LAS VEGAS, NV.- - Jeff Gordon tested at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on January 27-28 in preparation for the March race at the 1.5-mile desert track. Over the course of the two day session, Gordon and his teammate Jimmie Johnson turned the two fastest recorded laps in race trim among the Winston Cup drivers testing at the track. Gordon won at Las Vegas in 2001 but struggled in last year's race. He started 13th and finished 17th without leading a lap. Since the Chevrolet teams will have a new Monte Carlo body style for 2003, testing on a downforce track such as Las Vegas is essential. Knowledge gained from testing on the 1.5-mile oval in the Nevada desert can be used on several other Winston Cup tracks including Texas, Charlotte, Atlanta, Chicago, and Kansas City. With NASCAR limiting test dates to just five this season, every test date becomes all the more important. In Las Vegas, winners and losers are often determined by the roll of the dice, spin of the wheel, or shuffling of the cards. For the DuPont team, they'll have to wait until March to find out whether the January test session was the ace in the hole they were hoping for.

TNT network spent Tuesday morning prior to the test session shooting its commercial campaign for the upcoming season with Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, and Jerry Nadeau. The commercials had the group walking side-by-side with the illusion of heat coming off the pit road and another with a giant American flag behind them. The campaign will kick off in May, run through late June and be featured during the NBA playoff telecasts. The commercials will lead into "The Drama is Coming" promos for TNT race broadcasts that begin in July.

+Tuesday testing speeds | +Jeff's comments after Monday's session

Las Vegas News Article:
+Gordon still motoring despite bends in the road

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