NASCAR Favored Gordon begins chase

He, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart have Cup championships.
LOUDON, N.H. (AP) -- If experience counted for everything, Jeff Gordon would be a lock to win NASCAR's first 10-man, 10-race championship playoff.
The four-time series champion goes into today's Sylvania 300, the first event of what NASCAR has dubbed the "Chase for the Nextel Cup," as the points leader and the odds-on favorite to still be on top after the season finale Nov. 21 in Homestead, Fla.
Among the other title contenders, only Matt Kenseth (2003) and Tony Stewart (2002) have won Cup championships, and Gordon's 69 race wins are far and away the most of the group, with the 34 by four-time series runner-up Mark Martin the closest among the other nine.
Rebound season
Winning another title to go with the championships he won in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001, would mean a great deal to the 33-year-old Gordon, who has finished fourth in the standings each of the past two years.
"The last couple of years have been decent for us, but we've been missing the boat and not been in that championship battle," Gordon said. "This is very exciting and certainly an opportunity we want to take advantage of."
It won't be easy.
Under the new format, once the 10 contenders were locked in, the points were reset, with the contenders separated in increments of five points.
Gordon leads teammate Jimmie Johnson by five points and 10th-place Ryan Newman by 45.
In between are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Stewart, Kenseth, Elliott Sadler, Kurt Busch, Martin and Jeremy Mayfield.
Today's lineup
Thanks to the rain that washed out Friday's qualifying, the lineup was set by car owner points and that means the contenders will line up for the start of the race at the front of the 43-car grid.
"In a way it's kind of neat that the 10 guys in the championship will start out this thing all together," Martin said. "We've just got to hope that nobody gets too crazy out there, but I don't think that will happen. At least, not yet."
Johnson is very happy to be starting out front on the tight 1.058-mile oval.
"Track position is real important here," Johnson said. "It's a tough place to pass. Anything that can help in these last 10 races to keep your frustration level lower is a bonus.
"This track is about a groove and a half where you can really race side-by-side. If you force the issue, you've got two grooves. That raises the frustration level for your team and for the other guys. And you've got to be very clean these final 10 [races] to not get anybody mad at you to where they want to pay you back or dump you."
Various strategies
Johnson said he expects some of the contending teams to take a conservative strategy and others to go out aggressively -- at least for a few races.
"But I would think that regardless of wherever you are after five or six [races], it will look like a typical championship," Johnson said. "Once you get up there and you're down to the final three or four races and you're looking for points, you're going to switch to conservative mode."
Unlike some of the drivers in the top 10, Johnson and Gordon have been at or near the top of the points most of the season and have felt little pressure. That could change starting today.
"Fortunately for us, we really haven't had to be very conservative to this point, so I think we'll be aggressive, and the No. 24 [Gordon] will be aggressive," Johnson said. "And I definitely think that Mark, Jeremy and Elliott have been set on kill for a few months and it's been working for them."
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