(By Greg Engle CupScene.com Editor,NASCAR Examiner)
Posted: Tuesday,March 30th, 2010
Jeff Gordon was less than a 100 feet from victory Monday at Martinsville.
Gordon looked to be in position early in the Goody’s 500 to win his first race of the season. He led 4 times for 92 laps with most of those coming in the first half of the rescheduled race. But after lap 139 Gordon began to fade.
“We had an awesome car all weekend. I was very happy with it,” Gordon said.“When they dropped the green, there was no surprise to me how good we were. But, the track conditions changed on us and we lost some track position. When we lost that track position, we played catch up the rest of the day.”
MARTINSVILLE, VA - MARCH 29: Matt Kenseth, driver of the #17 Crown Royal Ford slides up the track as Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 DuPont Chevrolet and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, race for the lead during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 29, 2010 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images)
Gordon did eventually catch up and with just over 50 laps to go had battled his way back into the top five. He found himself in third when the 12th of 13 cautions came out with only eight laps to go. Surprisingly both cars ahead of him, the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota’s of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, dove into the pits while Gordon and those behind him elected to stay out.
“We were just kind of riding there at the end, going to come home third, then that caution came out, leaders came in,” Gordon said. “(Crew chief) Steve Letarte made a great call to stay out. When we heard about all the cars that stayed out behind us, we felt we were definitely the car to beat for the win. “ MORE–>>
Share on Facebook - Email this page: 
Rate this article:
What's Your Take?You must be logged in to post a comment.
|
