Gordon Survives Overtime to Win at Lowe's

Oct 14, 01:15 AM

Current Headlines:

Concord, NC (Sports Network) - Jeff Gordon didn't think he had enough fuel to finish, but he made it last and captured the Bank of America 500 at the Lowe's Motor Speedway, the fifth race of the 10-race "Chase for the Nextel Cup." The four-time series champion crossed the finish line 0.579 seconds ahead of Clint Bowyer.

The victory was Gordon's second in a row, sixth of the season and 81st of his Nextel Cup career.

"Just an incredible day for this Dupont Chevrolet team," said Gordon. "I have to thank all these guys, they just never gave up. The best the car was all night was there at the end...it was just 'on rails.'"

Ryan Newman, seven-time pole winner at Lowe's, led the field to the green flag for a scheduled 334 laps of high-speed, side-by-side racing. The race started slowly, with a caution flag on the very first lap, but then settled into a rhythm. Newman led nine laps before yielding to Jamie McMurray. Newman was complaining of a "loose" race car.

On lap 17, Jimmie Johnson slid around McMurray for the lead and five important bonus points. After a caution flag pit stop, it was McMurray taking control of the race, though he did yield the lead for one lap to his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth.

The first "Chase" casualty was Kevin Harvick who suffered a flat tire on lap 31 to put him a lap down to the leaders. The No.29 Chevy came in and the team changed two tires. But they changed the wrong ones and Harvick had to make a second stop leaving Harvick three laps down and in deep trouble.

Just before lap 50 Johnson established that he was once again a challenger for the win at Lowe's, a place where he had won five of his 12 starts. he took the lead and built it to more than two seconds by lap 56 and 3.621 seconds by lap 65 when Reed Sorenson slapped the outside wall to bring out the caution flag.

Kurt Busch's No.2 Penske Racing crew got him off pit road first and he was the race leader. A couple of laps later, Matt Kenseth grabbed the lead, but he was also talking to his pit crew about a battery problem that didn't bode well for the No.17 Ford down the road.

Johnson, Busch and Kenseth were the top-three through 100 laps, but the first six cars were all "Chasers." Again, Johnson began to expand on his lead - 2.874 seconds at lap 104.

Another caution, for debris, slowed the race and when Johnson's No.48 pit crew decided to add a spring rubber, he fell all the way to fifth place. Kenseth beat Kurt and Kyle Busch back to the track for the race lead with Earnhardt Jr. in fourth place. The changes to Johnson's car just made him faster and he quickly passed "Junior" and the Busch brothers for second place.

On the next caution flag, caused Robby Gordon spin, Bowyer used a two-tire stop to grab the lead and more importantly with still almost 200 laps to go, five bonus points.

Bowyer lasted just two green-flag laps before Kurt Busch slid around him. A couple of laps later Johnson ducked to the bottom of the track and took second place away from Bowyer. By lap 151 Johnson retook the race lead with another move under Busch.

On lap 155 Kenseth was complaining about being loose and it turned prophetic when two laps later he ended up slapping the outside wall just past turn four.

Again the Chad Knaus pit crew added a spring rubber and Johnson restarted in sixth. Bowyer was the leader with Bobby Labonte in second place. Johnson was almost two miles-per-hour faster than the leader as he knifed he way back through the field.

Elliott Sadler crashed to bring out the caution flag and slow the field. Tony Stewart tried to make a fuel only stop to gain track position, but he hit two different cars trying to get away from his pit box. The No.20 Home Depot Chevrolet ended up with some right-front fender damage which required a second trip down pit road. The accident to Stewart left him in 28th place, but still 150 laps to rebound from the incident. He would eventually finish seventh.

Bowyer also took fuel only, but he didn't hit anybody and assumed the race lead. On lap 185 Johnson's four fresh tires easily beat Bowyer into the first turn and the No.48 Chevy was the race leader.

A Casey Mears/Bill Elliott accident sent everyone down pit lane. This time Johnson took fuel only and remained out front. By lap 200 Johnson built the lead to one second over new second-place driver Jeff Gordon.

But on lap 206 John Andretti, Michael Waltrip and Matt Kenseth brought out caution flag No.10 and slowed the field to 45 m.p.h.

Again, Johnson took some extra time on pit road and came out in 16th place while Gordon assumed the lead and five bonus points.

The No.07 pit crew did a great job and Bowyer assumed the lead with 109 laps remaining.

Johnson had worked his way up to 10th when he spun down the backstretch on lap 231. His car wasn't too damaged, they fixed the right-rear and he stayed on the lead lap, but he was in 29th place, the last car on the lead lap.

One hundred laps to go and on the restart it was Bowyer, Scott Riggs, Newman and Jeff Gordon. Both Newman and Gordon got by Riggs to pull into second and third, respectively. Meanwhile, Bowyer built his lead to 1.531 seconds.

Eighty laps to go and Johnson was up to 20th.

Up front, Newman had reversed the trend and began to cut into Bowyer's lead. So was Gordon, who caught Newman, and was working on the leader. The No.24 was right on Bowyer's bumper and with 63 laps to go they were side-by-side. Gordon completed the pass on the next lap.

With 56 laps remaining Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Riggs got together, bringing out the caution flag and giving everyone a chance to fuel to the checkered flag.

Final stops and Kyle Busch beat Gordon and Newman for the lead. Johnson was still moving up and returned to the track in 14th place. Forty-five laps to go and Gordon took over the lead. Bowyer was up to third and closing on Newman for second place.

Bowyer got around Newman, but Gordon was flying, almost three second ahead of the No.07 with just 40 laps remaining. By lap 300 the margin had ballooned to 4.017 seconds. And Johnson, the fastest car on the track, cracked the top-10, but he was more than 10 seconds behind his teammate.

It appeared that unless there was a caution flag, Gordon would be unbeatable.

Johnson was still charging, but it was too late to catch Gordon. Still he was moving up the charts and limiting the points damage. He was eighth with 20 laps to go.

Gordon was in cruise mode while Kyle Busch got around Bowyer for second place. He closed the gap on Gordon, but only to about three and-a-half seconds as the field hit the 15 laps to go mark.

Then with 13 laps remaining, Johnny Sauter spun at the opening to pit road to bring out a caution flag and Gordon's three-second lead went up in smoke. Sauter and another car Jeff Green left a lot of oil on the track and with a lengthy cleanup, NASCAR decided to red flag the race with 10 laps to go.

After a 11-minute delay, the engines were restarted.

The green flag dropped on lap 329. Off went Gordon with his soon-to-be ex- teammate Kyle Busch right on his rear bumper. But Gordon's car sputtered and Newman flew around the outside going from fourth to first. Gordon recovered to hold onto second with Bowyer in third.

With three laps to go, Newman posted the fastest lap of the race, but lost control and crashed to bring out one more caution flag.

Johnson came in for fuel and tires. Gordon was afraid he was running low on fuel as was Kyle Busch, who was in third place. It was looking like Bowyer might be the favorite to get the win.

Gordon got off to a better start as Bowyer tried to go underneath, but had to get off the gas as he hit Gordon's rear bumper. The No.24 Chevy built a lead of about five lengths as they saw the white flag. From there Bowyer tried to make a run, but couldn't get close enough and Gordon took his second consecutive victory.

"I have to thank Clint Bowyer for racing me clean," said Gordon. "And Kyle Busch, I ran out of gas going into turn one, it just didn't pick up the fuel in the tank, and he could have run all over the top of me."

Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards completed the top-five.

Gordon's win gives him a 68-point lead over Johnson, who finished 14th, and 78 over Bowyer.

The "Chase" returns to the track on Sunday, October 21st at the Martinsville Speedway for race number six of the "Chase."

10/14 00:29:26 ET