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Jeff Gordon finishes a 'ridiculous' eighth at Lowe's Motor Speedway

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Article Rating: 5.0
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John Harrelson / Getty Images for NASCAR

John Harrelson / Getty Images for NASCAR

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CONCORD, N.C. Jeff Gordon looked unbeatable for a 47-lap segment of the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

That’s only because he was leading. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet led from laps 204-250 of the 334-lap race before he lost the track-position game. And then it was hang on and ride his car out to an eighth-place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

“If I could have got out front, I would have won the race,” a resigned Gordon said afterward. “I mean, anybody who gets out front is going to win the race. It’s ridiculous.”

It’s not the first time that clean air proved to be a big difference, but it was the first time in a while that Gordon had a strong enough car to be out front and take advantage of it – and then see the amazing disadvantage of not having it.

“I’m so frustrated with that,” the four-time Cup champion said. “It’s unbelievable how good my car drove out in front. It was on rails. And it was like having the best car, and then like having the worst car, when I was five cars, six cars back.”

Gordon was on a different pit cycle than others after he stayed out when others pitted after a five-lap run just past the midway point in the race.

“All you can do is be the leader,” crew chief Steve Letarte said. “There’s no fixing it.”

Letarte’s crew did have to do some fixing during the race when Gordon slapped the wall twice in the first six laps.
   
“To come back and be in the top 10 was phenomenal,” Gordon said. “It was nice when we were out front there and the car drove that awesome that it gave us some hope that we could win it, but the only way I think we were going to win it is if the fuel mileage worked out.”

It didn’t and Gordon fell even further behind series points leader Jimmie Johnson. With five races left in the season, Gordon is 245 points and sits eighth in the standings.

“The points situation is pretty much over,” Letarte said. “So we’re going to look at the highlights.

“The highlights are we are going to go to Martinsville and hopefully run well. And we’ve never won at Texas or Homestead so we’re going to put a lot of chips, a lot of stuff in that basket.”

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Comments

11 responses to "Jeff Gordon finishes a 'ridiculous' eighth at Lowe's Motor Speedway"
  1. 1
    sandra medura said:
    Oct 12, 2008 at 12:46 PM

    gordon would have won except for the last two pitcalls. they were way off. even commentators could not understand latare's logic in what he did. why 4 tires on that last stop. two tires or no tires and maybe it would have turned out differently. what was he thinking. four tires???!!!???

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  2. 2
    del brown said:
    Oct 12, 2008 at 1:52 PM

    Well - we don't know how badly the 24's tires were wearing. Probably pretty badly considering the car slapped the wall pretty hard - twice - in the early laps. Those slaps can knock things out of alignment enough to affect tire wear. Sometimes the handling can be tweaked back in but the tire wear is still out the window. And it's s though no cars had exploded on some cars.

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  3. 3
    kevin gautier said:
    Oct 12, 2008 at 3:26 PM

    Gordon and/or Letarte GAVE away a precious victory. They give up being out front on the next to last pit just to change a set of tires only a few laps old??!!!??? They stay out, there's a good chance they are 1st or 2nd to the pits on the last stop and things wind up A LOT differently. Jeff Burton proved being out front to be a substitute for any tires. I'm still amazed he kept being able to hold off Jimmie J. at the end.

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  4. 4
    cb michael said:
    Oct 12, 2008 at 4:23 PM

    jeff's done too many 4 tire stops all year long. one of the greatest drivers but needs a quality crew chief who makes right calls on tires.

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  5. 5
    Robert Wingert said:
    Oct 12, 2008 at 5:06 PM

    Last stop to take 4 tires was a bad call.

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  6. 6
    Kim Palmer said:
    Oct 12, 2008 at 8:54 PM

    Jeff as team owner, he has owners right to decide...Chad would be a good fit for MY team. Ya thats it. Rank has it privlages and NASCAR is a buisness and the 24 team needs to get down the buisness next year.

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  7. 7
    chris welch said:
    Oct 12, 2008 at 10:30 PM

    i think jeff is totally right. NASCAR is almost like watching F1 or INDY CAR. the leader just has a ridiculous advantage. i thought the point of this car was to get rid of the aero dependence these cars have had. this race was a perfect example clean air reigning supreme. there are alot of aspects to NASCAR every week that resemble INDY CAR racing. it is a failing series brian france.

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  8. 8
    ed blake said:
    Oct 13, 2008 at 5:45 AM

    what sandra said in spades

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  9. 9
    beth emerson said:
    Oct 13, 2008 at 7:45 AM

    I agree with what they did. Four tires has been there call all year. The tire ware was not that great. Why would you change what you have been diong all year. They have tried 2 tires it does not work for them. Way to go Jeff you will win.

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  10. 10
    77 F said:
    Oct 13, 2008 at 8:06 AM

    IMO...I thought the out of pit sequence was a good idea on the 24's part. If there was no caution the 24 would have been in a good position to win. That last caution hurt the 24 because the advantage was lost. The 31's pit box was ahead of the 24's. So ff the 24 took two tires or just gas they still would have been behind the 31. :(

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  11. 11
    jeffrey Ingle said:
    Oct 13, 2008 at 3:24 PM

    no tires and just gas and go. Jeff had no chance starting 8th or 9th on the last restart. he would have been in top 3 on the last restart with just gas.

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