Final crash wipes out Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon – and championship race?
Mark Martin's Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (5) plows through the grass with Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann (00) and Robby Gordon Motorsports' Robby Gordon also caught up in the late crash Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
TALLADEGA, Ala. - Hendrick Motorsports teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon entered Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway hoping to gain some ground on series-leading teammate Jimmie Johnson.
Instead, they both became victims of the race's final crash and watched what had looked to be a solid points day turn into a disaster.
The two were racing in the pack as the green-white-checkered finish began when Phoenix Racing's Brad Keselowski made contact with Penske Racing's Kurt Busch, causing Busch's Dodge to shoot across the track. Cars began to slide and spin and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's Martin Truex Jr. shot into the side of Martin, causing his car to flip. Gordon was also caught up in the carnage of the 13-car crash.
It was the race's second large incident in the closing laps - but this one dramatically impacted the points standings. Hendrick's Jimmie Johnson was just one car in front of the melee and escaped unscathed, finishing sixth on a day when he'd run at the back of the pack. Gordon, who had just run out of gas and pitted for fuel, sustained damage and finished 20th. Martin, who tried to get his car righted and over the line, finished 28th.
And that could have sealed this season's Chase For The Sprint Cup - and Johnson's hold on his fourth consecutive Cup title. The driver entered the race with a 118-point lead over Martin; he left with a 184-point edge over his teammate. Gordon is even deeper in the standings in third, 192 points back. They are the only two drivers within 200 points of their teammate.
Martin had little to say about the incident as he stood in the garage after the race.
"It was just a wreck," he said. "I hope everybody enjoyed the show there. I don't know what it looked like. It felt pretty exciting from my viewpoint there. I have no idea. I don't have a clue. Don't know what happened out there. I don't know."
He didn't blame the rules or the cars for the incident, though, pointing out that under green-white-checkered conditions the sense of urgency is heightened and that it was people, not cars, that wrecked.
"People were trying to make it to the end," Martin said. "[I] got pretty close."
Gordon took a more sardonic look at his final laps of the event and the crash that many view as inevitable at this restrictor-plate track.
"It's no surprise to me," he said. "I think we all know that's what's going to happen when we come to Talladega. You know everybody is pretty patient throughout the day and just waiting to get crazy at the end. You know it's going to happen eventually.
"A little disappointing for us on the DuPont Chevrolet just because we ran out of fuel. I felt like we saved a lot. I certainly didn't think we were going to run out right then but I guess I'm kind of glad we ran out when we did because we were at least able to get back out there and destroy our car."
Looking down the road, Gordon does see things he would change at the restrictor-plate tracks. Recent races at those have featured a series of dramatic crashes and have seen multiple instances of cars flipping through the air, as both Martin and Ryan Newman did in Sunday's race.
Gordon sees things that could be done to help with that in future races at restrictor-plate tracks.
"My recommendation to them a long time ago and still is, I think basically we're just punching too big of a hole and we've got too much power to go along with that if you take away from that wicker," Gordon said. "I just think we've got to get the air turned back down to catch the cars a little bit more. I don't know what the solution is if it's wicker or if it's something else. I'm not an aero guy.
"I just know that we shouldn't be able to just get into that pocket and close up. There's two things: one, the car has so much drag that when you clear somebody it's just like putting the brakes on and then the other side is that when you get close up to them, you just close right up on them. And when you take 40 cars or 20 cars and pack 'em, it's just bumper cars at 190 mph."
