DOVER, Del.—If Jeff Gordon’s final trip around Dover International Speedway appeared drama-free, don’t trust that perception.
After a restart with 24 laps left in Sunday’s AAA 400, Gordon had some nervous moments in his successful bid to qualify for the Contender Round of the Chase. After running in the top 10 for most of the afternoon, Gordon finished 12th after losing ground on that final restart.
But his effort was good enough to land a spot, finishing a mere two points ahead of the tiebreaker for the final spot between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jamie McMurray. (Earnhardt won the tiebreaker based on best finish in the Challenger Round, his third at Dover versus McMurray’s fourth).
“I wouldn’t call it drama-free,” demurred Gordon, who will retire from full-time Sprint Cup racing at the end of the season. “I was freaking out there at the end. We were pretty solid in the top 10 all day long. I’m really proud of this team and what they’ve accomplished. We’ve gone through a lot, and it hasn’t been pretty.
“That’s kind of the way today was. We knew we needed to be in the top 10 or top 11, or maybe 12th, if we were lucky. We did that, until the end, when that caution came out and people swapped-up their strategy; we just got ate up on that restart and were falling back and I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Source: Reid Spencer/NASCAR Wire Service
