For Jeff Gordon, Sunday was one for the history books.
“Whooo,” Gordon exclaimed raising his arms with clinched fists in a celebratory fashion as he entered the media center. Gordon, who will turn 40 in August, sounded more like Nature Boy Ric Flair than the racer formerly known as Wonder Boy.
And in recent years as Gordon‘s reputation – and win count – grew, the race to leave the track was nearly as spry as the show on the track.
On Sunday night at Pocono Raceway, however, Gordon wanted to savor the moment after returning to Victory Lane.
After all, only five NASCAR competitors have won 84 or more Cup races.
Gordon’s feat ties him with Hall of Famer Bobby Allison and three-time champion Darrell Waltrip for third all-time in wins. Only Richard Petty (200) and David Pearson (105) have more. Gordon’s fifth win also tied him with Bill Elliott for most career victories at Pocono Raceway.
As much as Gordon has struggled of late, and as concerted as Sunday’s team effort was overall, it made the milestone more satisfying.
“Today to see it all come together, to have a fast race car, great pit stops, calling the race right, good restarts, those types of things, I was so caught up in that, I was so excited, plus I have my family here to celebrate it with, I didn't even think about 84 till they reminded me when I went to do the SPEED Channel Victory Lane Show,” Gordon said. “I was like, 'Oh, yeah, man, that's unbelievable.'
“I really can't even express in words what it means to tie Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison at 84 wins because I just never thought it would ever happen for me, or really when I got in this sport for anybody to win that many races is amazing.”
Sunday’s victory was far from easy. Although Gordon started a solid third and remained in the top five for most of the day, he led just 39 of 200 laps -- the first time on Lap 140. When asked if he sandbagged, Gordon smirked, “Yeah, I was just hanging back there. ... I may be 40, but I don’t have that kind of patience."
As challengers Denny Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya developed issues throughout the closing laps of the race, Gordon stayed in the hunt. He cycled to the front of the leaders after the pit stops on Lap 182.
Despite a charge from Kurt Busch, who led 37 laps throughout the race, Gordon held off the driver's No. 22 Dodge by 2.965 seconds at the finish.
“It was so amazing because I was so excited about the hard work that (crew chief) Alan (Gustafson) and his guys have been putting into our speedway program,” Gordon said. “I'm so excited to get that win. ... I'm so appreciative of the confidence that Alan has in me, the things that we talk about as a group, trying to get better, trying to improve our race cars, our program. Sometimes I know that can be frustrating because as I've gotten older, I feel like I've gotten smarter in some ways about driving the car, but also I'm a little bit more conservative.
“I still have a lot to offer in the car, and I think that the things that I do have, some are better (than) when I was younger and more aggressive and some are weaker, but I feel like I have a pretty good balance even though I'm 40 and haven't won as much. I think Alan has the ingredients and the confidence to be able to get us back to our winning ways more often. Today, to me, is the type of a moment and experience that kind of solidifies that.”
Gordon’s performance certainly served as a challenge to Busch, who acknowledged his exhaustion following the race. But for Busch, who won the Cup championship in 2004, Gordon set the standard that he hoped to reach when he entered the sport.
“It’s impressive to see what he’s done over his career, not just in this decade, not in the 2000s, back all the way to the '90s,” Busch said. “He’s a true legend in our sport, a four-time champion.
“When I came in as a rookie, I set the bar to try to compete with him, to race against him the best I could. We’ve had our good and tough battles on the track.
“Today, I wanted more. I wanted to get up there and race with him hard, show him that he’s going to have to work harder to get these wins in the latter part of his career. But he’s Jeff Gordon, he’s that good. The team is solid. It’s amazing to see that accomplishment, that he’s done that here in the current age.”
Not only did Gordon further cement his legacy among the greats, his second win this season likely secured his position in the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup. The win vaulted Gordon two positions to 11th in the standings – six points outside of 10th place.
But for Gordon, who posted four titles by the time he turned 30, qualifying for the Chase simply isn’t satisfaction enough.
“I don't want to just be in the Chase. Being in the Chase, at 40 years old, is not enough,” Gordon said. “That's cool. Our sponsors like it and all, but that's not enough. (Alan) is too good of a crew chief with too good of a race team. I feel like I'd be letting them down if all we do is sneak our way into the Chase.
“I want to be a threat for the championship. I'm not saying we're there. But today is definitely a big step in getting us there.”
Transmission troubles
NASCAR’s new gear ratio rules played havoc on many competitors as they worked with shifting on Sunday.
Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Marcos Ambrose experienced problems throughout the race, particularly with third gear.
McMurray was the first driver to falter with tranmission woes and took his car to the garage on Lap 106. The team was able to replace the transmission and he returned to the track in 10 laps. McMurray was scored 33rd, 11 laps down.
On Lap 123, Marcos Ambrose went to the garage after fighting a vibration in third gear for “about 25 laps."
“We tried to save it but we lost third gear and then trying to leave the pits in fourth gear we lost the clutch, too,” said Ambrose, who finished 34th. “It is just a bad day.”
Montoya’s problems didn’t hit him until the closing laps. Prior to his transmission issues, Montoya led three times for 38 laps and still salvaged a seventh-place finish.
“We had a really good car all day,” Montoya said. “With like 25 laps to go, I lose third gear. It was kind of weird. It was a good thing we didn’t have another caution because we would have been completely done.”
Rumor mill
Bobby Hutchens name was mentioned as a possible candidate for John Darby’s Sprint Cup director’s role.
It was announced at the start of the 2010 season that Darby, who is currently performing his own job along with overseeing the other top two tours -- the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series -- would simply handle the latter responsibilities.
Hutchens was let go from his position as director of competition at Stewart-Haas Racing last week. He could not be reached for comment.
Numbers game
197: Wins for Hendrick Motorsports, second on the all-time list, first in the modern era.
631: Starts for Jeff Gordon in Sprint Cup.
76: Laps led by Denny Hamlin before tire issues knocked him to 19th.
34: Points that Carl Edwards lost with engine malfunction on Sunday.
2: times that the No. 18 of Kyle Busch has been busted for not meeting height sticks in postrace inspection (last time was Sept. 20, 2009)
0: Laps led by Fords on Sunday at Pocono
Say what?
Crew chief Dave Rogers was sharing a father-son moment in the inspection line at Pocono when NASCAR inspectors informed him of the height-stick violation, deeming the No. 18 Toyota too low.
“My boy is here and I walked through tech with him to show him the process -- smiling, happy, with a third-place finish. I thought Kyle did a great job racing from the back to the front. A lot of excitement in the 18 camp, but then too low on heights. We’ll go back to the shop and figure it out and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
