Moments that changed the course of the 29th race of the 2014 season
GORDON PULLS AWAY FOR WIN AT DOVER
Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway, but four other drivers got the axe in the first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup elimination race in the history of the sport.
After the dominant car of Coors Light Polesitter Kevin Harvick had a major issue with the left front wheel on Lap 254 of 400, Gordon took control of the event on Lap 305, passing runner-up Brad Keselowski for the lead on Lap 305.
After a cycle of green-flag pit stops, Gordon led the last 71 laps, pulling away to win by a comfortable 4.352 seconds.
Jimmie Johnson ran third, followed by Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth, as all of the top-five drivers advanced to the Contender Round, a three-race elimination with visits to Kansas Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
Harvick (13th Sunday), Kyle Busch (10th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (17th), Ryan Newman (eighth), Carl Edwards (11th) and Denny Hamlin (12th) also advanced to the Contender Round.
The victory was Gordon’s fourth of the season, fifth at the Monster Mile and 92nd of his career, third most all-time behind Richard Petty (200) and David Pearson (105).
And victory No. 92 had special significance beyond an automatic ticket to the next round of the Chase—especially after a blown tire last week at New Hampshire produced a 26th-place finish and put the four-time champion one disaster away from elimination from NASCAR’s 10-race playoff.
“I think this is huge,” Gordon said in Victory Lane. “We came in here with a little bit of extra pressure because we weren’t guaranteed to be in. If we hadn’t finished where we were running at New Hampshire last week (sixth when the tire blew), it would have been kind of an easy day for us.
“But all we did was focus on executing as a team and trying to win this race and nothing else. It wasn’t about the points, it wasn’t about just squeezing by to get to the next round. It was about making a statement. I don’t know how you make a bigger statement than what this team just did right there.”
KAHNE HOLDS OFF ALLMENDINGER, BUSCH FOR FINAL SPOT
For Kurt Busch, the promise of advancing in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason dwindled lap by lap. With 25 laps to go, the scenario went from discouraging to bleak.
By the time the checkered flag fell late Sunday afternoon at Dover International Speedway, Busch faded out of the playoff picture with an 18th-place finish in the AAA 400. The former series champion joined AJ Allmendinger, Greg Biffle and Aric Almirola amongthose failing to advance to the Contender Round, the next three-race series in the 10-race Chase.
“It’s all my fault,” Busch radioed to his Stewart-Haas Racing crew on the cool-down lap. “Sorry, guys. Lay all that on the driver.”
Busch went from twopoints ahead of Kasey Kahne for the final transfer spot at Lap 300 to six points behind Kahne by the finish. The net loss of eight points — eight positions on the track — came in part because of Kahne’s rally from midrace adversity and deteriorating handling on Busch’s No. 41 Chevrolet over the final 100 laps.
“I thought we were good with 100 miles to go, and then boom — got way tight and didn’t maintain position and so, we didn’t advance,” said Busch, in his first year with the Stewart-Haas team. “Gene Haas believed in me, started this team, and we put what we thought was the best effort together. You can’t run 15th every week expecting to advance. That’s just where we got caught here. The lap times that we’re running aren’t top-five lap times to continue to push for a championship.
“So we can run for pride these next seven weeks, learning, building and trying to get all we can.”
With the Challenger Round complete, 12 drivers advance to the three-race Contender Round: Keselowski, Joey Logano, Johnson, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Gordon, Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne.
The four drivers eliminated from the Chase are Aric Almirola, Greg Biffle, AJ Allmendinger and Kurt Busch.
Hamlin started the day on the outside looking in (13th in the Chase Standings) but his 12th-place finish allowed him to advance.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series moves to Kansas Speedway next Sunday for the Hollywood Casino 400 (2 p.m. on ESPN).
HARVICK LOSES LEFT-FRONT TIRE AFTER DOMINATING DAY
A left front tire went down on Kevin Harvick‘s car on Lap 252, which saw the polesitter give up the lead in what had been a dominating run in the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.
However, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver was never in any real danger of missing the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and ultimately, finished 13th in the race, which was more than good enough to advance him in the Chase.
The resulting pit stops under the caution from his tire trouble dropped Harvick to 21st place but he was able to stay on the lead lap after coming several times for left-side tires and to repair damage from the flat tire.
Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team told him over the radio that the inner valve stem in the left front was knocked out, causing the tire to go down.
Harvick radioed to his crew: “I mean, something had to cut that tire, don’t you think? … That’s two times here.”
Earlier in the race, Harvick thought he had a broken left shock telling his team, “the left front is slamming on the ground. After the team closely monitored the issue, it appeared that everything was ok with the car.
Harvick led a race-high 223 laps in the race. His 13th-place finish was good enough to advance to the Contender Round. Entering the Dover race, Harvick needed to finish no worse than 36th with the most laps led to clinch a spot in the next round of the Chase.