For Jeff Gordon following his dismal run at Chicagoland Speedway, many critics discounted him as a true contender for the title. Maybe they were right but Gordon and his team came to NHMS ready to rebound and rebound they did.
Qualifying seventh for the race Gordon never ran outside the top 10 other than in green flag pit stops. He held a six second lead heading into the final stop of the day but came up just empty of fuel. He coasted into his stall and troubles with the fuel cans cost him the lead the bigger problem was did they get the car full of gas?
Crew chief Alan Gustafson radio with less than 35 to go to Gordon telling him to back it down and let off the brake. Gordon allowed drivers slip by him and saw his chance for the win slip away.
While Clint Bowyer ran out of fuel and Kasey Kahne was forced to pit late in the race Gordon finished fourth.
The results could have been far worse and basically eliminated him from title contention. Now Gordon is back in striking distance of the leader Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick.
While other chase drivers struggled on Sunday, Gordon and his team continued to make his car better. When fuel mileage could have ended their day, Gustafson kept Gordon focused.
They cannot afford any mistakes in the next eight races and finishing top five, leading laps and winning races could earn them the title.
In the end on Sunday Gordon gained the most-six spots in the standings to be exact. He is now sitting fifth in the standings and only 23 points off the lead. It was a weekend that Gordon needed if he wanted to climb back into contention.
He also collected bonus points for leading the most laps and for leading a lap. Gordon and his team they need to run like they did on Sunday and Gordon knows that.
“I’m just glad we finished fourth,’’ Gordon said. “It is tough conditions to race in (saving fuel). I don’t think that we wanted to see back-to-back fuel mileage races like this, but, it is kind of the name of the game these days. I don’t know, somehow we misjudged how far we could go on that second to the last run and we ran out. We weren’t even…we didn’t feel like we were even close to running out. So it just shows you how important every little detail. I ran a little bit fast that run because we were out front in clean air and the (car) was just driving unbelievable. We were just setting the pace so it is unfortunate that that happened. There at the end, conserved fuel. It is something that we need to be better at. We did it and we made it and we finished fourth so we’ll take that.’’
Now they head to Dover, a track that hasn’t exactly been a strong track for Gordon in recent years.
He has only one top 10 finish there and that was in 2009 and he finished 11th here in both races last year.
Heading in though he and his team should have confidence as they are bringing fast cars week to week and Gordon spends much of the practices tweaking the car to his liking.
Gordon is far from out of this title hunt but every weekend for this team is a make or break weekend after their Chase start.
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