Spirit of 76: Gordon ties Earnhardt with Phoenix win
By Jeff Owens
Monday, April 23, 2007
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AVONDALE, Ariz. - Jeff Gordon reached two important milestones at Phoenix International Raceway Saturday night, winning the Subway Fresh Fit 500 with a bit of luck and a lot of daring.
Gordon won for the first time in his career at Phoenix, leaving just two current Nextel Cup tracks - Texas and Homestead - that he has not won at.
More importantly, it was his 76th career win, tying him with Dale Earnhardt for sixth on the all-time win list.
After holding off Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin, Gordon took a victory lap waving a black flag bearing Earnhardt's famous No. 3.
"It means the world," Gordon said. "To get a win at a track we've never won at before. I drove my guts out. ... You know, holding the 3 flag, It's certainly by no means to say I'm as good as or we're as good as or even close, but I tell you what, to honor him in that way, it really means a lot to me.
"I learned so much from him, and to even come close to anything he had done in the sport is amazing to me. We want to honor him. We have been holding on to the flag for a long time, but to get 76 is incredible."
Gordon ran among the leaders all night, but needed a lucky break to pull off the win.
Gordon was chasing Stewart, who led a race-high 132 laps, when the leaders started pitting under green around lap 280. Gordon pitted on lap 284, right before a caution flag came out.
While Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman and others fell a lap down because they were caught on pit road or had already pitted when the caution flag flew, Gordon had was pulling into his pit when the flag waved. As a result, he was able to stay on the lead lap and inherited the lead when the rest of the leaders pitted under caution.
"We got lucky getting on pit road when the caution came out, but I thought we needed to keep going through," Gordon said. "I almost drove through the pit. [Crew chief] Steve [Letarte] made the call. I love him as a crew chief. He's awesome and as sharp as can be. He made the call and he talked to the spotter and me and the team. He's just so cool under pressure."
When the race restarted on lap 293, Gordon held the lead but was lined up behind Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Martin Truex Jr., who were all on the tail end of the lead lap.
Stewart passed him for the lead on lap 299, but Gordon tucked in on his bumper and passed him to regain the lead on lap 300. From there he pulled away to lead the final 13 laps.
Hamlin rallied from an early race penalty to finish third and was frustrated on several fronts after the race.
Hamlin led 70 laps early, but was caught for speeding entering pit road when the leaders pitted on lap 99.
"By the rules, it's black and white, but I've been caught speeding on pit road one time," Hamlin said. "We checked it after the very first run and we were 2.2 mph to the good. We came back in the second run with the exact same RPM, no exaggeration, no lie, and I was speeding. I don't know. I was tonight's entertainment, I guess."
Though Hamlin worked his way back to the front, he was frustrated with the performance of the car of tomorrow, which made it difficult to pass.
"To be as nice as I can, it's just frustrating, very frustrating," Hamlin said. "It's hard to complain, and people will say I went to the back to the front, but it took 300 laps [actually 200] to do it when it shouldn't have. Our car was that much better than everyone else's. ... I don't know how we're going to run these cars on bigger tracks without changes."
Hamlin, a Virginia native who has run strong in all three COT races, was hoping to dedicate a win at Phoenix to the victims of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech that claimed 33 lives.
Jimmie Johnson finished fourth followed by Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth, Haas CNC Racing's Jeff Green, Hendrick's Kyle Busch, Petty Enterprises' Bobby Labonte, Haas CNC Racing's Johnny Sauter and RCR's Kevin Harvick.
Gordon padded his points lead to 74 points over Jeff Burton, who finished 13th.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Bobby Labonte
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