Practice gives Gordon a lift

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- A victory by Jeff Gordon today would be a strong argument that there's nothing more important than practice.

After failing last year to get his fifth victory at Watkins Glen International, NASCAR's king of the road decided to use one of five allowable testing sessions this season to regain the dominance he had here in the late 1990s. It paid off Friday when he won the pole for the Sirius at The Glen.

"It really took me about a day and a half to get comfortable going into turn one," he said of his test last month.

Negotiating the first of 11 turns on the 2.45-mile road course is critical. It comes at the end of a long, downhill straightaway, where a driver can easily ruin his day by sliding off the course and into a gravel trap.

The alternative is to be able to go hard and still make a smooth corner. Gordon, the NASCAR record holder with seven road-course victories, believes he's ready to do that -- thanks to hard work.

"If we hadn't tested and we just came here, I probably wouldn't be able to drive into turn one the way I can," said the four-time Winston Cup champion.

Gordon has won 55 times on ovals, where speed is the key to victory. But his success on the curvy road courses here and in Sonoma, Calif., is attributable to his understanding that slowing down quickly makes for a faster lap.

"You attack it under braking," he said. "It's really just how hard you drive into the corners."

Rookie Greg Biffle also tested here, and what he learned enabled him to qualify second. Biffle also was the fastest in Saturday's practice sessions.

"I think we've got a good shot at repeating what we did here last year," Stewart said, but he knows he needs to get to the front. "Track position is real important here."

Stewart starts outside three-time Watkins Glen winner Mark Martin, also among the fastest Saturday.

Rusty Wallace, a two-time winner here, shares the third row with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt spun into the gravel in the final session, but did not damage his car.

Points leader Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Bobby Labonte and Boris Said complete the top 10.