Gordon wins wreck-filled Protection One 400

By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
October 1, 2001
11:59 AM EDT (1559 GMT)

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Jeff Gordon prevailed in a six-lap shootout and held off rookie Ryan Newman to win the inaugural NASCAR Winston Cup Protection One 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Jeff Gordon does doughnuts on the Kansas Speedway infield after recording his 58th Winston Cup win.

Gordon's No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet beat Newman's No. 02 Penske Racing Ford by .413 seconds. The three-time Winston Cup champion's average speed was slowed to 110.576 mph by 13 caution periods for 70 laps, all but two for accidents.

Gordon, who started second, won $254,377, including a $60,000 Winston Leader Bonus.

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"My secret?" Gordon said of his sixth win this season and 58th of his career. "My team led by (crew chief) Robbie Loomis is one of the main things. What they're extremely good at -- among a lot of things -- is when we go to a new race track is getting a lot of good information and adapting to a new environment.

"We're battling for a championship and getting a race win certainly makes my job easier."

The second place finish was Newman's best in his sixth career start. He has a Winston Cup Bud Pole and a Busch Series win this season.

Mark Martin scored his best finish since July.

"Finishing second to Jeff at a new race track is probably the highlight of the season for us," said Newman, who wiped out his primary car in pre-qualifying practice Friday. "This gives us a lot of momentum going into Charlotte. It's good to have two Penske cars in the top-five -- it was a good day for all of us."

Ricky Rudd was thankful to finish third in the No. 28 Robert Yates Racing Ford but fell 10 more points behind Gordon in the Winston Cup championship chase, dropping unofficially 222 points adrift. Rudd led laps 232-244 but had nothing for the top two at the end.

"I hate to say we settled for third, but that was all we had today," Rudd said. "I couldn't get the front to stick like I wanted to and we kept loosening the car up. We got it to where we still couldn't get the front to stick, but the back end was breaking loose so we backtracked and went back to where we were."

Newman and Gordon referred to Wallace -- the man who led the most laps, 118, but was caught speeding on pit road with less than 40 laps go and ended up fourth in his No. 2 Penske Racing Ford.

Ward Burton's Dodge is hauled back to the garage.

Sterling Marlin, the only other driver along with Gordon, Rudd and Tony Stewart having a legitimate shot at the title, was fifth in the No. 40 Ganassi Racing Dodge.

"Man, what an awesome day for team," Gordon said of his third inaugural event victory in the modern era. "I hate it for Rusty. That was a tough break for him -- he had the car to beat. I think we had something for him, but whew!"

"That was a good comeback (but) it was frustrating to get a penalty," Wallace said of being sent to the end of the longest line for a restart with 33 laps to go. "We led the race out of the pits all day long and all of a sudden that stuff happens. But we got back up to fourth and that was good."

Rusty Wallace led the most laps but failed to snag his second win of the year.

The final restart was set up following an 11-minute, six-second red flag that was thrown after the race's 13th and final caution. That frontstretch wreck involved rookie Bud Pole winner Jason Leffler and Terry Labonte, who were both running on the lead lap at the time.

The red flag was thrown with 10 laps to go. At that point Gordon led Rudd, Newman, Mark Martin, Wallace, Marlin, Kevin Harvick, Dave Blaney, Stewart and Robert Pressley.

After the restart at lap 262, Newman zoomed past Rudd on lap 263 but Gordon was able to hold him off for the final four laps.

Martin and Pressley in Fords, Stewart in a Pontiac, rookie Kurt Busch in a Ford and Blaney in a Dodge finished sixth-10th.

The mangled Ford of Todd Bodine is hauled off.

Wrecks marred the 1.5-mile speedway's Winston Cup debut. Dale Jarrett was flown by helicopter to KU Med Center in Kansas City after he was briefly knocked unconscious in a wild Turn 1 accident with defending Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte.

At 5:50 p.m. ET, Jarrett was listed in fair condition, was alert and was scheduled to undergo a CT scan. He was the only driver injured in an accident, though drivers Casey Atwood, Todd Bodine, Ward Burton, Michael Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Labonte and Leffler were all eliminated by wall contact.