A year before, Jeff Gordon had lost the '95 race at Pocono after he missed a gear shift. He wasn't about to let it happen again by Bruce Newman Jeff Gordon bypassed an old demon and a dozen competitors to capture his fifth win of the '96 season before any other driver had won twice. (Margin of victory: 3.68 seconds) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 200 laps at 169.725 mph Ricky Rudd, Ford, 200 laps Geoff Bodine, Ford, 200 laps Mark Martin, Ford, 200 laps Bobby Hamilton, Pontiac, 200 laps 3 hours, 35 minutes, 40 seconds; 4 flags, 23 laps run under caution Jeff Gordon 169.725 mph* with point totals (and points earned this weekend) 1 Dale Earnhardt 1,968 (67) 2 Terry Labonte 1,916 (151) 3 Jeff Gordon 1,904 (185) 4 Dale Jarrett 1,735 (49) 5 Ricky Rudd 1,724 (175) *Record (previous record: Rusty Wallace, 164.558 mph, 1994) The combination of a perfectly tuned race car and a smooth, aggressive driver can create an illusion of dominion over the elements—as if the car were riding around the track on rails—that in no way reflects the thrashing around that goes on in the cockpit during these seamless performances. Jeff Gordon had illustrated that fact of NASCAR life at the 1995 UAW-GM Teamwork 500 when, with seven laps of racing to go, he missed a gear shift, blew his engine and, in the process, a race he had controlled. This year, after earning his third consecutive pole position, Gordon led 50 of the final 51 laps. But late in the race, as Ricky Rudd and Geoff Bodine gave chase, the question was unavoidable: Would he repeat his boneheaded mistake? "The thought certainly crossed my mind,'' Gordon admitted after the race. "I didn't want to see a caution [flag], have a restart and have to go up through the gears. With about 20 laps to go, every time I went from third to fourth [gear] on the front straight, I was making sure I got it in there.'' By managing not to grind his gears, Gordon clinched his fifth victory of the year, his second straight and the 14th of his career. "That's payback for last year!" crew chief Ray Evernham shouted to Gordon over the radio as the driver took the checkered flag. The Pocono track received a new asphalt surface in the fall of 1995, making it "the best raceable track on the Winston Cup circuit right now," according to Bodine. The tar held the cars tight to the 2 1/2-mile circuit, so drivers raced fearlessly through Pocono's three corners, challenging Gordon at every turn. "In the past here, we've been a little hesitant to run on the outside of a car," Gordon said. "But you could run two wide and there wasn't really a preferred line on the outside or inside." The foes were friendly as Gordon had a prerace chat with Earnhardt and crew chief Evernham. photograph by Don Grassmann/CIA The result of the track refurbishment: some of the best racing seen on the circuit up to now, even though two of the point standings leaders—Dale Jarrett and Dale Earnhardt—didn't finish the race. Jarrett, who suffered leg and rib injuries during qualifying, broke a crankshaft and turned only 37 laps, while Earnhardt lost his engine and finished 32nd. A dozen drivers led the race, with seven of them each leading 10 laps or more. Ten drivers led during the first 60 laps, and though it must have come as a big disappointment to all those fans of pit stops, most of the passes occurred out on the race track, as Derrike Cope, Rudd, Hut Stricklin, Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Bodine and Gordon all took turns leading the pack. "You could dice back and forth and really maneuver the race car and the guy in front of you,'' said Cope afterward. "It was some really exciting racing." Particularly if you could find fourth gear.