Sunoco Pit Move: Phoenix

Funny how the little things sometimes can add up to something very big. That certainly was the case for Jeff Gordon and the No. 24 Chevrolet team on Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway.

Because he won the pole Friday, Gordon received first choice of pit stalls and selected the one nearest the pit exit. Then on Saturday night, just as the field was given the command to start their engines, the radio in Gordon's helmet failed, but a speedy crewman ran to the garage and found the backup helmet, just in time to make the switch.

The combination of those two seemingly unrelated incidents would result in a victory at the end of the evening.

With the laps winding down and green-flag pit stops imminent, Gordon -- running second behind Tony Stewart -- and crew chief Steve Letarte elected to stay out while several other contenders, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer made their stops. Finally, on Lap 285, Gordon could wait no longer and ducked for service.

About the time the No. 24 crossed the start/finish line, J.J. Yeley tangled with Dave Blaney in Turn 4, bringing out the yellow. Faced with a split-second decision whether to continue to tell Gordon to complete the pit stop or return to the track, spotter Shannon McGlamery made the call: pit.

Because Gordon was pitting past the start/finish line, the team had time to service the car and remain on the lead lap before the pace car brought the field around. Even though Gordon then was last among the lead-lap cars, everyone else had to come in to make a stop on the next lap, which put Gordon out front.

Had the caution not come out, Gordon could have easily been trapped a lap down, like the others who pitted before him.

"We just got real lucky," Letarte said. "A real timely yellow fell and we were fortunate to put four tires on and our spotter should get a lot of credit for that.

"He had to find the leader on the racetrack, and it's very hard to do under green-flag conditions. He found it and let us know; we had enough time to put tires on. And once we put tires on, I knew we were good to go for track position."

But without radio communication, there would have been no way for Gordon to have known what to do.

"Luckily I had a radio when we switched that helmet out," Gordon said.

Even though Stewart was able to get by Gordon on a daring three-wide pass after the final restart on Lap 299, Gordon returned the favor one lap later and pulled away for his 76th career victory -- and first at Phoenix.

"The yellow did fall in our lap," Gordon said. "We got lucky getting off pit road when the caution came out but I thought we needed to keep going through and I almost drove through the pit.

"Steve made the call and I love him as a crew chief. He is an awesome guy and as sharp as can be. He made that call, he talked to the spotter and talked to me and the team. He is so cool under pressure."