Jeff Gordon grinds out top-10 finish to break 'Iron Man' record
Unlike many of the races throughout his lengthy career, Jeff Gordon's milestone 789th consecutive Sprint Cup Series start wasn't flamboyant.
Gordon, who broke a week-old tie with Ricky Rudd to become NASCAR's lone "Iron Man," grinded out a seventh-place finish Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where the handling on his No. 24 Chevrolet improved but was never entirely to his liking -- which has been the story of Gordon's final season.
Although the four-time Sprint Cup Series champion would've loved to capture his 93rd career win in the same race that he set the new mark for most starts in succession, he and crew chief Alan Gustafson were fairly happy to leave Loudon with a top-10 finish after spending most of the day languishing around 15th place.
"It just wasn't a great day so we gutted through it and got a decent finish out of it," Gustafson told FOXSports.com after Sunday's second race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. "We're somewhat pleased with that. It was a struggle, but you've got to fight through them when you have a struggle, so happy with the fight."
How stressful was Sunday for Gustafson, whose driver entered the race on the bubble spot for advancing to the Chase Contender Round but heads to next weekend's Challenger Round finale at Dover in a much more favorable position?
"Everyday is stressful," Gustafson said. "Everyday could be your last, you know it, so you just fight for all you've got."
While Gordon remains winless in his final season, his longshot hopes of a long-awaited fifth title in NASCAR's top series remain alive. But like the majority of his season, nothing about Sunday's Sylvania 300 came easy for the native of Vallejo, California.
"You know, I was a little bit worried," Gordon said candidly. "We started the race off, and the balance was way off. The grip wasn't great, and I thought, 'Man, this is going to be a long day,' but a lot of credit to Alan and the team. They did an excellent job making adjustments, improving the car.
"You know, we had a bunch of things that didn't go our way, and then luckily there at the very end, we had it go our way where we came in and got four tires, had a decent restart, and were able to drive all the way up there. Luckily, we had that long green-flag run and I know a couple other guys ran out of fuel. That was the best we were all day, and pretty happy to finish it off like that."
Of course, Sunday's outing was about more than Gordon advancing his Chase position and trying to break into the win column for the first time in 2015.
Sunday was about one of the sport's greatest drivers of all time reaching another major milestone in his illustrious Sprint Cup career, which began with Hendrick Motorsports in the 1992 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Since that day, much has changed for Gordon. He's gotten married to a Belgian model, Ingrid Vandebosch, and become a father to two young, beautiful children -- Ella and Leo. Gone is the trademark mullet Gordon carried throughout 1993, his first full year in NASCAR's top series. These days, the most noticeable thing about the 44-year-old driver's hair are the visible shades of white seeping through his more familiar brown hue.
But Gordon clearly still has the fire in his belly to snare a win or two and make a run at an elusive fifth title. It's the same fire that empowered him to start 789 consecutive races -- a record that, if broken, will stand for at least several years.
"Coming into the Cup level and racing 30 times a year, now 38 times a year, it's a lot more work that goes into 38 weeks than what went into 100 races in a sprint car," Gordon said, reflecting on his roots. "But, still, to me if there was a race and I was scheduled to do it then I was going to do everything I could to be healthy and to be focused and to give 100 percent. I think just by having that mindset and that effort that is what got me here. It's not that I was looking at, 'Hey, I want to set an Iron Man record,' or anything like that.
"I remember when Ricky Rudd did that and Terry Labonte and other guys that had these incredible records and streaks. I thought, 'Man, they are old. I will never be around long enough to set that record or achieve that.' Now here I am. Yeah, I'm old, too, but now I appreciate what those guys did and the effort they put into it and the commitment."
And now, Gordon and his crew chief are committed first and foremost to finishing out their last run together in style.
Asked what it meant to help his driver salvage a decent finish at New Hampshire on a day that carried so much historical significance, Gustafson demurred.
"To be honest with you, I want to get into Homestead in the championship battle with a chance to win," the crew chief told FOXSports.com, referring to the winner-take-all season finale. "That's really all my focus is. There's nothing I could say about his career and his accomplishments that will do it justice. He's just an amazing race-car driver. We're just focusing on doing the best we can and getting better every week."
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