Gordon gets his Chase off to a great start with runner-up finish
Four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon's 'Drive for Five' got off to a great start Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, as the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet finished second to Team Penske's Brad Keselowski.
Starting eighth, Gordon was one of the fastest cars consistently throughout the 267-lap MyAFibStory.com 400. Leading a total of 26 laps, Gordon battled hard with Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson to earn the runner-up finish to start off the Chase.
Earlier in the week, Gordon said he would be all right with nine second-place finishes heading into the final winner-takes-all race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Sunday's effort was the first step toward perhaps making that a reality.
"Eight more and I'll be really happy," Gordon joked. "You want to get the win. It was tough out there today because I've been here before running up front, having a really good start to the Chase, then have had problems, clawing our way from there. While you can move to the next level with that happening, you almost kind of have to win after that."
In NASCAR's new Chase format, a win is an automatic lock into the next round. But consistency and points racing is still important in the opening rounds if you want to advance.
With Keselowski punching his ticket to the Contender 12 with the victory to open the Chase, Gordon knows there is still a bit of work to do in order to compete with Keselowski and Harvick for the title.
"I think this is a great time for us to come out of here really solid and with a great second-place finish," he said. "We got to get a little bit better. No doubt about it. I thought Kevin (Harvick) and Kyle were the best cars out there today. Keselowski, those cars are just really good on short runs. They have been all year long. You put them in that kind of position, they're tough to beat. If it comes down to a short run like that, it's hard to beat them. I thought we were close. Just needed to be a little bit better."
Racing hard with Larson in the closing laps for the second spot, the Sprint Cup veteran had some kind words and advice for his rookie counterpart after the race.
"I think this kid is the real deal," Gordon said of Larson. "He's going to be a star in this series for a long time. I really wanted to see him win because I like him and I know he's going to win a lot of races, but I also didn't want to see those other guys win. I'm a big fan. I like seeing young guys out there driving like that. That's so much fun. That's what this sport is all about. I just want to let him know what a great job I thought he did."
VIDEO: Jeff Gordon talks about his second-place run at Chicagoland in the opening race of the 2014 Chase.
