CONCORD, N. Bryce Brown Jersey .C. -- Sprint Cup points leader Jeff Gordon cut short his practice because of back spasms and the No. 24 team has Regan Smith on standby should the four-time champion not be able to run the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night. Gordon went just 11 laps Saturday before he told his crew he couldnt continue. He left out of a side door of his hauler and was escorted out of the track to get treatment. Crew chief Alan Gustafson said the team would not run the car in the final practice session and instead will get it ready for Sundays race. "Ive had some spasms in the past, but this one, it was a little bit different," said the 42-year-old Gordon. "And so I just want to really be cautious and take care of it. It doesnt do me any good to be in the car right now." Gustafson said the plan was for Gordon to start the longest event in NASCAR. Should the pain be too much, then Smith would take over the Hendrick Motorsports car. Gustafson said Gordon felt back pain after qualifying Thursday night and had hoped things would improve before Saturdays practice sessions. But "after the first run, we talked about it and it was pretty detrimental to him physically to continue," Gustafson said. Gordon said on Twitter he planned to rest and "be ready for 600 miles 2moro." The four-time series champion is having one of the steadiest starts of his career with eight top-10 finishes in the first 11 races. Gordon moved into the points lead following a second-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in early April and hes stayed out front ever since. He cemented his place in the Sprint Cups championship Chase two weeks ago with a victory at Kansas Speedway. Gordon will start 27th and hope his back holds out for 400 laps around the 1.5-mile race track. "Luckily, we had a good 11 laps there and weve got our teammates and information that were going to be able to gather from them," Gordon said. "Its all coming together very fast right now." Gordon has had back spasms in the past and even considered retiring because of the severe pain. Regular treatment has kept the pain mostly in check and Gustafson hopes that will be the case again for Sunday. Doctors "will get him in the best condition he can and get him ready to run tomorrow," Gustafson said. This weeks race marks the 20th anniversary of Gordons first Sprint Cup victory. His crew chief then, Ray Evernham, said Gordon is much tougher than some believe and has raced through illness and pain before. "We won the Southern 500 (at Darlington) when he started throwing up halfway" through the race, said Evernham, currently working for Hendrick Motorsports. Evernham said Gordon believes his car is ready and is being smart by not hurting himself further by practicing. "Hell do everything he needs to do to get to feeling good and I know him and tomorrow night in that car, he may need some help getting out of it, but when hes in it, hes going to be at 100 per cent," Evernham said. Andre Reed Jersey . The Basque club improved to four points better than fifth-place Villarreal in the duel for the last Champions League qualifying place. Celta should have come away with more from the high tempo game. Nigel Bradham Bills Jersey . -- Michael Phelps has competed in the second event of his comeback and failed to advance to the 50-meter freestyle final.The (36-34-9) Winnipeg Jets are in Sunrise, Florida for a 6:30pm ct face off tonight against the (37-25-17) Panthers. TSN 1290s coverage begins with Hustler & Lawless live from Bank Atlantic Center. Rick Ralph hosts the official Jets pregame show at 5:30pm ct. Shane Hnidy joins me in the broadcast booth for the play-by-play. Tanner Glass and Kyle Wellwood have both returned to Winnipeg after each suffering a broken foot in Carolina and Tampa, respectively. Patrice Cormier plays his seventh NHL game of the season after being called up from St. Johns yesterday. Antti Miettinen has eight points (five goals and three assists) in his last 10 games. Ondrej Pavelec starts in goal. Jets Projected Lines: Ladd-Little-WheelerKane-Burmistrov-MachacekStapleton-Antropov-MiettinenCormier-Slater-Thorburn Enstrom-ByfuglienBogosian-HainseyStuart-Clitsome A win tonight over the Jets clinches first place in the Southeast Division for first time in Panthers history. In 11 of the laast 13 games, Florida has earned at least one point in the Southeast Division standings. Robert Woods Jersey. Stephen Weiss is celebrating his 29th birthday today. A decade ago, Weiss made his NHL debut and scored a goal in a 4-1 win over Pittsburgh. Tomas Fleischmann has 10 points (four goals and six assists) in his last 10 games. Jose Theodore starts in goal. Panthers Projected Lines: Fleischmann-Weiss-VersteegBergenheim-Goc-SamuelssonWolski-Matthias-UpshallSturm-Madden-Kopecky Garrison-CampbellKulikov-WeaverJovanovski-Gudbranson Winnipeg has a 2-2-1 record against Florida this season. In those games, Kris Versteeg leads the Panthers with eight points (six goals and two assists). Meanwhile, in three of those games vs. Florida, Evander Kane has seven points (four goals and three assists). The Jets will stay over following tonights game and practice tomorrow before flying to New York in preparation for Thursdays final road game of the season against the Islanders. ' ' '