"Kyle had it, I had third wrapped up, (Brad) Keselowski was fading," Gordon said afterward. "I kind of got settled in there at that point that it might be a third‑place day for us. I wasn’t going to be disappointed seeing (Larson) win."

But the first of two late cautions set the stage for some of the closest battles of the day up front, and opened the door for Keselowski to charge back, slip between Larson and Kevin Harvick, and drive off to score the win in the opening race of this year’s Chase.

Gordon had joined the fray when the caution flew for a final time, and fought his way past Larson and a fading Harvick to wind up in the runner-up spot.

"I don’t know if we could have passed these guys like Keselowski did," the Hendrick Motorsports driver said. "The outside lane certainly would have secured some things up for us. It just seemed to work a little bit better on the restarts if you could get to the outside of that guy you’re racing."

A four-time champion in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, Gordon led four times for 26 laps. His team, led by crew chief Alan Gustafson, was solid and was also among those able to avoid an opening Chase-race stumble. 

"We started eighth. We were able to drive up into the top two or three fairly early in the race. I knew we had a solid car," Gordon said.

Taking four tires when others took two also helped.

"We thought we were going to be doing two more often," he said. "That one time we took four, others took two, we got out in front and drove away. The car was driving so, so good right there, I didn’t want any changes.

"Once the other guys, like (Keselowski), Kyle (Busch), Kevin were on equal tires right there with us, I felt like they were a little bit better than us.

"We adjusted and fought through it all day. I thought it was a great team effort. We just hung in there."

Gustafson said the amount of passing among the leaders was a bit of a surprise, based on what he witnessed a day earlier in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event. There were 18 lead changes among seven drivers in Sunday’s race. 

"So there was more passing, actually," he said. "You could pass and move; it was good.

"Larson figured that top out and could run up there like nobody. We got our car better at the end there. Iit seemed like Kevin got a little worse. Brad was good, then had his difficulty on pit road early.

"It was a crazy race. The racing at the end was exciting. I guess Brad got the opportunity and took advantage … and I think that was the difference. I think if any one of those four cars got cleared, they would have won the race. He did a good job though." 

Race No. 1 of the opening, three-race round is now complete, with stops at New Hampshire and Dover scheduled for the next two weeks.

Twelve of the 16 Chase drivers advance to the second (Contender) round, and a win guarantees advancement, so Keselowski knows his Team Penske outfit is in great shape.

Although they didn’t win, Gordon and Gustafson weren’t gnashing their teeth over the finish.

"We’re going to certainly debrief and evaluate what happened here today," Gordon said. "We’re going to go through everything we can to try to see what our competitors are doing, what we can do to be better."

Gustafson called it "a solid day … a solid weekend."

"Everything was right on par," he said. "I feel good about it; now we’ve got to go out and just keep hammering away."

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