Gordon pads points lead over Jarrett
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
June 25, 2001
10:10 AM EDT (1410 GMT)
SONOMA, Calif. -- Even though Jeff Gordon said the media had delivered Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 300 victory to him on a silver platter, he left Sears Point Raceway after finishing third comfortable in the knowledge he’d padded his NASCAR Winston Cup point lead significantly.
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Jeff Gordon's third-place finish allowed him to gain 90 points on Dale Jarrett.
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“I know you guys had me winning the race before it even started,” Gordon said in his post-race media briefing, “but I didn’t expect that. We led a bunch of laps, finished third and gained some points -- I’m pretty happy.”
Gordon had come into the race with six NASCAR Winston Cup road race victories, including three in a row at the two-mile Sears Point course. He also had a 36-point edge over 1999 champion Dale Jarrett.
After Jarrett got tied up with Johnny Benson in Turn 11 coming to get the white flag and finished 26th, Gordon unofficially extended his lead to 126 points heading into the final off-weekend of the season.
A 20-race stretch beginning with the 17th race of the 36-event season, the July 7 Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, runs through November.
“We got a good solid points day and that’s all I was asking for,” Gordon said. “We’ll take it (because) the car was tight all day long and I knew if we got behind somebody we were gonna be in trouble.”
Jarrett suffered through a day that included transmission trouble and a couple spins, but was happy to get out of Sonoma with no further damage to his injured rib cage and two weeks to rest -- including a trip to watch his 12-year-old daughter compete in a national AAU basketball tournament -- before he comes back to Daytona.
“It was just one thing after another,” Jarrett said. “I kept having trouble with third gear. I had third gear, but it just kept popping out. I got clipped there coming to the white flag and spun and lost a lot of positions.”
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