Johnson, Gordon looking to put an end to the bad luck

Jeff Gordon left Las Vegas sore and smarting. Jimmie Johnson left Vegas with his pride wounded. Both were preseason favorites to win the Sprint Cup title, but so far in 2008, neither has come close to showing championship form.

They head into Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX) looking to turn their seasons in the right direction. Both have had previous success at AMS: Gordon is a four-time winner, and Johnson has three wins, including both races in 2007.

Fast Facts

What	Kobalt Tools 500
When	1:30 p.m. ET Sunday
TV	FOX
Radio	PRN / Sirius Ch. 128

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For Gordon, 36, the crash on the backstretch with five laps to go at Vegas was one of the hardest of his career. Feeling the aches and pains that come with a hard impact was bad enough, but dealing with his second DNF in three starts leaves the four-time Cup champion in 23rd place in the standings and 64 points out of 12th, the cutoff for qualifying for the Chase.

"I was sore on Monday, but I'm feeling better each day," Gordon said. "We've had competitive cars at each race this year, we just don't have the finishes to show for it. We'll hopefully rebound with another strong performance -- coupled with a great finish -- this weekend."

It has been only marginally better for his teammate. Johnson was second at Fontana, but finishes of 27th at Daytona and 29th at Las Vegas have the defending series champ 14th in the standings.

Johnson, 32, and his team will use the frustrations from Las Vegas to motivate them toward success in Atlanta.

"It was definitely a disappointment, but no one is down about it," Johnson said. "It just makes us that much more determined. [The team] won't stop until they figure out what was going on with the car. Sometimes you can learn a lot more from overcoming setbacks than you do from your successes. We'll get it figured out. One thing this team doesn't do is give up."

The schedule calls for night qualifying Friday and the race to be run entirely during the daylight hours, which means the crew chiefs will be working overtime trying to find the right balance with the temperamental new chassis.

"It's a unique situation at Atlanta," Johnson said. "I don't know of any other track where we qualify at night and then run the entire race during the day. Chad [Knaus, Johnson's crew chief] and the engineers have to make their best guess on what the track's going to do. We've qualified well there in the past, so I'm confident we can do the same this weekend."

By the Numbers

Atlanta Motor Speedway has seen three of the 12 closest finishes in NASCAR history.

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It's no surprise that after four wins Gordon enjoys racing at Atlanta. He liked the original layout at AMS -- which was reconstructed from a traditional oval into a tri-oval in 1997 -- but three of his wins have come since 1998.

"The pavement is like a great wine, it gets better when it has aged," he said. "The pavement here really wears the tires out, and we can run low, middle, high and everywhere in between in the wide corners. It really gives us the opportunity to find a line that works best for the car."

Newman likes the view up front

Starting up front is nothing new for Ryan Newman, especially with a nickname like 'The Rocket'.

Newman is tied for first with Buddy Baker for the most poles at Atlanta Motor Speedway with seven each. But Newman has never been able to parlay his great starting position into a win at the track.

Newman's longtime coach and mentor, Baker, has done just that -- winning the 1979 spring race from the pole. Fourteen drivers have won from the pole, more than any other starting spot -- most recently Kasey Kahne in 2006.

Newman notched six consecutive poles through 2003-2005 and grabbed his seventh last year in this race.

Leading up to the Kobalt Tools 500, Newman knows how special breaking the tie with Baker would be.

"Atlanta has always been a place where I like to qualify, and it would be an honor to get the all-time pole record there. Buddy Baker really helped me throughout my racing career, and that's why we named the car we won the Daytona 500 with after him."

"We always drove the tracks backwards because it gives you a different perspective of entry and exit points. That's something we did at Atlanta when he was teaching me about the track and I have always qualified well there, so I think it would be an honor to both of us if I am able to get my eighth pole there this weekend."

NASCAR Media contributed to this report