GORDON ENDS 66-RACE NASCAR DROUGHT AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
Track excavation begins will Gordon’s pull of the lever
(PHOENIX, Ariz.) – While fans at Phoenix International Raceway said goodbye to the track’s old racing surface and configuration, Jeff Gordon bid adieu to a winless streak of 66 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Gordon pulled away from Kyle Busch during the closing laps for victory in the SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500™ at PIR. At the end of a caution period, the field restarted on lap 291, with 22 to go.
Gordon was in third place behind leader Tony Stewart on the outside and Busch inside the front row in second place. Busch galloped to the lead over Stewart, who had gambled to improve his track position by taking two tires on lap 283. When Gordon drove his Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet past Stewart for second place, he took off after Busch. Gordon caught him on lap 305, tapped the Combos Toyota just enough to cause a slight bobble in turn four by Busch, who was looking for a sweep of NASCAR’s three main events this weekend. Gordon drove under Busch in turn one and was on his way with the checkered flag soon in sight.
“I knew Jeff was going to catch me,” explained Busch. “He drifted up into me in turn one, but it made no difference. Jeff was too strong.”
Gordon’s victory was the 83rd of his Cup career and tied him for fourth all-time with Cale Yarborough. Richard Petty remains well in front with 200 wins.
Two wrecks considerably impacted the outcome. Busch, by his own admission, accidentally caused the first on lap 60 when his car got loose, and in correcting it he cut down into pole-sitter Carl Edwards. “I apologize to Carl Edwards,” said Busch. “It was my fault, and I completely destroyed his race.”
Edwards’ SUBWAY Ford received considerable damage, much to his and his crew’s frustration. Edwards said, “Our car was so good, we should have been fighting for the win.” Instead he finished 28th, 60 laps off Gordon’s pace.
The second accident came right after the next restart, and it was a “big one” that collected 13 cars and was reminiscent of the kind of wrecks created by the tight racing on restrictor-plate tracks. It started when Brian Vickers got loose, and when it was over, dozens of crew members were rushing to the garage to try to quickly repair their crushed cars. Gordon was understandably happy afterward, saying, “It’s been a long time, I know.” He also saluted the ticket-holders of PIR. “I’m happy the fans stuck around for my lame burnout. I’m pretty bad at them,” he laughed.
Gordon’s teammate, Jimmie Johnson, suffered through a slow, late pit stop but rallied to a third place finish. Kevin Harvick finished fourth, and Ryan Newman was fifth.
About Phoenix International Raceway Since 1964, Phoenix International Raceway has served race fans as the premier motorsports venue in the Southwest. Watch the brightest stars in NASCAR take on PIR’s famed one-mile oval – including five-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Tony Stewart and many more – on February 27, 2011 in the Subway Fresh Fit 500. Tickets for the entire Subway Fresh Fit 500 weekend at Phoenix International Raceway can be purchased online at PhoenixRaceway.com/Ticketsor by calling 1-866-408-RACE (7223).
For more, visit PhoenixRaceway.com, Facebook.com/PhoenixRacewayand Twitter.com/PhoenixRaceway.
Surprising and Not Surprising: PIR Subway Fresh Fit 500
After one of the most exciting Daytona 500 finishes, the Cup Series promptly headed west to Phoenix International Raceway. Although it actually rained a bit in the Valley of the Sun, the second race of the NASCAR season, the Subway Fresh Fit 500, was filled with its own share of surprises.
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[/media-credit]Surprising: In contrast to the youngest winner, 20 year old Trevor Bayne, celebrating in Victory Lane after his Daytona 500 win last week, a 39 year old veteran driver was finally able to celebrate a victory, ending a 66 race winless streak. After receiving a big bear hug from team owner Rick Hendrick, the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon, stood relieved and overwhelmed with emotion in Victory Lane.
What seemed to mean the most to Gordon, in addition to beating Kyle Busch of course, was how the fans embraced his win.
“Man, we just beat Kyle Busch!” Gordon said after getting out of his race car. “Are you kidding me? Pinch me, pinch me.”
“I don’t really care how we do it because we just wanted to get to Victory Lane,” Gordon said. “But to do it that way, leading the most laps, and to see the fans’ reaction. What an awesome feeling it is.”
“God, it feels so amazing,” Gordon said. “I’ve got to say thanks to the fans.”
With the win at PIR, his 83rd, Gordon officially tied Cale Yarborough for fifth in NASCAR’s all-time win list. Gordon also catapulted up 21 spots in the points, now in the fifth position.
Not Surprising: It was not surprising that Kyle Busch, who had won both the Truck and Nationwide Series races at PIR, was right there nipping at Gordon’s heels in the final laps. Busch battled back from an early incident to give Gordon a run for his money, just coming short of the sweep by finishing as the runner up.
After paying homage to Gordon, Busch then apologized for getting into Carl Edwards, whose pole sitting race car was totally wrecked as a result of the contact.
“It was unintentional,” Busch said. “All that aside, we came through a lot of adversity and kept battling through everything that was thrown at us. There at the end, Jeff just had a better car than us and flat out passed me.”
Surprising: In a flashback moment to Daytona, there was actually a ‘big one’ at Phoenix International Raceway. Thirteen cars were involved, including the likes of Brian Vickers, Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, David Ragan, Regan Smith and David Reutimann to name a few. The race actually had to be red-flagged in order to allow for the extensive clean up needed.
Clint Bowyer summed up his take on the ‘big one’ up best. “I’m pretty disgusted with the whole thing,” Bowyer said. “Our day is done.”
Not Surprising: Whether as a result of the big one or smaller skirmishes on the track, there were several drivers who were unhappy with one another, sparking the first rivalries of the season. One of the biggest differences of opinion occurred between Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch, who clashed in an early incident.
“In my opinion, this was the car to win,” Edwards said after his tussle with Busch. “That’s too bold a move to make early in the race. We had been in the running for the race win.”
Other cross words were exchanged between Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth after getting into one another.
“Matt wrecked us,” Vickers said simply. “It’s coming back to him.”
Surprising: One of the most surprising finishes was for NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. After receiving a penalty for entering too fast into his pit, sliding through his pit stall, and breaking a wheel off the jack, Junior rallied back for a top ten finish.
Not Surprising: Rick Hendrick’s wisdom in making his giant crew chief swap amongst the Hendrick drivers, sans Jimmie Johnson, certainly became evident at this race. Thanks to his pairing of Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the new duo was able to rally back from adversity, with Letarte serving as head cheerleader. And of course, the driver in Victory Lane, Jeff Gordon, credited his new crew chief pairing with Alan Gustafson, with getting him back to winning ways.
Surprising and Not Surprising: It was surprising, yet not surprising, that last week’s winner Trevor Bayne had such a difficult time at Phoenix. He wrecked his primary car in practice and had the same experience in his back up car in the race. Bayne hit the wall hard, bringing out the third caution in the race and totally destroying the rear end of his No. 21 Wood Brothers race car.
“I don’t know what happened,” Bayne said after the wreck. “That’s tough coming off of our high at Daytona to come to this, but we’ve got a great race team behind us.”
“We’ll be back at Vegas,” Bayne continued. “I hate it ended this way this weekend, but we’ll be back.”
Indeed all of the Sprint Cup drivers will be back and this time they will try their luck on the track in Sin City. The Kobalt Tools 400 will run at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 6th at 3:00 PM and will be broadcast on FOX and PRN.
Jimmie Johnson’s Third Place Finish Was a Championship Like Performance After Early Struggles
No matter how many times it looks like Jimmie Johnson is down and out, the five-time champion rises to the occasion.
On Sunday Johnson did it again in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 after his No. 48 Kobalt Tools / Lowe’s Chevrolet team were nowhere near the top of the charts during practice and qualifying. Many were quick to write him off and wonder what was wrong.
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[/media-credit]Except, when the checkered flag flew though Johnson was in the picture with a third place finish.
“We just struggled from Friday’s first practice session when we unloaded,” he said afterwards.
“We just been working on understanding the new stuff we have developed during the off-season in trying to get laps and reps.”
Heading into Sunday, Johnson had won four of the last seven races at the Phoenix International Raceway. But last fall he never led a lap and struggled early on but used fuel mileage strategy to finish in the top five.
Sunday, Johnson again wasn’t in typical form and while he did led laps, they came during cycles in green flag pit stops. As the race went on though the 48 team kept plugging away and the car got better. Moving from his 28th starting spot to the top 10 before firmly planting himself in the top three.
“We just needed laps,” Johnson said.
“The first half of the race we could not really get going, just way too loose and we pitted every caution that there was. And at one point we thought we were going to be out of tires because we came to pit road so many times.”
Johnson made it through the ‘Big One’ on lap 67 where 13 cars were torn up off turn two after Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth made contact and Vickers spun in front of the field. The race was red flagged and after it restarted Johnson said his team was able to tighten the car up and he started to find consistency that helped him become a contender for the win.
“We had a good day,” he said.
“On the short run I think the 18 and the 24 had us beat. Longer we went, the more our car kind of tightened up and I seemed to be a little closer to these guys. But third was really where we ran all day and where we deserved to finish.”
Johnson’s championship like performance followed teammate Jeff Gordon’s win. The two led the charge for Hendrick Motorsports who finished first (Gordon), third (Johnson), 10th (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and 13th (Mark Martin) after each of them encountered some sort of setback during the event.
That came after all of them struggled in qualifying and practice. To Johnson it was just further proof how the organization is so close in equipment.
“You could see that we are all in bed together and we all run the same stuff,” he said.
“During the off-season, the four crew chiefs worked really close together to find speed. We felt like at the end of last year we did not have the pace that we needed.”
Johnson came into 2011 as the only Hendrick driver to have won last year. Team owner Rick Hendrick swap three of the four teams in order to find the magic that all needed in order to get back to the results that the organization is used to.
With the so-called real season starting at Phoenix, Hendrick said he was worried after qualifying when all four teams started 20th or worse. But just like Johnson, every team was able to get better as the race went on.
“As a group we came here and started today with our tail between our legs,” said Johnson.
“It’s nice to finish up the day with one in victory lane and one in third. A good day for HMS.”
Following a wreck in the Daytona 500, his third place finish helps move Johnson up to 13th in the point standings, tied with Carl Edwards for the 12 position and a Chase spot. Next week he’ll head to Las Vegas where he’s the defending winner after outrunning Gordon on a battle of two vs. four tires.
This time though, Johnson watched as Gordon was the one celebrating and on a track that will be completely different when the Cup Series returns in a few months. As Johnson spoke of his day he watched as bulldozers were already starting to tear up the track for it’s repaving and reconfiguring.
While Johnson said he wanted to watch he knew he had to stay on track. That’s what his team did on Sunday after what started as a weekend that looked like it could go downhill fast.
They’re Back!!!!!!
Somehow at the end of the race in Phoenix, I understood how the little girl in Poltergeist felt when she looked at the TV and said, “They’re back!” Because that is exactly how this race felt. The power horses of NASCAR are finally back. After a painfully long and drawn out Speed weeks, we are finally back to racing and just let me say it felt good.
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[/media-credit]This week in Phoenix had to be difficult at best for the teams. The two day turn around to get the cars to Phoenix is a well orchestrated ballet to say the least. Everyone from the tandems of truck drivers to the paint and body guys are up against the clock. Two days to get the fastest and most well groomed fleet of race cars to the track is a fete that would exhaust the most dedicated of workers. Add to that, most teams were not taking one pair of cars, they were taking two pairs of cars because the trip back to Vegas is just too far to go home and come back.
The ballet was only the beginning of two of the hardest weeks in the NASCAR season. Once the cars arrived many teams found that were just a little off. The search for speed and handling began in earnest.
The power horses of HMS were seemingly the slowest of the field with practice times showing promise and qualifying times showing disappointment.
They were not alone; many of the dominant teams who got awesome starts in Daytona struggled with either handling or speed. Red Bull and Jack Roush struggled heavily with Vickers and Ambrose and Kenseth and Biffle qualifying mid pack or worse.
The new qualifying system was a dud. It lacked the crisp pace of the old system. And made for a long day with two qualifying sessions taking up most of Saturday although the new procedure and the moving qualifying to Saturday was great for ticket sales it proved a long and boring TV broadcast.
That would be rectified when the cars took the track. Although the NNS race was barely watch able Kyle Busch proved himself to be the dominant horse in what turned out to be a one horse race until the last 20 laps. Try as he might Carl Edwards simply didn’t have the power to get around the Interstate Batteries Camry. But he did make it a great end of race battle that even with its drama could not rescue the rest of the race.
But the big dogs of the Sprint Cup made up for it in spades. The race was all racing and action from the drop of the green flag. The best of the best used up what was left of the old pavement in Phoenix in a big way. With 8 laps to go Jeff Gordon slipped to the inside of Kyle Busch and took the lead for the final time. He stretched it out and never looked back. Breaking his 66 race losing streak, the 4 time Champion proved why and how he got those 4 championships.
The stories of perseverance were numerous in the field from Kevin Harvick coming to finish 4thafter a lap 59 incident that involved Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin as well as the 29 Jimmy Johns car of Harvick.
Mark Martin showed his grace under pressure in his Go Daddy Chevrolet that featured messages from his fan base to come back with a right front corner that was more bearer bond than sheet metal to finish 13th.
The Lowes Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson struggled on pit road and on the race track relying on the skills of the 5 time champion to garner them a 3rd place finishing position.
The National Guard Chevrolet showed great improvement for another week, coming back from a speeding penalty, a broken wheel on the jack and a loose wheel that put them a lap down, perseverance and steady progression put Earnhardt Jr in a position to regain his lap and ultimately scoring a 10th place finish.
But the real heroes of this race were the crews of the 99 Subway Ford Fusion of Carl Edwards and the 33 Cheerios Chevrolet Impala of Clint Bowyer. With the front ends of those cars totally destroyed, they put them back together with new nose pieces and put their drivers back on the track to get those ever valuable points.
This race had its feel good story of the race as well, with Jeff Gordon snapping a long losing streak that had his confidence suffering at a low point. Gordon showed that the new match up with crew chief Alan Gustafson was indeed a match made in heaven. Both crew chief and driver showed the poise that made the 24 and its driver 4 time series champions.
The raw emotion in victory lane from the driver to the fans, his team and his car owner were palpable even from the couch thousands of miles away. You had to share his excitement and his relief. You had to respect the ability he had shown. And you had to cheer the humility of a man who could have easily said finally I knew it wasn’t me. Instead he was gracious and professional and showed the class that is essential for a champion of the sport.
This race is the closest we have had in a long time to the exciting sport of NASCAR that we grew up with. It was hard driving and refusing to lose attitudes against a track surface that in the words of Phoenix International Raceway president, Bryan R. Sperber was “used up”. Sperber stated that “Our goal for this project was to not radically change a track that’s celebrated by fans and drivers alike, but to utilize new technology to ensure great moments in the next chapter of racing history at PIR.” To orchestrate his point and commitment to racing the project began with the removal of asphalt before the Victory Lane celebration even ended.
The static has cleared on the television set and the cheers have died down. But the realization of the fact that they are indeed back will stay with us for a long long time.
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Congratulations to Kyle Busch and his Kyle Busch Motorsports team on their win of the truck series race, and to he and his Joe Gibbs Racing Team for a dominating win in the Nationwide Series Race. Congratulations to Jeff Gordon, Alan Gustafson and everyone at HMS for the victory in the Sprint Cup Series.
That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.
