Jeff Gordon was unable to capitalize on the momentum from last weekend’s victory at Pocono as he posted a less than satisfying 17th place finish at Michigan Speedway. Gordon appeared on his way to a 7th place finish, but a four tire change on the final stop dropped him to 15th for the restart. Gordon started 31st and gained 7 spots on the track by the time the first caution waved on lap 8. He entered the top-20 during the ensuing round of pit stops by opting for two tires. However, he faded to 27th while battling handling issues before a debris caution on lap 28. Following a pit stop, Gordon moved up to 23rd by lap 40. He slid back to 27th before a round of green flag pit stops on lap 62. The adjustments seemed to help as Gordon moved to 24th on lap 75. A caution for Brad Keselowski on lap 84 brought the field to pit road. At the halfway point, Gordon ran in 22nd place. He re-entered the top-20 on lap 111. A well-timed caution flag with 40 laps to go allowed Gordon to restart in the 11th position. He took advantage of the track position by moving up to 8th with 34 to go. With 16 to go, Gordon moved to 7th with a backstretch pass on Ryan Newman. A caution with 9 to go for Dale Earnhardt Jr’s wall contact bunched the field for the restart. A four tire change resulted in Gordon restarting 15th with 5 laps to go. He was unable to make any headway in the closing laps and finished 17th.
Road ahead: Gordon tested at the Mid Ohio sports car road course in preparation for Sonoma. He felt the test at Mid Ohio would be better suited for Sonoma, rather than a test at Virginia International or Road Atlanta. It’s been 5 years since Gordon won a road course race.
source: gordonline.com
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