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DARLINGTON, S.C. — Jeff Gordon inched one step closer to securing one of the remaining spots in this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field with a 16th-place finish in Sunday night’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
But the four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion was far from satisfied.
“There’s something promising that came out of the evening, then,” Gordon said when told of the points spread following a long, difficult night on the rugged old 1.366-mile track.
Gordon didn’t shrug his shoulders. There was no need. The disappointment was obvious.
A seven-time winner at Darlington, Gordon and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team once again found themselves fighting just to remain in the picture. His finish was the fourth straight result outside the top 15. He led no laps.
With the end of his racing career coming more and more into focus — he’ll step aside after this year’s season-finale at Homestead — Gordon is trying to re-light a candle that’s burned bright for the better part of the past 23 years.
The winds of competition, however, are threatening to snuff it out. The series’ most successful active driver with 92 career victories, Gordon’s Darlington finale was “kind of the way our year has been,” he said.
That he’s still in the playoff spotlight as the series now readies itself for a return to Richmond International Raceway seemed almost an afterthought.
“I guess,” he said. “I’m more just disappointed; I feel like we had a car that could run up front and that’s all I’m focused on and thinking about, just performing better.
“We just didn’t execute; we needed track position and we didn’t have it. So we just struggled. Somehow, miraculously, it’s ‘Oh, we’ve (just) got to finish wherever in Richmond.’ That’s all good, but that’s not what our goal is. Our goal is to try to run up front and compete for wins and not have to worry about that stuff.”
Starting fifth in the 43-car lineup, Gordon ran in the top 10 for the first third of the race. But numerous cautions that flew during the 66th running of the annual event also provided ample opportunity for teams to vary pit strategy, and shuffled the running order as the race wore on.
Short-run bursts “were kind of holding us in the top 10,” he said, “but we just weren’t getting it done on pit road.
“There were a couple of things that just didn’t really go right for us. When we started in the outside lane we made up positions and were in the top 10; I felt like we were about a fifth-place car if we could have gotten in that position. But we just never could.”
With Carl Edwards‘ victory, the 16-team Chase field continues to consist of this year’s 11 race winners, leaving five positions to be determined.
Although he is among those that have yet to win this season, Jamie McMurray resides 12th in the Chase Grid. Simply by starting Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond should put the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver in the Chase field.
Ryan Newman (13th in the Chase Grid), Gordon (14th in the Chase Grid), Paul Menard (15th in the Chase Grid) and Clint Bowyer (16th in the Chase Grid) are also winless but hold the current Chase spots that would be awarded based on points should no new winner emerge at Richmond.
It wasn’t the type of performance Gordon had hoped for, but a continuation of the struggles he and his team have endured in recent weeks.
Qualifying for the 10-race playoff has rarely been an issue for the 44-year-old — he’s made the Chase 10 times in the 11 years the format has been in play. The opportunity for a final appearance isn’t being taken lightly.
“We want to be in the Chase,” he admitted. “We’ll go battle it out in Richmond just like we have (before). We’ve just got to do better than what we’re doing.”