Jimmie Johnson pulled away on the final restart to win the 200th NASCAR Cup series race for Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson’s triumph in the Southern 500 was his 56th career win, which moved him into 8th place on the all-time list. Johnson and Jeff Gordon have combined for 141 of the 200 wins (70 percent) for the organization.

As for Gordon’s night at Darlington, it was another race to forget. Gordon started 12th and moved into the top-10 within the first 3 laps. He took 9th from Regan Smith on lap 23 and moved around Ryan Newman for 8th by lap 35. Gordon brushed the wall on lap 42, but held the 8th position. Gordon ran 9th following a round of green flag pit stops at the 50-lap mark. He regained the 8th spot by lap 60, but was battling a tight handling condition. Gordon pitted under green at the 100-lap mark and returned to the race in 8th. The next round of stops came on lap 147. Gordon passed Denny Hamlin for 7th on lap 160. A debris caution on lap 172 slowed the field and brought pit stops. Gordon dropped to 9th on lap 190 and then came to pit road with a flat left rear tire. Gordon fell off the lead lap due to the pit stop, before a caution for debris. Gordon restarted in 25th place and gained a spot within two laps. Gordon dropped off the pace on lap 205 with another cut in the left rear tire. He came to pit road for tires and pulled into the garage for extensive repairs. He returned to the race 28 laps down in 35th place and dropped to 24th in the series standings.

Turning point
A cut tire on lap 191 was the beginning of the end for Gordon and the #24 team at Darlington.

source: gordonline.com

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Not even a pole position could change Jeff Gordon’s bad luck in 2012. Gordon was caught up in a wreck with 45 laps to go at Talladega Superspeedway and finished 33rd. It was his seventh finish of 21st or worse in the last 12 races. He lost six spots in the series points standings and is now 23rd — the lowest after 10 races in his NASCAR career.

Gordon started on the pole and dropped to 6th on the opening lap before his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne picked him up in the draft. On lap 6, Gordon moved to the high line and dropped back to 28th place in an effort to cool the engine. By lap 10, he was running 30th and seemed content to stay out of the lead pack. The first caution waved on lap 16 for Regan Smith’s blown engine. Gordon restarted 19th and locked into a draft with Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. The trio moved into the top-10 by lap 25, but separated within 5 laps. Gordon dropped to 15th before regrouping on the outside line. He worked with Marcos Ambrose and moved to 2nd place on lap 53. He came to pit road for a green flag pit stop on lap 59 and opted for left side tires. Following stops, Gordon ran in 3rd place behind Earnhardt Jr and Matt Kenseth.

On lap 75, he opted not to give Earnhardt Jr a drafting push and radioed to his crew about evening the tally with his “teammate” — a reference to getting hung out in the draft earlier in the race. On lap 85, Gordon dropped back after his water temperature began spiking. He ran in 28th before green flag pit stops on lap 101. Gordon took right side tires and returned to the race in 8th place.

With 45 laps to go, a melee in turn three collected Gordon when he went low to miss it. Martin Truex came down the track and hit the side of the #24 team. Gordon drilled the outside wall with the right front of the car and drove to the garage area with his second DNF of the season.

Turning point
A melee in turn three with 45 laps to go ended Gordon’s day at Talladega.

JG’s comments
“This is one of the most bizarre years this team has ever gone through. It’s almost comical at this point. It looked like someone came down and got Martin and that turned him into me. That’s just the way our season has been going.”

source: gordonline.com

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Jeff Gordon claimed the pole position for Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his 71st career pole and marks 20 consecutive years that Gordon has won a pole in the Cup series — tying David Pearson for the most consecutive seasons with a pole. “Hopefully we can build on this,” Gordon said. “I know it’s not a win, but it’s still something good to show that the team’s efforts don’t go unnoticed… When you get torn down it puts you to the test as an individual and as a team. We’ve been put to the test this year. But we’ve not wavered.”

source: gordonline.com

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Once again it was the wrong place at the wrong time for Jeff Gordon as an early race cut tire sealed his fate before the race was an hour old. Contact from Aric Almirola sent Gordon into Greg Biffle’s car in turn 1 resulting in a cut tire. Gordon was unable to make up the two lost laps and finished 23rd — his 6th finish of 21st or worse in the last 11 races.

Gordon started 6th and fell to 10th in the opening 10 laps while battling a tight handling condition. He dropped four more spots by lap 30 and ran half a lap behind the leader. A competition caution brought the lead lap cars to pit road on lap 50. On the restart, Aric Almirola pushed up the track into Gordon’s line. The #24 car sustained damage after hitting Greg Biffle in turn one. Gordon limped around the track and came to pit road with a flat tire. Gordon lost two laps after the green flag pit stop and ran in 35th place. A caution on lap 117 for Kurt Busch’s spin kept Gordon from going a third lap down as race leader Carl Edwards was closing on the #24 car. Gordon moved up to 31st place by lap 130, but remained two laps down.

He pitted under green on lap 205 during a cycle of pit stops and remained two laps down on the track. During a debris caution period on lap 230, Gordon stayed on the track for the wave-around and restarted 1 lap down in 29th place. However, he fell 2 laps down when race leader Kyle Busch went by on lap 301. Gordon came to pit road for a green flag stop on lap 304. As the laps wound down, he moved up to 25th place, but remained two laps down.

At the front of the field, Kyle Busch beat the field off pit road on a late race caution and pulled away from Dale Earnhardt Jr to win his first race of the season and 24th of his career.

Turning point
Contact from Aric Almirola’s car on a restart on lap 53 sent Gordon into Greg Biffle’s quarterpanel resulting in a cut tire.

source: gordonline.com

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 Another dose of bad luck bit Jeff Gordon at Kansas Speedway. For the second consecutive race at Kansas, Gordon experienced late-race engine issues resulting in a sub-par finish. Gordon started 20th and gained four spots in the opening 10 laps. He ran 12th on lap 35 before coming to pit road for a green flag stop on lap 46. Over the next 80 laps, Gordon ran 12th-13th while battling handling issues. A caution flag on lap 142 brought the lead lap cars to pit road. Gordon failed to move foward and was mired in 15th. A caution on lap 187 for Juan Pablo Montoya’s wall contact brought pit stops. Gordon restarted 17th and moved to 12th with 70 laps to go. He entered the top-10 with 60 to go and took 9th from Kevin Harvick four laps later. Gordon came to pit road for a green flag stop with 44 to go. While running 9th with 35 to go, Gordon dropped a cylinder. He struggled to maintain minimum speed and came to pit road. He finished the race in 21st place, three laps down. Gordon dropped from 17th to 18th in the series standings. It was his 5th finish of 21st or worse in the last 10 races.

Turning point
Gordon was running 9th when he dropped a cylinder with 35 laps to go. Although Gordon was not in contention to win the race, he seemed primed to pick up career top-10 #399 before the engine issues.

JG’s comments
“We lucked out in some ways, I feel like, by finishing 21st. It could have been a lot worse. We struggled today. We missed the setup. And we were still going to finish 7th or 8th. So I think that says a lot about our race team. But yeah, we obviously had a valve spring I believe, something in the valve train that broke. They gave us more gear here this time and I think that took a toll on not only us, but on a lot of guys out there. I felt like it was turning a lot of rpm, even though we have a rev limiter to keep it from going over what we think it needs to and it never did; but still, it caused a problem.”

ON RUNNING THE FULL DISTANCE ON THIS SURFACE BEFORE REPAVING KANSAS SPEEDWAY
“It’s a handful. There’s no doubt about. There’s not much grip out there and you’re slipping and sliding around. It was a lot harder to pass today than I expected. I don’t know if that was the cooler temperatures that caused that. But yeah, things didn’t go quite as we expected today but we’ll see what this new surface is going to be like. Until we get on it with the tire and do some testing and run some laps, all we can do is be helpful right now and be excited about what they have coming here.”

ON NOT YET OBTAINING THE HENDRICK 200TH WIN
“I think if you look at Martinsville, it was so meant to be there. And it just didn’t happen. We’re going to get it. It’s just very competitive right now. And we, on the #24 team, need to qualify better. We’re working toward that. I think some of it’s me and not getting the most out of it. But as a group, we know it’s coming. It’s just when you have a target, it always makes it more challenging. When you’re relaxed and not focused on it, it just comes naturally and sometimes easier. So we’re trying not to put too much pressure on us with that and just trying to go out and do our thing and do our job. This year we’ve had great race cars. Today wasn’t our best but Jimmie (Johnson) was up there and Junior. Everybody is running good; we’ve just got to run a little bit better.”

Source: gordonline.com

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Jeff Gordon didn’t win the Samsung 500, but he scored a much-needed 4th place finish — his first top-5 of the 2012 season. Gordon started 34th and moved to 26th by the end of lap 3. However, his forward progress became more arduous as he gained just three more spots in the next 25 laps. Gordon entered the top-20 with a pass on Kurt Busch on lap 36. Gordon came to pit road under green on lap 45 and cycled through in 16th place. He gained two spots over the next 20 laps and ran 14th on lap 65. The first caution waved for debris on lap 67, which brought the lead lap cars to pit road. After the restart, Gordon took 12th from Tony Stewart on lap 76, and entered the top-10 on lap 85 with a pass on Kevin Harvick. He moved up to 9th before the second caution flag on lap 95 for Trevor Bayne’s wall contact.

Gordon ran in the lower half of the top-10 over the next 50 laps before a cycle of green flag pit stops on lap 145. He moved to 7th on lap 157 and took 6th from Dale Earnhardt Jr on lap 175. Following a cycle of pit stops, Gordon ran in 8th place on lap 200. He quickly moved to 6th by passing Earnhardt Jr and Harvick. Gordon entered the top-5 and then took 4th from Matt Kenseth on lap 264. Following a round of green flag stops with 50 to go, Gordon ran in 5th place. He re-took 4th from Kenseth with 37 laps to go. He crossed the line in 4th, distantly behind race winner Greg Biffle. Gordon scored his first top-5 finish of the season and his best finish in the last 11 races dating back to October 2011.

*Gordon has led at least 1 lap in each of the first 7 races of the season for the first time since 1995.
*He moved up 4 spots in the series standings to 17th.

Turning point
Gordon’s car was hooked up from the outset as he drove the final 200+ laps without a caution. The turning point, ultimately, came on Friday afternoon during his qualifying run. By starting 34th, his chances of a victory were essentially eliminated due to the long green flag run nature of the race.

JG’s comments
“I don’t feel like I’ve had bad luck. A couple of things were self-induced, a couple of things were out of our control, but we’ve been running so well. It’s nice to have everything come together tonight. Starting 34th, we had our work cut out for us, but this team did an amazing job. I’m so proud of everyone on this team. What a race car we had. I mean to drive up through there with only two cautions in the top five. I could almost get to Mark (Martin) there at the end but we had a great night, a great car and we had this many times this year. We just haven’t been able to get it all the way to the finish. So, tonight we finally did. This is something we can build on. I’m so proud of this team and I can’t wait to go to Kansas.”

source: gordonline.com

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“That’s just the way our year has been going, it can’t go like this forever,” Jeff Gordon said after exiting his car following the Goody’s 500. Gordon led 329 laps, but sustained damage following a late race restart and then ran out of fuel under the ensuing caution period.

Gordon started 9th and moved through traffic from the outset. He took the race lead on lap 22 and pulled away, thus backing up his speeds from Friday’s practice where he led both sessions. The first caution waved on lap 97 for Kyle Busch’s wall contact. Gordon came to pit road for tires and remained in the lead. On the restart, he pulled out to a more than 2-second lead before hitting lapped traffic on the half-mile track. After dropping to 2nd behind Dale Earnhardt Jr, Gordon came to pit road on lap 223 for a four-tire change.

Following the stops, Gordon resumed the race lead due to a faster on/off pit road time. A caution for Dave Blaney’s wall contact slowed the field on lap 240. Gordon jumped out on the restart before the next caution on lap 264 for Juan Pablo Montoya’s contact with the backstretch wall. A caution for Kasey Kahne on lap 315 slowed the field and brought pit stops. Gordon paced the field until lap 355 when Jimmie Johnson took the lead. Gordon led more laps than he had in any race since Dover in June 2001 (381 laps). A caution for Travis Kvapil on lap 361 brought the leaders to pit road. Gordon beat Johnson off pit road, but Denny Hamlin beat both Hendrick Motorsports cars to take the race lead. On the restart, Johnson took 2nd place from Gordon. Johnson took the race lead from Hamlin with 108 to go, as Gordon followed his teammate around the #11 Toyota.

As the laps wound down, Johnson pulled out to a comfortable lead on his teammate. With 20 to go, Gordon closed to within a half second of Johnson. With 10 to go, Gordon closed to within 3 car lengths of Johnson, but didn’t seem to have the drive off the corner that his teammate did. Gordon took the race lead coming to the caution flag with 3 laps to go with David Reuitimann elected to stop on the race track. On the restart, Clint Bowyer dove into turn one after a push from Ryan Newman and shoved Gordon into Johnson who spun. Gordon sustained damage on the right side of the car. Gordon then ran out of fuel under the ensuing caution period. He finished the event in 14th place

*Gordon jumped 8 spots in the series standings and is now 17th.
*Gordon has led a lap in each of the first 6 races of the season.

Turning point
Ryan Newman shoved Clint Bowyer into turn one on the gwc restart. The move effectively ended Hendrick Motorsports’ chance for their 200th Cup series victory.

source: gordonline.com

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Jeff Gordon started 21st and moved into the top-15 by lap 10. He entered the top-10 on lap 22 and took 9th from Dale Earnhardt Jr. on lap 24. After passing Carl Edwards for position on lap 26, Gordon closed in on Ryan Newman for 7th place. He passed Newman and then came to pit road during a green flag pit stop sequence on lap 35. At the 45-lap mark, Gordon ran in 6th place and closed in on Greg Biffle to enter the top-5. Gordon took 5th from Biffle on lap 50. Ten laps later he moved to 4th with a pass on Jimmie Johnson. Gordon stayed out to lead during a green flag pit sequence on lap 70. He slipped to 5th on lap 75 and remained there at the halfpoint point on lap 100.

Gordon took the race lead for a lap during a green flag pit stop sequence on lap 107. However, a costly mistake on pit road resulted in gasman Brad Pickens being dragged with the fuel can across the white line. Gordon was assessed a stop and go penalty on pit road, effectively taking him out of contention. He returned to the event in 19th place, one lap off the pace. He passed Marcos Ambrose to run 18th — the first car one lap down. However, the leader Tony Stewart passed AJ Allmendinger just two laps before a caution for rain on lap 122, thus keeping Gordon a lap down. Gordon pitted for tires under the caution flag. However, a tire violation on pit road dropped him to 26th, the last car 1 lap down. After a red flag for rain, NASCAR called the race just before 2:30pm pacific time.

*Gordon has led a lap in each of the first 5 races of the season for the first time since 2001.
*Gordon is 25th in the series standings– the lowest he’s been in points after 5 races in his NASCAR career.

Turning point A costly penalty on pit road during a green flag stop on lap 108 dropped Gordon off the lead lap. A later penalty on pit road dropped him from 18th to 26th.

source: gordonline.com

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What seemed like a certain top-5 finish for Jeff Gordon turned into his second finish of 35th or worse in the first 4 races after contact from Dale Earnhardt Jr. resulted in a wreck. Gordon started 4th and moved to the runner-up spot in the opening laps. However, handling issues dropped him to 4th before a caution for Kasey Kahne’s wreck slowed the field. Kahne, who came to Hendrick Motorsports with high expectations surrounding his effort, has not finished higher than 19th thru four races. Gordon opted for a two-tire change and restarted outside the top-10 due to others staying on the track. Gordon ran in 6th place at the 100-lap mark. He moved up to 3rd by lap 115. A caution for Ken Schrader’s wall contact on lap 116 slowed the field and resulted in pit stops. Following stops, Gordon held onto 3rd. He passed Brian Vickers for 2nd place and then closed in on Brad Keselowski for the race lead. However, he slipped to 3rd on lap 253 when Matt Kenseth went by. Gordon took the race lead on lap 258 during a green flag pit stop sequence.

Gordon battled tight handling and dropped to 4th on lap 275, and fell to 5th by lap 300. He came to pit road during a caution flag on lap 340 and restarted in 5th place. While battling Dale Earnhardt Jr for position on lap 360, Gordon sustained heavy damage after his teammate clipped his tire. Gordon went into turn 3 with a flat tire and spun backwards into the wall. He exited the #24 car with a damaged left rear bumper, spoiler and quarterpanel. He returned to the race more than 100 laps down and finished 35th.

*Gordon led a lap for the fifth consecutive race.
*He tied his worst career finish at Bristol (also 35th in Aug 1997).
*Gordon is now 23rd in the series points standings — that’s the lowest he’s been after 4 races in his NASCAR career.

Turning point
Gordon battled a tight handling car in the second half of the event. He was running consistently in the top-5 when contact from Dale Earnhardt Jr ruined a promising finish.

Comments
JG: “I think we bumped more than we should have is the way it looks like. We definitely didn’t hit in the right location, because I think the tailpipe or something just cut the left-rear (tire) immediately. We didn’t hit that hard. We were a little bit too tight and he was pretty good on the restart there and we were racing hard. I know that it was intentional, but it certainly ruined our day. I hate it for this race team. There were times we had the best car out there and I think we could have got back to that before this thing was over. There was contact. Just hard racing here at Bristol. We weren’t very good there on the restart; we were a little bit too tight still. We were making adjustments there to fix that. We were really strong earlier in the race. I was looking forward to getting to the end. Junior (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) got underneath me. When he got into me, it looked like the tailpipe just caught the left rear (tire) and cut the left rear. I don’t know what cut the left front (tire), but something cut the left front too and so around we went. I knew it immediately, and I let off trying to keep it out of the wall, but there was no chance. Ruined our day. Hate it for this team.”

source: gordonline.com

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Jeff Gordon struggled with handling for the balance of the day at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Gordon started 16th and moved to 11th by lap 4 while battling a tight handling condition. He moved into the top-10 with a pass on Kasey Kahne on lap 23. He pitted under caution on lap 47 and ran 7th on lap 50. He slipped to 8th during the next run before a caution on lap 74. He took 4 tires and restarted in 19th place. However, he struggled on the restart and dropped to 24th by lap 90. After falling to 26th, Gordon came to pit road under green on lap 119 for tires and adjustments. Following the stops, Gordon ran in 21st when the caution waved on lap 128. Gordon stayed out to lead a lap during a green flag pit stop sequence, but dropped off the lead lap when he came to pit road on lap 181.

Gordon got back on the lead lap by taking the wave around during a caution period with 62 laps to go. A caution with 39 laps to go assured Gordon of a lead lap finish. He moved into the top-15 and finished 12th after drivers ahead of him experienced wall contact/spins in the final laps. Gordon moved up to 17th in the series standings.

Turning point

A caution flag with 62 laps to go allowed Gordon to take the wave around and get back on the lead lap.

source: gordonline.com

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