Jeff Gordon prepares to practice for the the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Robert Laberge/Getty Images Photo) » More Photos

Blog Post: Friday, July 25, 2008 3:50 PM Eastern

NO COMPARISON Jeff Gordon is in rarified air at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he has four victories in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. The only other drivers with four of more victories here are Michael Schumacher, a five-time United States Grand Prix winner, and four-time Indy 500 winners A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears. But Gordon doesn’t think his mark is comparable to what the open-wheelers have done at the legendary track.

“I’ve never compared anything that has happened at the Indy 500 or the Formula 1 race to what we do,” said Gordon, a four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. “I think there’s no comparison. No. 1 is the history of the Indianapolis 500 being here for so many years, a totally different type of race car and race. … The four wins that I have are very special. I would love to get five, but not to match stats of other legends that have raced at this track.”

FIRST TEST Friday’s opening round of practice for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was the first time that most NASCAR drivers got to turn a lap in anger at Indianapolis Motor in NASCAR’s new-generation race car, which is being used here for the first time.

“I don’t think anybody really knows what to expect from these cars here,” said Gillett Evernham Motorsports team co-owner Ray Evernham. “It probably would have been a good idea to test since we’re going to run the (new car) here for the first time. I don’t really understand why we didn’t.”

As expected, tire wear was heavy early in practice, though it should become less of an issue over the weekend, as the teams continue to put rubber down on the surface of the venerable 2.5-mile oval. “There’s nothing wrong with the tires. There’s nothing wrong with the track or anything,” said Chris Carrier, who is crew chief for Sam Hornish Jr. at Penske Racing. “It’s something you deal with here. It’s the history. Every time we’ve come here to test, every first day of practice when the track is really green, we go out and run three or four laps, come in and the tire man looks at the right-front tire. There might be a few chords hanging out, or whatever, and everybody goes ballistic.”