Jeff Gordon would love to jump-start his winless season on one of the road courses he used to dominate.

Gordon's season has been like the picturesque Infineon Raceway circuit he will race tomorrow in the Dodge/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma, Calif. -- up and down.

With no victories entering the 16th race of the season for just the third time in his career, Gordon is 11th in the standings. He is 11 points behind 10th-place Greg Biffle and 13 behind ninth-place rookie Denny Hamlin.

Behind him, five drivers are within 176 points of Gordon, including Kyle Busch, only one point behind his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

The top 10 drivers in the standings -- and any others within 400 points of the leader after the first 26 races -- qualify for the 10-race Chase, now in its third year. Gordon missed it last year and does not want to do so again.

"This is an important weekend for us," Gordon said. "But, as competitive as Nextel Cup is these days, all of them are equally important. But we do need to get some momentum building."

Things didn't get off to the best start for Gordon, who was fastest in practice yesterday but 11th in time trials after making a mistake and driving through the dirt on his qualifying lap.

"It wasn't what we were hoping for," Gordon said, "but we'll be fine in the race. We just wanted to get through qualifying without making any big mistakes."

Kurt Busch won the pole with a lap of 93.055 mph, followed by Jamie McMurray at 92.948 and Kevin Harvick at 92.889.

Not long ago, it was almost automatic for Gordon to win on one of the two Cup road courses. He leads all Cup drivers with eight victories on the tracks with both right- and left-hand turns. From August 1997 through June 2000 he won six consecutive -- three each at Infineon and Watkins Glen International.

Gordon's record on the 1.99-mile, 10-turn Infineon course includes a series-leading four wins, eight top fives, nine top 10s and 393 laps led in 13 starts. He has led the most laps in the race at Sonoma six times, including 92 of 110 laps in 2004, his last win at the track.

But Tony Stewart is now the driver to beat on the road courses. Stewart, a five-time winner, is the defending champion and winner of two consecutive at Watkins Glen.

More NASCAR

Gene Haas, 54, owner of Oxnard-based Haas Automation and NASCAR's Haas CNC Racing, was arrested Monday for investigation of conspiracy, filing false tax returns and witness intimidation. Haas, who was accused of defrauding the government of more than $20 million in taxes, was released on $10 million bail.

Trucks

After winning his first career NASCAR Craftsman Trucks series race last week, Johnny Benson made it two in a row with a victory in the Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 last night in West Allis, Wis. Benson drove his Toyota past Ron Hornaday Jr. with 41 laps to go, then held off Hornaday on a restart with 25 laps to go for the victory.

Champ Car

Sebastien Bourdais won the provisional pole at the Grand Prix of Cleveland, on his final lap, leapfrogging A.J. Allmendinger and Paul Tracy, who were the fastest for most of the qualifying session. Bourdais posted a lap of 56.851 seconds just before Allmendinger recorded 56.965 seconds on his final lap. Tracy, the race's defending champion, was third (57.011).

IRL

A thunderstorm washed out qualifying for the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway in Virginia, and series points leader Helio Castroneves was awarded the pole position. Castroneves got the pole based on combined practice speeds from two sessions earlier in the day. He averaged 173.472 mph over 75 laps. Scott Sharp, the second-fastest in practice with an average speed of 172.712 mph, will start on the outside of the front row tonight.