Texas In-Car Audio
April 10, 2011 by admin
Filed under Feature, Race Audio
After starting 32nd, Jeff Gordon took two tires on the first pit stop on lap 9 to gain 8 positions. He restarted 24th but fell back to 29th within four laps. A caution on lap 45 allowed the DuPont team to make chassis adjustments. Gordon was unable to make significant headway and additional adjustments came under caution on lap 113. As the night sky enveloped the track, Gordon moved to 22nd on lap 160. However, he went a lap down less than 20 laps later as the handling woes continued. A caution on lap 208 allowed Gordon to get back on the lead lap by staying on the track. He lost the lap during a long green flag run, and went another lap down on lap 226. He made the lap up trying to stretch the fuel to the end of the event, but ran out on the backstretch of the final lap. Gordon finished a difficult night in Texas in the 22nd position.
Road ahead: The series heads to Talladega Superspeedway — which should resemble the Daytona 500 with two-car drafting partners hooking up for extended periods of time. Gordon qualified on the outside of the front row at Daytona. His restrictor plate program for Talladega should be strong. However, plate racing often comes down to drafting partners and avoiding the multi-car melee(s).
source: gordonline.com
Audio
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MP3 Download – with spotter chatter
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Intensity Ratchets Up Between Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon at Texas
April 19, 2010 by admin
Filed under Feature, Jeff Gordon News
April 19 — Matt Kenseth seems to be off the hook as Jeff Gordon’s top object of ire as the four-time champion continues to come up short in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Instead, surprisingly it was Gordon’s teammate Jimmie Johnson who was responsible for irritating a focused Gordon the most during the running of Monday’s Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway, one eventually won by Denny Hamlin.
Johnson, long the guy tabbed at fault for snatching wins and championships from Gordon in the last decade, earned Gordon’s wrath Monday on lap 241 of 334 when the Hendrick Motorsports duo tangled in a battle for the lead off of turn four. Gordon, with a faster Chevrolet much of day, worked to Johnson’s bumper and then inside him before Johnson got a little loose.
Johnson appeared to chase his No. 48 down the track one lane, and two machines fabricated side-by-side in the same Charlotte shop made door-to-door contact. Johnson caught the worst of the contact as his left-front fender bent in and he eventually made a trip to pit road for a flat left-front tire.
Gordon, meanwhile, offered what turned out be his second-most aggressive over-the-radio thought of the day.
“Four time’s a little upset!” said Gordon in a mocking tone over his in-car radio feed after continuing on to the lead. “He just wants to be treated different than everybody else.”
Gordon’s greatest anger over the radio came when he offered a expletive-laced snap judgment of Tony Stewart’s driving moves after they were involved in the race-changing nine-car pileup with 16 laps to go. Gordon had led a race-high 124 laps and appeared to be sailing towards a victory before David Reutimann’s expired and flaming engine brought out a caution with 22 laps left.
Gordon restarted in eighth position after a relatively slow four-tire stop. As Hamlin and Kyle Busch got out ahead, Gordon, Stewart, Johnson and others were jumbled behind them, and after touching a couple of times, Gordon and Stewart went into the outside wall, triggering the big wreck.
“That f***** Stewart drove f****** into us when he knew the 48 was there!” Gordon shouted on his radio.
He immediately got out of his car and approached Stewart as he emerged, but Stewart took blame for the accident and they did not appear to be in conflict.
But the Johnson incident — one that both were specifically asked about after the race — revealed that Gordon’s fire to beat Johnson this season is burning as hot, if not hotter, than ever.
“He wasn’t fast enough and my car was just so good I could just get right to his bumper and he got loose,” said Gordon. “I guess he thought I was being too aggressive. I don’t know, he just drove into my door. It ended up costing him.”
Gordon, who has now gone 36 races without a win, noted that his extra aggressiveness in making the lap 241 pass correlated with his strong race car — a piece that led six separate times Monday.
“When you have a race car like that, you don’t have teammates and friends out there and (you) race hard,” Gordon said. “That is what Jimmie has had.”
Both Johnson and Gordon used the word “disappointed” to describe how each had raced one another, with Johnson attempting to settle the dispute from being the major story this week. He also cautioned about reading too much into in-car radio traffic.
“Don’t get the headline writers out saying trouble at HMS, because it’s really no big deal,” said Johnson. “And we all know from scanning during the race, there are a lot of colorful things said on that racetrack about teammates and other drivers and all that kind of stuff.”
That being said, the four-time and defending champion did acknowledge that this week he’d try to sort things out with Gordon, long a friend as well as co-car owner of the No. 48 car.
“We’ll get it taken care of at the shop and during the week, and come back to the next race and do it again,” Johnson said. “I think we are both pretty frustrated with how we have been racing each other.”
It was Johnson, just as in multiple races in the last few years, who finished the day ahead of Gordon after nearly chasing Hamlin down to steal the win in the closing laps. Johnson wound up 2nd, while Gordon’s name showed up in the results sheet at 32nd.
But just as he was after dominating in March at Las Vegas before Johnson slipped by for the win, Gordon also saw the bright side.
“I am just excited that we have something to race with all of these guys out here right now,” said Gordon.
source: fanhouse.com
Be sure to catch our full race recap from Texas complete with in-car audio, post race audio, stats and photos here.
Texas In Car Audio
April 19, 2010 by admin
Filed under Feature, Race Audio
April 19 – - There are few moral victories in racing, and rarely would a 31st place finish qualify in that category, but Jeff Gordon made a loud statement in the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Gordon led 124 laps, took no prisoners while racing a teammate, and looked to be in sound position for his first victory in more than a year. However, a late race wreck coming off turn four destroyed the National Guard Special Forces Chevrolet and left Gordon with his first DNF of the season.
Gordon started 12th and entered the top-10 on lap 21 with a pass on eventual winner Denny Hamlin. He steadily worked through traffic by passing Kurt Busch for 9th place on lap 40, and took 8th place from Kasey Kahne two laps later. He entered the top-5 for the first time on lap 48 by getting around Kyle Busch, and took 4th from Clint Bowyer on lap 55. An adjustment during a pit stop under caution on lap 77 moved Gordon up to 3rd in the running order. He dropped to 12th on lap 115 after pitting while others stayed on the track. On the restart, Gordon worked his way back toward the front of the field and gained six spots by lap 120. He re-entered the top-5 on lap 126 with a pass on Kurt Busch, and took the runner-up spot five laps later. He tracked down and passed Dale Earnhardt Jr for the race lead on lap 137. By lap 150, Gordon had extended to a 3-second lead. Gordon lost the lead during a pit stop sequence, but regained it from Earnhardt Jr on lap 182.
Gordon swapped the lead briefly with Jimmie Johnson with 100 laps to go. Gordon pulled up to the rear of Johnson’s car in turn four which loosened Johnson’s car to the point where he climbed the hill in the corner to save the car. As Gordon pulled low on the fronstretch, Johnson turned into the right side of Gordon’s car. The contact eventually resulted in a flat tire for Johnson and stirred ill-will by both drivers over the in-car radio. Gordon moved into the lead and maintained a comfortable distance as the laps wound down. However, David Reuitimann’s blown engine with 24 laps remaining slowed the field. Gordon opted for four tires and restarted in 8th place. He made his way to 7th on the inside of Tony Stewart coming off turn four with 17 laps to go. Stewart got loose and tried to save his car. He touched the right side of Gordon’s car, which further sent his car out of shape. Stewart then clipped the right rear of Gordon’s car sending him into the frontstretch wall. More than six other drivers were collected in the melee. Gordon exited his car and immediately went to Stewart’s wrecked car for an explanation. Stewart assumed blame for the wreck after viewing the replay. “It was my fault, I feel bad about doing something stupid like that,” Stewart said. “I didn’t plan on getting loose, but it is 100 percent my fault. It wasn’t (Jeff’s) fault, obviously. I got a chance to see it in the infield care center, it is definitely my fault. I apologize to all the teams and drivers that got caught up and their fans for it. We had a really good car there and just a shame that it happened let alone to some of your teammates like that.”
source: gordonline.com
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Steve Letarte’s Post Race Comments
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Jimmie Johnson Post Race Comments
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Tony Stewart Post Race Comments
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