The old saying "You have to be good to be lucky and you have to be lucky to be good" comes to mind when talking about Jeff Gordon's win at Saturday night's Subway Fresh Fit 500 in the NASCAR Nextel Cup in Phoenix. BTW, the 500 is in kilometers. It was actually 312 miles. Gordon is leading the points but he's looking for his first win of the year. Phoenix is one of the few tracks where he hasn't won and his next win will tie the late Dale Earnhardt at 76. He started by winning the pole. But no one has ever won from the pole at Phoenix.
It started before the race when Jeff Gordon's helmet radio wasn't working. So the crew had to get his backup helmet from the hauler. Jeff Gordon's #24 Dupont Chevy led until Denny Hamlin's #11 FedEx Kinko's Chevy takes the lead on lap 27. Jimmie Johnson's #48 Lowe's Chevy is having electrical problems and is switching between his two batteries. Big crash on lap 42. David Ragan's #6 AAA Ford makes contact with Tony Stewart and hits the wall. He's hit by David Stremme's #40 Coors Light Dodge. Scott Riggs & Casey Mears are also involved.
Hamlin continues to lead. Debris brings out a lap 97 caution. Everyone pits. Hamlin is caught speeding on pit road and starts 31st. First bit of luck for the eventual winner. Kevin Harvick's #29 Shell Pennzoil Chevy leads at the restart. Tony Stewart's #20 Home Depot Chevy takes the lead on lap 155. Harvick loses the handle on his car and drops back. Stewart continues to lead but green flag pit stops are looming with 35 laps remaining.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s #8 Budweiser Chevy & Martin Truex Jr.'s #1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy pit on lap 279. Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch & Ryan Newman pit on lap 282. Jeff Gordon comes in on lap 283. Meanwhile, Dave Blaney's #22 Caterpillar Toyota is spun out while slowing down to come into the pits. He crashes into JJ Yeley's #18 Interstate Batteries Chevy. This turns out to be a disaster for guys who have already pitted except one. Newman's pit crew panics and his stop is a disaster. He finishes 38th. Earnhardt, Truex & Busch wind up on the tail end of the lead lap. They will need a caution to get back in the race. Busch finished 18th & Earnhardt finished 19th.
What about Jeff Gordon? Because he had the first pit stall, he was already past the start/finish line when the caution came out. He could have gone right through pit road and gone back on the track but crew chief Steve Letarte had him complete his pit stop as planned. When all the lead lap cars pitted during the caution, Gordon was the leader. How's that for luck? Tony Stewart is second and he uses the lapped car of Martin Truex Jr. as a pick to take the lead on lap 298. Gordon goes under Stewart on lap 299 to get the lead back. After that, he gets enough of a lead to hang on for the win.
Congratulations to Jeff Gordon, crew chief Steve Letarte and car owner Rick Hendrick for the win. Congratulations to Gordon for tying Dale Earnhardt in wins at 76. Denny Hamlin would come back to finish third but he had a car that could have won except for the pit road speeding penalty. Big top ten finishes for Jeff Green, Bobby Labonte & Johnny Sauter. Jeff gordon still leads the points. The Nextel Cup is in Talledega next week. Here's the top ten of the race and a video recap of the race.
#/Driver/Sponsor/Make/Owner
1.24/Jeff Gordon/Dupont/Chevy/Rick Hendrick
2.20/Tony Stewart/Home Depot/Joe Gibbs
3.11/Denny Hamlin/FedEx Kinko's/Chevy/Joe Gibbs
4.48/Jimmie Johnson/Lowe's/Chevy/Rick Hendrick
5.17/Matt Kenseth/DeWalt Tools/Ford/Jack Roush
6.66/Jeff Green/Best Buy/Chevy/Gene Haas
7.5/Kyle Busch/Kellogg's-Carquest/Chevy/Rick Hendrick
8.43/Bobby Labonte/Cheerio's-Betty Crocker/Dodge/Petty Enterprises
9.70/Johnny Sauter/Haas Automation/Chevy/Gene Haas
10.29/Kevin Harvick/Shell Pennzoil/Chevy/Richard Childress
FreeVideoCoding.com
No comments:
Post a Comment