Sunoco Pit Move of the Week: Martinsville

Jeff Gordon says his final pit stop cost him several positions – and he admitted it was his fault.

Martinsville Speedway has the tightest pit boxes on the circuit. On the final stop, Gordon was running seventh when he came in for his final stop.

VIDEO CLIPS Gordon's crew goes to work repairing the No. 24 Chevrolet Play video

With his choice pit stall at the front of pit road, Gordon had an excellent chance to leave the pits in the top three, but Gordon got the car too close to the outside of the pit box, squeezing his tire changers against the pit lane.

The mistake cost Gordon two-tenths of a second on the spot, which translated to three spots (seventh to 10th) on the track.

Gordon rallied to finish sixth, but he says he could have finished much higher, even with the damage he received when he hit a chunk of the track on Lap 302.

2004 Archive  Sunoco Pit Moves of the Week

"If we could have had our regular pit stop there and hadn't had to fight our back through the field, we probably would have had a top-five," Gordon said. "Even might have gotten two or three."

Gordon's pit crew did a masterful job at keeping him on the lead lap while repairing the damage after the red flag.

On two instances, Gordon nearly went a lap down, but his crew did a yeoman's job banging away the sheet metal and giving Gordon new tires for the final third of the event.

Johnson left hanging when everyone pits

It made for great television.

Jimmie Johnson stayed out with 86 laps to go in the Advance Auto Parts 500 when everyone else opted for fresh rubber, prompting a slew of criticism about the decision.

VIDEO CLIPS Johnson stays out when all others pit on Lap 414 Play video

Some of the criticism even came from within the team. Right away, crew chief Chad Knaus questioned his own call -- he knew that they had just cost themselves a shot to win.

Johnson was leading on Lap 414 when the caution flew. The team figured several cars would stay out -- but Johnson was the only one, leaving him without tires for the critical stretch run.

Rusty Wallace dove in, got four tires, and ran down Johnson on Lap 456.

Johnson wound up fourth.

The call was a poor decision, but fortunately, Johnson's car worked well on the old tires. It took Wallace over 40 laps to pass Johnson, and Johnson held off Ryan Newman at the end in a brilliant battle for the fourth spot.

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Newman had gained track position by taking just two tires on the final pit stop.

"We really thought that some more were going to stay out," Johnson said. "I looked in the mirror and saw them coming but we were having a discussion on the radio and felt like it would be the best thing to stay out."

Knaus figured some of the leaders were trying to bait Johnson into diving down pit lane, but Knaus couldn't bear to give up the track position the team had worked so hard to claim.

"We wish we would have come in but everyone was playing games about coming down pit road and we just missed it," Knaus said.