Gordon wins at Darlington to expand lead
May 13th, 2007
Darlington, SC (Sports Network) - Jeff Gordon made it three of the last four capturing the rain-delayed Dodge Avenger 500 from the Darlington Raceway. The No.24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.978 seconds ahead of Denny Hamlin.
The victory was Gordon's third of the season and 78th of his Nextel Cup career. It was his seventh career win at the "Track Too Tough To Tame."
Pole winner Clint Bowyer led a clean start to the 367-lap race. But the winner of the last two races at Darlington, Greg Biffle, seemed stronger than Bowyer and put himself right on the No.07 Chevrolet's rear bumper.
Bowyer fought off the No.16 Ford who began to backslide after nearly earning his "stripe" in turn two. Carl Edwards got around Biffle and challenged Bowyer, finally passing him for the lead on lap 17.
Off went Edwards building the lead to 1.416 seconds at the 30-lap mark. But this is Darlington and your performance can fall as quickly as it rises. By lap 35 Hamlin flew around Edwards for the lead.
A "competition caution" on lap 40 sent everyone to pit lane as NASCAR wanted all teams to inspect their tires because last night's rain storm left the track "green." (A green track is when there is no rubber built up on the track and teams don't know how their tires will react under the new conditions.)
Hamlin controlled the next segment, building a lead of more than two seconds on Jimmie Johnson and four seconds on Edwards after 60 laps. The trio stayed just that way until the next round of green-flag pit stops.
Hamlin's pit crew had a problem with a lug nut and the more than 16-second stop left him in second place, five seconds behind Edwards. In third place was Tony Stewart. who started 27th but had been charging from the initial green flag and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in fourth.
Reed Sorenson, wasn't the first driver to get his Darlington stripe, but he was the first one to hit it hard enough to bring out a caution flag on lap 117.
Following the caution flag Hamlin went around Edwards again for the lead. He and Edwards maintain the top spots with Hamlin leading his 100th lap on lap 150.
As the field reached the 200-lap mark, Hamlin had almost clinched the bonus for "most laps led." Behind him was Ryan Newman, Kenseth and Gordon. However, Hamlin scraped the wall just past that point and slowly Newman began to reel the No.11 Chevrolet in.
Stewart was running in the top-10 when he suffered a cut tire on lap 214 and fell to 31st ending any realistic chance of winning the race.
Meanwhile, Newman caught Hamlin on lap 220 and two laps later he slid around the outside for the lead.
Another round of pit stops and Kenseth led Newman off pit road. Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing crew had a problem and he came out fifth. Also in a little trouble was Gordon, who had an engine temperature that was rising to dangerous levels.
Ken Schrader slammed the wall to bring out a caution flag with just over 110 laps to go. It gave Gordon's crew a chance to work on his water temperature problem. The team ripped off tape from the front grill in hopes of cooling the engine down.
Kenseth came off pit road with the lead in hand. Newman came out second and right after the green flag he pressured the No.17 Ford. Behind the Ford and Dodge were three Chevrolets - Hamlin, Johnson and Gordon.
One hundred laps to go and it was still anybody's race. Even Stewart was back on the lead lap, though he was down 30 seconds and in desperate need of a caution flag.
Kenseth seemed to be struggling with a brake problem and faded to fifth as Newman and Hamlin took over the top two positions. On lap 290 Hamlin beat Newman into turn three and Newman wisely backed off before they collided. Then Johnson caught and passed Newman. Johnson caught Hamlin as they were coming up onto lapped traffic, but who would find the quickest way through the traffic?
It was Johnson who grabbed the lead as Hamlin went low and the No.48 went high. Newman was just behind and he followed Johnson through at the top of the track for the second place as they clicked off lap No.300.
Then a crash involving Kyle Busch brought out the caution flag and set up a final run to the checkered flag. At the front with 50 laps to go were Hendrick Motorsports teammates Johnson and Gordon.
Johnson quickly jumped out to a one-second lead on Gordon who had another one second on third-place Kurt Busch. The two settled into a rhythm and slowly began to expand the margin. With 35 laps to go the pair held two and-a-half seconds on Busch.
Then a debris caution flag and their lead was erased as quickly as that.
Johnson was first off pit road, Gordon was next out, but the No.24 Chevy was blowing a lot of steam and didn't look like it could finish the race.
Johnson and Gordon jumped out from the drop of the green flag and again built a two-second lead, but another flag brought them back to the crowd.
With 22 laps to go, Johnson used the opportunity to get new rubber, but Gordon stayed out to inherit the race lead and maybe the clean air that would help him finish the race. Kurt Busch and Kenseth followed Johnson, but most of the field stayed on the track with Gordon.
Another caution flag when David Stremme's engine blew up left just 15 laps to go, but the bad news for Gordon was Johnson was now up to fourth place and his tires were newer than all three leaders (Gordon, Newman, Earnhardt Jr.).
The race restarted with 13 laps to go. Gordon cleared the lapped cars easily as did Newman. Johnson flew underneath Earnhardt Jr with 12 laps remaining. However it was Hamlin that made the big move, passing both Newman and Johnson with seven laps remaining, However, he was 2.835 seconds behind the No.24 Chevrolet.
He probably wouldn't be able to catch Gordon, but would Gordon's car hold up to the finish?
Gordon nursed his Chevrolet to the finish line with just under one second to spare for his third victory in the last four outings.
"I felt like we had the dominant car all day," said Hamlin, who led a race- high 178 laps. "We gave another one to Hendrick Motorsports."
"I thought there is no way we're going to make it," said Gordon. "I've never seen gauges look like that and the engine make it to the end, that's a testament to Hendrick Motorsports and their engine department."
Johnson, Newman and Edwards completed the top-five.
The win gives Gordon a 231-point edge over Johnson as the series takes a break for the NASCAR All-Star Challenge next week at the Lowe's Motor Speedway.