WATKINS GLEN Rivals to start on the front

Jimmie Johnson has a 97-point lead over Jeff Gordon in the Nextel Cup.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) -- Pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson's first hope is that he and teammate Jeff Gordon make it cleanly through the first turn at Watkins Glen International.
It didn't work out that way last year in the Sirius at The Glen, when Gordon was spun out by Greg Biffle at the start of the race.
"We may joke with each other about it," Johnson said, referring to Gordon. "With the respect we have for one another and our desire to finish the race, I don't think there will be an issue."
They start on the front row as a result of the cancellation of qualifying for the race. The field was set on the basis of car-owner points.
Johnson holds a 97-point lead over Gordon in the Nextel Cup standings, so both have something to protect in the second of NASCAR's two road-course races. Johnson is seeking his first career victory on a serpentine layout while Gordon will try to extend to five his record for wins on this 2.45-mile track and his overall mark of nine on road courses.
First turn
It's difficult to downplay the importance of safely negotiating the first turn, a sharp right-hander at the end of a long, downhill straight-away. A miscalculation in position or braking can put a driver in the runoff trap.
"We'll try to leave each other a little room especially in the opening laps," Johnson said. "I definitely need to make it past the first corner before I race too hard."
Gordon expects no problems with Johnson, and says the inside does not have to be the preferred line through the turn.
"You want to get in that first turn good and hard but you also want to have a nice, clean first couple of corners and get into a rhythm," he said. "Unless one of us don't get a good start or something like that, I don't expect anything out of the norm.
"Being on the outside coming out of one can sometimes be an advantage. If he gets in there good I'll try to follow him and go from there."
Second-row starters
Despite the front-row starting positions, both must be aware of attempts by second-row starters Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 2002 Glen winner Tony Stewart to maintain their straight-away speeds longer, dive to the inside, brake later and steal the lead on the turn.
Stewart also wants a clean start, but says drivers can't afford to wait long here.
"You really have to get the majority of your work done in the first two laps before everybody's brakes get hot and you get brake fade," Stewart said.
After Biffle spun out Gordon last year, the four-time series champion fell to the rear of the field. He spent all day working his way back to contention but ran out of gas on the final lap, was hit first by Earnhardt, then clobbered by Kevin Harvick and wound up facing the wrong way against the fence just 200 feet from the finish line.
Made Gordon winner
All this helped make a winner of Robby Gordon, who probably would have started near the front today had qualifying been conducted. But he isn't concerned.
"There isn't any reason we shouldn't be able to come from 23rd to the front," he said, and explained his plan to out-race the other Gordon. "We're going to beat him half a second a lap. We're going to catch him and pass him and go to the front."
Robby was the fastest driver in practice Saturday, getting around the 11-turn circuit at 123.095 mph. Jeff was second at 122.643.