Gordon looks to grab one last checkered flag
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — It is a Hall of Fame career that includes four championships, 93 victories and more than $150 million in winnings. He has a beautiful family, a reputation as one of the good guys and a popularity that transcends NASCAR.
Now Jeff Gordon has a chance to write the ultimate Hollywood ending to what already is an illustrious career.
Gordon will retire after Sunday’s Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he pushed aside a season of mediocrity and clawed his way into the championship picture. Awin this month at Martinsville Speedway — the only victory of his 23rd season — put Gordon in the field of four who will race for the Sprint Cup title.
In this winner-take-all format, Gordon simply has to finish higher than reigning champion Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. to capture the fifth title that has eluded him for 14 years.
And on Saturday, Gordon was the best of the four title contenders in final practice. He had the top-10 lap average around the 1.5-mile track, averaging 169.489 mph during his first 10 laps of the session. Joey Logano turned the fastest single lap to top the speed chart.
“The very first run that final practice was great. I felt really good about it,” Gordon said.
He has a rare opportunity to win the championship he has been chasing since 2001 on the same day he completes his 23-year career. Very few drivers are still racing for wins — let alone championships — when they climb out of their car for the final time.
Busch is trying to complete a remarkable comeback season in which he broke his right leg and left foot in a crash at Daytona and missed the first 11 races of the year. He noted that exactly eight months ago Saturday he was undergoing surgery and said the pressure of racing for the title is nothing compared to the rehabilitation he did to get back in the car.
“I don’t think (Sunday) is going to be near as hard as what it was back in March or April going through the therapy,” he said.
Truex was seventh on the speed chart and Harvick was 16th. The reigning champion has lagged behind the other title contenders the entire weekend, but crew chief Rodney Childers wasn’t worried.
“The car seems to have had pretty good speed, definitely a lot better than what we were here last year,” Childers said. “We will make a few adjustments for the race to try to keep the car tightened up and hopefully be good.”
Less optimistic was Truex, who is racing for a Cup championship for the first time.
“We haven’t made any gains on it. It’s been a frustrating day,” Truex said. “Wehave been struggling with the car and we really haven’t hit on anything that helped it. So we are going to go in there and work on it right now and hopefully come up with something.”