Jeff Gordon has punched his ticket for the Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a win at the “Virginia paperclip,” Martinsville Speedway on Sunday.
After the race, Gordon joked that he wasn’t going to retire after this season, saying, “This is the sweetest, most amazing feeling. I am so proud of this team. You want to talk about holding back emotions; right now man, wow, we’re going to Homestead! I can’t believe it. What an incredible battle that was.”
He also acknowledged second-place finisher, Jamie McMurray, stating, “Those last couple of laps, I give a lot of credit to Jamie McMurray. He raced me hard and clean there. Oh, man, I’ll tell you it’s just never over. What a battle!”
The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet held off McMurray on the final restart to score his 93rd career victory and ninth win at Martinsville Speedway. He was the beneficiary of what appeared to be Matt Kenseth intentionally taking out Joey Logano with 47 laps to go.
McMurray, although disappointed that he didn’t win, said it was a “great battle with Jeff. I have looked up to Jeff Gordon since I was a little kid. What a fun way on his last year to get to battle him like that. I wish we could have won. Had a great car just the inside was kind of the preferred line on those restarts.”
Denny Hamlin rounded out the podium with a third-place finish while Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart rounded out the top-10.
Among the other Chase drivers, Carl Edwards finished 14th. Brad Keselowski, who led 143 circuits, finished 32nd after getting caught up in a wreck with 66 laps to go, a wreck that also took out Kenseth and Kurt Busch. Busch would go on to finish 34th. After leading 207 laps, Logano was taken out by Kenseth late in the race and finished 37th.
Gordon is locked into the championship battle in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead in three weeks. Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. leave Martinsville tied for second, eight points back. Kevin Harvick leaves 10-points back followed by Carl Edwards (-17), Brad Keselowski (-34), Kurt Busch (-36), and Joey Logano (-38).
