approaching this very openly and I'm not expecting to just go out there and do what Mark Martin and Jeff Burton and Nemechek have done in the Busch Series," Gordon said.

"I'm very comfortable in my environment with the Winston Cup car right now but this (Busch car) is new. I cannot take anything for granted and I have to approach this very seriously and very openly."

While Gordon and Evernham may have been satisfied with their initial test of their Busch car, there still is one large hurdle to overcome before they can debut their car in the Sam's Town 300.

Because theirs is a new team, they will have to make the field for the race solely on Gordon's two-lap qualifying run next Friday. They don't have the option of getting into the race on a provisional (based on last season's championship points).

"The first thing we've got to get out of the way when we get here is making the race," Evernham said. "We don't have champions provisionals and things like that so we have to come here and get that thing in the show first and see what it's like to race a Busch car 300 miles."

Gordon, however, said he is confident the setup his crew will give him will allow him to make the race.

"Luckily for me, we've put together a really strong Busch team where the cars drive a lot like what I'm used to driving," he said. "The setups are very similar to what I'm used to driving (in the Winston Cup Series); a lot of the characteristics ... really seem to be the same."