Gordon Wins Record 5th Time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Jeff Gordon, driver of the No.24 Axalta Chevrolet owned by Rick Hendrick, made history at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by becoming the first 5-time winner on the oval and ties Michael Schumacher for most wins overall.  It was Gordon’s first win at the track since since 2004. His other wins include the inaugural race in 1994, as well as wins in 1998 and 2001.

Gordon started second and lead three times for 40 laps in the 160 lap event. “I don’t think there’s a greater feeling as a race car driver, and a race team. I finally made the restart of my life when it mattered most. I was trying so hard with 10 to go not to focus on the crowd, I was trying not to let it get to me. You can’t help it, it’s such a big race, such an important victory. This one is for all those fans throughout the years and all weekend long who said, ‘go get number five.’” said Gordon in Victory Lane. The win was Gordon’s 90th career win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He now has 17 top ten finishes in 21 starts in this race. Bobby Labonte is the only other driver to run in each of the 21 Sprint Cup races at Indianapolis.

Kyle Busch drove his Joe Gibbs owned, No.18 Snickers Toyota to a second place finish after starting the race in the 12th position. After the race Busch said, “Today wasn’t bad. Our Snickers Camry was pretty good. We had a good race car today, probably a top four race car and we come home second. We’re proud of the effort there and the guys did a good job. We look forward to the next few weeks.”

All three Gibbs owned cars finished in the top four. Denny Hamlin, in the No.11 FedEx Express Toyota started 27th and drove his way to a third place finish. “We were awful for two days.” said Hamlin, adding, “The things I require out of a car just doesn’t work until the track gets hot and slick. We knew as soon as the pace started up our car was going to come in. That was a good run for us.” After the post-race inspection, it was determined that there may be some issues with the 11 car for “several rear firewall block off plates.” The parts and pieces will be taken back to the NASCAR R & D Center for further evaluation.

Matt Kenseth in the No.20 Dollar General Toyota, also owned by Gibbs started 13th and finished in 4th. “It was a good day for JGR. All our Toyotas were pretty quick today. We were all top 10 cars. Kept guys out and got good finishes. Wish it was a one-two-three. Another good day for us.” said Kenseth following the race.

Joey Logano, in the No.22 Penske owned, Shell Pennzoil Ford, was the highest finishing Ford driver finishing 5th and leading one time for 10 laps. Joey said, “We ran about where we thought we would. We had nothing compared to the 24 car. We stayed out one time and led a bunch of laps and got some track position that way. It was a good call. Fortunately we were able to hang on to where we were. If you ever make one mistake in this race, your day is over. You never get those spots back. You just gotta be perfect all day.”

Kasey Kahne who has yet to secure a spot in the Chase, dominated the race and looked like he was well on his way to getting locked into the Chase by leading 70 laps before being passed by Gordon on a late race restart. Kahne was not happy with the restart and thought that NASCAR let Gordon control the restart even though Kahne was leading at the time, “I didn’t spin a tire and Jeff was driving by me before we were even at the second red, so they just let him control it. But either way, he was gonna pass me in 1 and 2, so looking back, I probably should have chose the top.” said Kahne following his 6th place finish. Kahne is now 15th in the point standings.

Jeff Gordon leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings by 24 over teammate, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who finished the race in the 9th position.

The race had 4 caution flags for 16 laps and had 15 lead changes among 9 different drivers. Gordon’s margin of victory over Kyle Busch was 2.325 seconds.