They adjusted the spoiler height, and Jeff Gordon led laps. They slapped on a restrictor plate, and Jeff Gordon led laps. They put a wicker on the car's roof, and Jeff Gordon led laps. They messed around with the spoiler heights some more, and Jeff Gordon led some more laps.

In 21 Winston Cup races at Talladega Superspeedway, Gordon has won twice at the 2.66-mile Alabama behemoth, logged 11 top 10s and led 427 laps -- second-most, behind Bill Elliott, for laps led among active racers.

Gordon has masterfully adjusted to the myriad rules NASCAR has implemented, and then discontinued, for races at 'Dega, which bodes well for him on Sunday.

Though all eyes will be focused on Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his No. 8 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which Junior will try to steer to victory lane for a fifth consecutive time this weekend, you can count on Gordon adapting quickly and effectively to the latest round of changes the sanctioning body is trying out for the EA Sports 500.

The restrictor plates remain a mandate, but NASCAR has increased the size of the holes on the plates by 1/32nd of an inch to increase horsepower. NASCAR also mandated that spoiler heights change once more, this time an increase to offset the added horsepower by creating more drag.

Sporting these latest digs on his No. 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Gordon qualified fifth-fastest during Friday afternoon time trials, further adding confidence to a race team which was already feeling good about two wind-tunnel tests it conducted preparing for this event.

"The tests were really good and we've got a lot of notes to work with," Gordon's crew chief Robbie Loomis said. "We're feeling really good about the race."

Gordon said his fifth-place starting position might have been higher if he were able to go out during the qualifying time that he drew. As it turned out, he went out a little earlier.

"I ran real high on the first lap to just try and get some momentum built up for that second lap," Gordon said. "The guys in the shop have been working hard, massaging on this body to get it as slick as possible for qualifying day. The engine has been phenomenal. We have new rules here, so it is a little bit of a learning curve for all of us. I'm real happy with that. I would like to have gone out a little later, like where we drew, but for the most part we're happy."

	Jeff Gordon is hoping his rough stretch of the season is well behind him.

Starting fifth, Gordon hopes, will put him in a good position to dethrone Junior at Talladega. In total, the Dale Earnhardt Inc. tandem of Junior and Michael Waltrip has won eight of the past 11 restrictor plate races. Gordon said he's been on a mission to end this domination, and this time, Junior has to start 38th because his car was disallowed after qualifying for being too low.

"I thought the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet was capable of beating DEI last year, but we weren't there at the end," Gordon said. "Earlier this year, we led some laps and I thought we were in great position with four Hendrick cars in the top-five."

Of course, we know how that turned out: Junior won his fourth in a row.

But Gordon's got extra incentive to snatch the checkered from Junior. After a six-race slump, he finally broke through and finished fifth last weekend at Dover. Combined with the amount of work the team has put into this weekend's race and the solid qualifying start, spirits are high in Gordon's camp.

Before last weekend's race at Dover, Gordon was slumming through a six-race streak of finishes at 33rd, 30th, 28th, 32nd, 10th and 19th. That dropped him from third in the points race to sixth.

As bad as the run looks on paper, it looked even worse to the legion of Gordon fans who watched and scratched their heads at some curious moves the team was making late in races.

"We've been performing good," Gordon said. "We just haven't been putting it together there at the end. We still missed it just a little bit there at the end to take us out of contention for the win."

But the team has been preparing for Talladega since early in the summer and is hoping to ride this new wave of confidence back into the top five of the standings.

"It will be interesting to see how much, if any, effect is noticed from these new changes," Gordon said. "We always seem to be racing three and four wide in packs of 40 here and I don't think you'll see that change this weekend."

"With the new spoiler changes, we are half a step in between where we were with roof rails (wickers) and restrictor plate racing recently," Loomis added. "The team has been working hard on our superspeedway cars, including two trips to the wind tunnel since Daytona."

Along with the trade-off between horsepower and drag which the teams will try to negotiate on Sunday, there will be a difference in the fuel mileage strategy -- something which has decided several races already this season.

The cars will still run the smaller fuel tanks aimed at separating the big packs of cars, but the mileage per tank will be different this time since the added horsepower will burn more fuel.

"We anticipate that the new modifications will alter fuel strategy by backing us up a lap or two," Loomis said. "We'll figure out our fuel range during Saturday's practice sessions."

But Loomis is stressing out about that. The team has tested and retested the car. They've got numerous strategies in place and they've punched a lot of numbers anticipating fuel situations. On the eve of the race, he's got his personal strategy in place, too.

"It's a long race with a lot of action," Loomis said. "I just sit on the pit box and hold my breath for 188 laps."

Rupen Fofaria is a freelance writer living in Chicago and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at rfofaria@espnspecial.com.