With Michigan victory comes an edge in points
Vallejo native Jeff Gordon needed a good restart after the last caution flag Sunday if he was to take the lead from Joey Logano in the Michigan Pure 400. He got it.One lap later, Logano took it back.
But Gordon, who had started the race from the pole, charged forward to pass Logano, sped off and stayed out front until he crossed the finish line for his third win of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.
“This is a big, fast place. There’s a draft there. My lane moved along as a group,” Gordon said in describing the restart that was key to his win. “Even though Joey got out there, he was sort of sitting on an island by himself.”
Gordon, in the faster car, passed Logano on the inside. “But his car is so strong,” Gordon said.
Logano’s car handled the track better, too, giving him the most laps led at 86. “I couldn’t drive in as deep as he could. He got to my left rear and got me loose,” Gordon said.
“That’s when he got underneath me.”
At that point, Gordon thought he had lost the race. But it wasn’t over. “I was sort of able to drag race him, get back to his right rear.”
When Bakersfield native Kevin Harvick moved up behind Gordon, the two soared past Logano’s car.
Even then, Gordon said he expected Logano to mount another challenge. “All of a sudden, we were out front, and we set sail,” he said.
Harvick ended up in second, the fifth time he’s been a runner-up in 2014. But he didn’t complain. “All in all, it was a good day,” he said. “I could be (more) aggressive in the corners.”
“One too many restarts!” said Logano, who led 86 laps. “We were battling the restarts pretty hard. I had the run. I should have pulled out in front of him.”
Logano said he did everything he could to chase down Gordon. “I just wish that last caution hadn’t come out.”
Behind Gordon, Harvick and Logano came Paul Menard, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, El Cajon native Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle, rounding out the top 10.
Johnson salvaged the top-10 finish despite dealing with a shifter that broke about lap 46. During one pit stop, his crew handed him a vise grip assembly they hoped would help him manage to find his gears, and they had to push the No. 48 Chevrolet to get it out of its pit box.But Johnson couldn’t get the vise grip to stay attached to the broken shifter, and his troubled car went one lap down. During the race, the crew put together a replacement shifter they installed during another pit stop, giving their driver a chance to stay competitive.
Another California driver, Kyle Larson, wasn’t so lucky Sunday. On lap 97, his car began scraping the outside wall. “Stop the car, stop the car,” his crew ordered him on his radio. “You’re on fire.”
Flames billowed from both the front and rear of the car. As Larson struggled to unfasten his harness, steering wheel and helmet while wearing fire-resistant gloves, one member of his crew tried to reassure him. “Take your time, take your time.”
Responders whisked Larson away and extinguished the fire. The driver was unhurt. He finished 43rd.
It was the first test of NASCAR’s new rule mandating that a driver stay in the car after a crash — except if the car is on fire or smoke is filling the cockpit.
The rule was imposed less than a week after a New York sprint car driver, Kevin Ward, was killed Aug. 8 when he left his crashed car and walked across the track to confront the driver he blamed for the crash, Tony Stewart.
Stewart’s car struck Ward as he went past under caution.
Stewart is a champion Sprint Cup driver, but has not raced in any series since the accident. Ontario County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the accident.
Other tracks have begun imposing similar rules to restrict leaving a disabled race car during competition.
Last week’s winner, A.J. Allmendinger of Los Gatos, was 13th on Sunday in Michigan; another Bakersfield driver, Casey Mears, was 17th; and Cole Whitt, of Alpine, was 25th.
Gordon’s finish vaulted him back into first place in season points, and for the first time he also would be on the pole in the Chase for the Championship, NASCAR’s equivalent of playoffs.
He joins Earnhardt, Keselowski and Johnson with three wins apiece this season. Logano, Harvick and Carl Edwards have two wins each, and Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Aric Almirola, Allmendinger and Kurt Busch have one win each.
On points, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Bowyer and Biffle would round out the rest of the field if the playoffs began today.
From Michigan International Speedway’s sweeping two miles, drivers next tackle the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.
Broadcast of the Irwin Tools Night Race will start at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time Saturday on ABC.