Gordon

Darlington Raceway is one of the toughest tracks on the Winston Cup schedule. The 1.366-mile, high-banked facility has among the hardest walls anywhere, as well as the reputation of being "Too Tough to Tame."

But one look at a certain driver -- a guy with looks, a great smile and a boy-next-door personality -- and the venerable gray lady of Darlington melts right away.

In 20 career starts at NASCAR's oldest racetrack, Jeff Gordon has become the "darling" of Darlington.

Not only has he compiled six wins -- most of any active driver -- Gordon sports a scorecard with some amazing numbers. He's collected 11 top-fives and 14 top-10s. He's led a lap in all but three races he's run there. He also leads all drivers with 1,299 laps led during the course of those 20 starts.

"Let's just say Darlington is one of my favorites," Gordon said.

But at the same time, the track has been more forgiving to Gordon when it comes to overlooking mistakes.

"I can't think of a race at Darlington where I've not done something wrong," Gordon said. "I do think that Darlington is one of those tracks where it's impossible not to make a mistake. But the guy who makes the fewest is the guy that's going to come out with the most success.

"It is a track that you have to have the utmost respect for. You have to race the racetrack. No matter how good your car is, it's never going to be perfect in both ends of the racetrack because of the shape of the track."

It's with that kind of attitude and those kinds of numbers that make Gordon among the favorites for Sunday's Carolina Dodge Dealers 400. Given Gordon's love affair with Darlington, and the fact Sunday marks NASCAR's 100th race there, would it be any surprise to see the No. 24 Chevy in Victory Lane on Sunday?

"It's hard to call Darlington 'home', because that track can just reach out and bite you at any time, but it's certainly been a good one for us," Gordon said. "I'm excited that we've come off of a strong finish at Atlanta and can carry some momentum to a track that has such good stats for us.

"I look at this point in the season last year, where we came into some tracks where we coulda, woulda, shoulda capitalized on but unfortunately weren't able to do that. I hope that this time we can make those things different and come out with some great finishes and hopefully a win."

Gordon was the most recent driver to win at Darlington, capturing the Southern 500 there last September.

"(That) was a great race for us," Gordon said. "We had a car that was fast at the beginning of the run as well as at the end of the run. It was certainly one of the best cars I've ever had.

	“	Obviously with my success at Darlington, I would hate to see one of the Darlington races go off the circuit. But, I've always been a big supporter of seeing the sport grow and going to the next level. ”
		— Jeff Gordon

"Last week, we didn't win in Atlanta, but we led laps and battled hard for the win. That was our first good finish of the season -- even though we've run well at each event -- and I think that will give us some momentum this weekend."

While Sunday's race is only the fifth on NASCAR's grueling 36-race schedule, Gordon has made considerable noise thus far. His finish at Atlanta helped him vault 12 spots in the standings, up to eighth and just 141 points behind leader Matt Kenseth.

Not only is Gordon coming off a runner-up finish at Atlanta, he was 12th at Daytona and 15th at Rockingham, N.C. Plus, he started on the outside of the front row at Las Vegas, only to be knocked out early and finish 37th.

"Our first two races weren't spectacular, but they weren't catastrophic," Gordon said. "Vegas was definitely one that it will take us a while to make up for.

"It's nice being in the top 10 in points now -- knowing that we're going to some tracks like Darlington and Bristol and even Texas that were good tracks for us last year. We feel like we can really make some gains on them at some of these tracks coming up."

Sunday's race at Darlington could potentially be the last spring event there. Rumors point to NASCAR taking away one of Darlington's two events and giving it either to another, larger existing track, or a new facility for 2004.

"Obviously with my success at Darlington, I would hate to see one of the Darlington races go off the circuit," Gordon said. "But, I've always been a big supporter of seeing the sport grow and going to the next level. You look at the crowd at Rockingham -- and we'll see what it's like this weekend at Darlington -- but there are a couple of tracks that the sport is starting to grow to a point that it would be beneficial to everyone involved, including the fans, if it went to a venue in another part of the country in a bigger market."

So, if Sunday is indeed Gordon's last spring hurrah at Darlington, he wants to go out a winner. But while he is definitely the Lady in Black's favorite son, he's not too big in his britches for her to slap him down to size.

"It's still too tough to tame," Gordon said. "You have to respect the track every single lap and take what it gives you. If you try and take more than it will allow, you can count on a 'black stripe' (for hitting the wall) on the side of your car at the very least."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.