Gordon’s Chase Chances Take a Hit in Texas
Jeff Gordon and his No. 24 Drive to End Hunger team wanted to be apart of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship and for seven weeks they did everything right in order to have a shot at it.
But early Sunday in Texas there Chase chances might have come to an end. Gordon hit the wall on lap 73 and suffered major enough damage to go to the garage. A blown left front tire the culprit.
“It didn’t give me enough of a warning, that is for sure. I was going down the front straightaway and I felt the car move around a little bit,” Gordon said in the garage. “That was odd. But, the wind was buffeting and blowing so strong, the cars are moving around anyway. Just before I got to turn one, I felt it go down. I did everything I could to slow it down”
Earlier in the race Kyle Busch also hit the wall, but was able to have his car repaired in his pit stall and remained in the race. Gordon needed more substantial repairs on his car, which entered the day third in points just 27 points behind leaders Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson.
“It is so unfortunate. This Drive to End Hunger team has done such an amazing job. I am so proud of them to get us where we are. You just can’t have things like this happen if you are going to make a run at a championship or battle with those guys,” Gordon said.
“We had a great race car. We just didn’t take off good on the restarts, but once we got going by eight to 10 laps into it, boy were we really strong.”
Following his first win of the season last weekend in Martinsville, Gordon was thought to have moved himself in good position for his fifth championship. He was within a race of Kenseth and Johnson but would have needed them to stumble in order to significantly close the gap heading into the final two races of the season.
At Texas he started the day eighth and was running in the top 12 at the time of the accident. He’s likely to now fall outside of the top five in points at the conclusion of Sunday’s AAA Texas 500.
Two races remain in the 2013 NSCS season, both tracks Gordon has recently won at. He won at Phoenix in the spring of 2011 for the first time and finished ninth there earlier this year. He’s the defending winner at Homestead-Miami Speedway where the NSCS ends its season in two weeks.
“I don’t know if it was a slow leak or if it just went all of a sudden. Our car just didn’t take off very good, but boy was it strong on the long runs,” Gordon said. “We just needed to get some better track position; get on the inside on those restarts, and we actually had a really, really good race car.
“But unfortunate. This is definitely going to hurt. We just get what we can out of this day and go on to Phoenix.”
Lap-by-Lap: O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge won by Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski would take the lead with 15 laps to go and never looked back as he held off Denny Hamlin to grab the win at Texas Motor Speedway.
Lap 1 – Alex Bowman leads
Lap 4 – Bowman leads Hornish Keselowski Busch ADillon Stenhouse Scott Smith Bayne TDillon
Lap 5 – Hornish takes the lead with Keselowski up to second
Lap 6 – Keselowski takes the lead ahead of Hornish
Lap 7 – Keselowski leads Hornish Busch Dillon Bowman Stenhouse Scott Smith Bayne Dillon
Lap 16 – Stenhouse by Bowman; Kenseth up to ninth with Bayne 10th and TDillon 11th
Lap 18 – Scott by Bowman
Lap 19 – Kenseth by both Bayne and Smith; Keselowski leads Hornish Busch Dillon Stenhouse Scott Kenseth Smith Bowman and Bayne
Lap 32 – Keselowski leads Hornish Busch Dillon Kenseth Stenhouse Scott Smith Bayne and Hamlin. Scott passes Stenhouse.
Lap 35 – Smith by Stenhouse
Lap 37 – Bayne by Stenhouse; Hamlin by Stenhouse. Thins get tight around the lap car of Jeff Green with Hamlin and Bayne but Hamlin gives Bayne room
Lap 39 – Larson by Stenhouse
Lap 46 – Keselowski leads Busch Hornish Dillon Kenseth Scott Smith Bayne Hamlin Larson
Lap 50 – Clements, Sweet, Bell and Allgaier head down pit road to kick off green flag pit stops.
Lap 51 – Bowman and Ty Dillon pit.
Lap 52 – Kenseth and Busch pit. Keselowski and Hornish also pit. Dillon to the lead. Hornish hit the commitment cone coming in for his stop – will have to come in for a penalty.
Lap 54 – Dillon finishes off pit stops. Keselowski goes back to the points lead.
Lap 64 – Keselowski leads Busch Kenseth ADillon Smith Scott Hamlin Bayne TDillon Larson
Caution lap 71 debris in turn two. Leaders head down pit road. Keselowski leads the field off ahead of Busch
Restart lap 76 Keselowski and Busch side-by-side for the lead. Keselowski with the advantage off of turn four ahead of Busch
Lap 77 – Keselowski leads ahead of Busch and Hamlin
Lap 78 – Hamlin by Busch for second. Keselowski leads Hamlin Busch Scot Larson Kenseth TDillon Sadler Bayne Smith.
Lap 80 – Hamlin and Keselowski side-by-side for the lead
Lap 81 – Hamlin to the lead while Kenseth-Scott-Keselowski three-wide for second. Kenseth to second ahead of Scott and Keselowski
Lap 83 – Hamlin leads Kenseth Scott Larson TDillon Keselwoski Sadler Busch Kligerman and Smith. Sadler by Keselowski for positon.
Lap 85 – Kenseth and Hamlin side-by-side for the lead. Hamlin holds Kenseth off for time being
Lap 88 – Hornish by Smith for 10th
Lap 95 – Hamlin leads Kenseth Scott Larson TDillon Sadler Kligerman Keselowski Busch Hornish
Lap 96 – Kenseth passes Hamlin for the lead
Lap 103 – Allgaier pits
Caution lap 105 Kyle Busch gets into the wall as the right rear tire blows out. Leaders head down pit road. Hamlin leads Kenseth Scott Larson TDillon Sadler Keselowski Kligerman off pit road.
Restart lap 117 as Hamlin pulls ahead of the whole field
Lap 118 – Hamlin leads as Scott and Kenseth run side-by-side for second
Lap 119 – Hamlin leads Kenseth Scott Larson TDillon Sadler Keselowski Hornish Smith Kligerman
Lap 122 – Keselowski passes TDillon and Sadler. Smith by Hornish for eighth.
Lap 124 – Keselowski passes Larson; Dillon passes Kligerman for 10th
Lap 126 – Hamlin leads Kenseth Scott Keselowski Larson Sadler TDillon Hornish ADillon Kligerman
Lap 128- Keselowski by Scott for third
Lap 131 – Hamlin and Kenseth side-by-side for the lead and Kenseth with the lead off of turn two. Sadler by Larson for fifth.
Lap 157 – Keselowski to the lead
Lap 160 – Keselowski leads Kenseth Hamlin Hornish Scott Sadler Dillon Larson Smith Kligerman
Lap 162 – Bowman and Bayne pit
Lap 163 – Allgaier and Stenhouse pit. Smith by Larson for eighth.
Lap 165 – Ty Dillon pits
Lap 166 – Larson pits as Dillon passes Sadler. Dillon then passes Scott for fifth.
Lap 167 – Kligerman pits
Lap 169 – Sadler pits
Lap 170 – Kenseth, Hamlin, Keselowski, Dillon, Hornish and Smith pit. Hamlin cycles through to the lead.
Caution lap 171 Nemechek spins on the backstretch.
Restart lap 177 Hamlin and Keselowski side-by-side. Hamlin grabs the lead.
Caution lap 178 Pastrana spun and into the wall after racing side-by-side with Green
Restart lap 183 Hamlin grabs the lead off of turn two while Keselowski and Kenseth side-by-side for second. Keselowski grabs second and gets to the outside of Hamlin
17 to go Hamlin pulls ahead of Keselowski through turns three and four. Hornish runs third.
15 to go Keselowski passes Hamlin for the lead as Hornish runs third
13 to go Keselowski leads Hamlin Hornish Kenseth Dillon Scott Smith Sadler Kligerman Larson
12 to go Larson grabs ninth from Kligerman
10 to go Smith passes Scott
3 to go Sweet Bayne and TDillon pass Kligerman for position
Brad Keselowski wins! Hamlin. Hornish. Kenseth. Dillon. Smith. Sadler. Scott. Larson. Sweet.
