Jeff Gordon will conclude his NASCAR career with victories on 24 different tracks. The one track missing from his trophy collection is Kentucky Speedway. Gordon posted a 7th place finish in the Quaker State 400 — it was his fifth straight top-10 at Kentucky in 5 races there. At the front of the field, Kyle Busch claimed his second victory in the last 3 races as he continues his remarkable comeback from an early-season broken leg and foot.

Gordon started 3rd and moved to the runner-up spot within one lap. The first caution waved on lap 18 for a crash involving Josh Wise. On the restart, Gordon dropped to 5th. He regrouped to take 4th from Kyle Larson on lap 25. The lead lap cars came to pit road after a competition caution on lap 30. Gordon exited pit road in 5th place after taking 2 tires. He slipped back on the restart and ran 9th on lap 40. Gordon continued battling handling issues and ran 12th on lap 50. He held the spot until a debris caution brought the leaders to pit road on lap 81. Gordon restarted in 11th place on lap 85. He re-entered the top-10 on lap 90, and ran in 9th place on lap 95. He passed Larson to take 8th on lap 98 just prior to a caution for Kurt Busch’s spin. Gordon came to pit road for two tires and restarted in 9th place. He moved to 8th on lap 107 with a move around Larson. Gordon slipped to 9th on lap 120 prior to a caution for JJ Yeley’s wall contact. Pit stops followed with Gordon restarting in 17th place because of pit crew contact with Jamie McMurray’s car. At the halfway point, Gordon ran in 13th place.

A debris caution slowed the field on lap 136. Gordon stayed out and restarted in 11th place. He fell to 17th on lap 143 when the caution waved for Jeb Burton’s crash. Gordon came to pit road for 4 tires and restarted in 30th place. He advanced to 25th before the next caution on lap 153. Gordon stayed on the track and restarted in 9th place where he essentially regained the lost track position from the previous pit stop. He quickly moved to 7th on lap 158 and closed on Jimmie Johnson for a position. He took 6th from Johnson on lap 162. However, Brad Keselowski went by on lap 170 to send Gordon back to 7th. A debris caution slowed the field on lap 186. Pit stops followed and Gordon exited in 9th place. He moved to 7th after the restart on lap 192. Keselowski sent him back to 8th on lap 204. The next caution waved on lap 207 for Danica Patrick’s spin. Gordon exited pit road in 12th place. With four tires, he took spots from drivers on two tires and moved to 8th with 52 laps to go. He took 7th from Trevor Bayne with 50 to go prior to a caution for Kyle Larson’s wall contact. With 40 to go, Gordon moved to 6th after taking spots from Keselowski and Kevin Harvick. Gordon held the spot until Keselowski passed with 7 to go.

JG’s comments
“As usual in Kentucky it is never easy. The team did a really good job. We had to fight through a few handling issues and some restarts and pit road and a bunch of things, but there at the end everything kind of came together. We got the car working really well, got a couple of good restarts and a good pit stop. It was a solid evening. It wasn’t a winning evening, but I’m still real proud of the effort.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CHANGES IN THE PACKAGE?
“It’s hard to gauge at this place. It is such a challenging racetrack already. Basically the cars just drove really bad right from the beginning and just always drove bad around all the cars. It didn’t change a whole lot when you are around other cars. I don’t know. I think we have to give it a try somewhere… we’ve got to get the right tires on it. This is not the right tire. It is still way too hard. It doesn’t have near enough grip at the beginning of a run. It doesn’t really fall off. The only way you can make a low downforce package work is to have the proper tire on there. I’m glad we tried it, did a little more work, I’m looking forward to trying it again. I’m looking forward to trying what we are going to have at Indy too.”

source: Jeff Gordon Online

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Brad Keselowski dominated the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway by leading 199 of the 267 laps en route to his 12th career win. Keselowski started from the pole and took the lead for the final time from Kyle Busch with less than 20 laps remaining due to different pit strategies. Jeff Gordon finished 6th after a pit road issue and maintained the series points lead.

Gordon started 3rd and slipped back to 6th on lap 2 after he got loose underneath Denny Hamlin. He regrouped and took 5th from Kyle Larson on lap 16, and moved past Kevin Harvick to run 4th on lap 23. Gordon took 3rd when Denny Hamlin crashed on lap 29 to bring out the first caution. Gordon’s crew changed two tires and the #24 car held the 3rd spot. He slipped to 4th on the restart on the inside line and held the spot until the next caution on lap 77 for Kyle Larson’s crash. Gordon took 4 tires on the pit stop and restarted in 8th place. He moved to 7th when Matt Kenseth slowed for a cut tire. A debris caution slowed the field on lap 125. Gordon came to pit road for tires, but an air gun malfunction saw him restart back in 23rd place. He re-entered the top-20 on lap 134 and ran 17th on lap 142.

Gordon moved to 14th on lap 154 following a crash that took out Jamie McMurray and Aric Almirola. Following a 4-tire stop, Gordon restarted in 18th place. He steadily gained positions and took 15th from Kasey Kahne with just under 100 laps to go. The next caution came with 91 laps to go when David Stremme spun in turn 4. Gordon stayed out and restarted in 8th place. He took 7th from Jimmie Johnson and then passed Kevin Harvick for 6th with 75 to go. Almriola’s crash with 53 to go brought the leaders to pit road. Gordon’s crew changed 4 tires and the driver restarted in 7th place. He dropped to 9th before rallying back to 8th with 30 to go. Gordon took 7th after Joey Logano dropped a cylinder with 21 to go. He passed Harvick for 6th with 2 laps to go, where he finished the event.

Gordon leads the NASCAR standings by 24 points over Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Turning point
An air gun malfunction during a pit stop on lap 126 saw Gordon fall from 7th to 23rd place. He battled for track position for the balance of the night after that.

JG’s comments
“That was a strong, competitive effort. That’s why we’ve been so good week in and week out. Really good cars and good team. When we get down, we fight back. I’m disappointed, I thought we were going to be better than that…. We did have the issues [on pit road] and got behind. The car was pretty decent at the end, but not enough to really move up. It was pretty tough to pass. I thought we made the most of what happened to us tonight.”

source: Jeff Gordon Online

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After a bad mid-race break with an ill-timed caution flag, Jeff Gordon fought back from 25th place and seemed on the verge of a possible victory at Kentucky Speedway. However, he faded back from 3rd to 9th on the final restart with 17 laps to go before finishing in 8th place. It was Gordon’s first back-to-back top-10 finishes of the season. He moved to 12th in the NASCAR standings, just 2 points outside the top-10.

Gordon started 12th and moved into the top-10 by the end of lap 2. He ran 9th at the competition caution on lap 30. Gordon opted for 2 tires and restarted 7th on lap 34. He moved to 6th prior to the next caution on lap 39 for Denny Hamlin’s tire. Gordon entered the top-5 for the first time on lap 47 with a move around Dale Earnhardt Jr. Two laps later, Kurt Busch made another reckless move on the track and hit Brad Keselowski in the tri-oval. Keselowski spun onto the apron and collected three drivers including Greg Biffle when he came across the track. The event was red-flagged for track clean-up with Gordon in 3rd place. After a 20-minute delay, racing resumed on lap 55. Gordon fell to 4th on the restart and dropped another spot when Kasey Kahne passed on lap 78. He dropped t0 6th prior to a round of green flag pit stops on lap 88. A caution for David Gilliland’s cut tire on lap 89 trapped Gordon a lap down. However, he took the wave-around to get back on the lead lap.

He restarted 21st and worked his way into the top-20 before a debris caution on lap 108. Gordon stayed on the track and restarted in 9th place. However, he faded to 18th within two laps of the restart. He steadily regained spots and ran 16th at the halfway point of the event. Gordon came to pit road on lap 148 for a green flag pit stop. However, Denny Hamlin’s wall contact brought out the caution. The #24 crew changed two tires and received the free pass to get back on the lead lap. He restarted in 25th place on lap 153 and re-entered the top-20 within 10 laps of the restart. Gordon moved to 15th on lap 180 and ran 13th when a caution for debris slowed the field on lap 195. Gordon came to pit road for tires and restarted 12th. He took 10th from Kevin Harvick with 50 to go and passed Carl Edwards for 9th with 47 to go. Gordon took 8th from Jamie McMurray with 40 to go and took 7th from Kyle Busch three laps later. As the laps wound down, he passed Brian Vickers for 6th with 29 laps to go. A caution for Vickers wall contact with 26 to go brought the lead lap drivers to pit road.

Gordon gained two spots on pit road and restarted in 4th place with 21 to go. He moved up to 3rd when Jimmie Johnson spun in turn 2 after the restart. However, on the restart, Joey Logano dived to the inside of Gordon and dropped the #24 car back to 9th with 16 to go. He moved up to 8th with 11 laps to go, but ran distantly behind the top-5. Gordon posted his first back-to-back top-10 finishes of the season and moved up to 12th in the series points standings.

Turning point
Gordon was on the verge of a top-5 finish if the race stayed green to the finish. However, a caution flag coupled with a quick pit stop thrust Gordon into the top-4 for the restart with 21 laps to go. But on the restart, Joey Logano dove low on the track, which forced Gordon into the middle line resulting in a loss of positions.

JG’s comments
“We had an awesome fast car that is for sure. I think we passed more cars than anybody. These pit stops just aren’t going our way. If we try to stretch it doesn’t work our way. If we try to pit early it doesn’t work our way. I don’t know, you just have to keep working hard at it and hope they fall your way eventually. Pit stops were great when we had them. The car was awesome on the race track. It took a little while for it to come in and that last restart I kind of timed it and the #18 (Kyle Busch) spun his tires and stacked us up, then cars were four-wide. That didn’t certainly work out in our favor.”

source:  Jeff Gordon Online

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 Jeff Gordon posted a 5th place finish in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. It was Gordon’s third consecutive top-10 effort — the first time he’s posted three straight top-10’s since October/November 2011.

Gordon started 9th and dropped to 17th by lap 10. However, he began gaining ground later in the run and moved up to 14th on lap 17. The first caution waved on lap 40 for Scott Riggs’ slow car with Gordon up to the 11th position. Pit stops followed with Gordon exiting in 10th place. He dropped back to 12th within 5 laps of the restart before moving forward. He re-entered the top-10 by lap 65. Green flag pit stops came just before the 100-lap mark with Gordon cycling through in 11th place. He once again entered the top-10 on lap 116 with a pass on Greg Biffle. The second caution waved on lap 126 for debris. Gordon came to pit road for a four tire change and exited in 13th place. On the restart, Gordon moved through traffic and ran 7th at the halfway point.

A caution for Dave Blaney’s engine on lap 150 slowed the field and brought pit stops. Gordon changed two tires and departed in 6th place. He moved into the top-5 on lap 157 and took 4th from Kyle Busch on lap 162. Dale Earnhardt Jr took 4th from Gordon on lap 195. Green flag pit stops came on lap 202 with Gordon cycling through in 5th place. Ryan Newman’s wall contact on lap 210 brought out the caution flag. Gordon came to pit road for tires and restarted in 8th place. Gordon moved up to 6th on lap 224, but dropped a spot to Martin Truex on lap 225. Kasey Kahne passed on lap 230 to drop Gordon back to 8th. As the laps wound down, Gordon made up spots and finished 5th. It was his second best finish of 2012.

Turning point
Gordon’s second best finish of the year was a solid night for the #24 team. Pit calls were mostly conservative except for a two-tire change on lap 150.

JG’s comments

DID THE CAR GO AWAY NEAR THE END OF THAT LAST RUN?

At the very last run it did, but we still actually were able to hold onto the guys. I think two tires were better for us than four. When we took four, prior to that, we just needed to make a little bit bigger adjustment. The car got really loose getting in the corner and it was pretty tough to hang onto at that point. But the track cooled down and it seemed like everybody got a little bit loose, especially getting into the corner. But we fought our way through. It was a pretty flawless night and I was excited that we came home with a fifth place finish, battling up front like we did.”

ON THE NEXT THREE TRACKS, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN REEL OFF SOME WINS?

“Yeah, we’ve just got to keep going to the race track and putting the effort out that we’ve been putting out. This team has been awesome. The cars have definitely shown that; and lately we’ve been getting the results. So you can definitely put some momentum on that and we’ve got some great tracks that are coming. To get a top-five here at Kentucky, which is definitely one of my worst race tracks, I feel like; to come home with a top five tells you just how strong our cars are and our team is and what we’re capable of doing. So, Daytona is going to be its own beast, but from that point on I think we’ve got the opportunity to not only put top-five’s together, but also get some wins.”

source: gordonline.com

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