Jeff Gordon battled track position for the balance of the Subway 500k at Phoenix International Raceway. He found himself outside the top-20 at one point, but rallied back for his 2nd top-10 finish in the last 3 races dating back to 2012.
Gordon started 5th and took 4th from Tony Stewart by lap 3. The first caution waved on lap 22 when Scott Riggs hit the wall. Gordon opted to stay out and hold onto 4th place. Kevin Harvick went by on lap 31 to drop Gordon to 5th place. The second caution came on lap 47 for Kyle Busch’s spin in turn two. Pit stops followed with Gordon changing two tires. He restarted in 11th place after 7 cars stayed out. He moved to 9th on lap 64 when polesitter Mark Martin pitted. A caution on lap 66 for Dave Blaney’s spin slowed the field. Gordon worked his way to 8th on lap 80 with a pass on Matt Kenseth. The next caution came just before the 100-lap mark when Ryan Newman cut a tire and hit the wall. Gordon’s crew changed four tires during pit stops and he restarted in 19th place.
On the restart, Gordon dropped to 21st place. Newman’s second contact with the wall in the event slowed the field on lap 142. Gordon came to pit road and restarted 19th. He worked his way up to 16th by lap 175, but ran more than 12 seconds behind race leader Carl Edwards. The sixth caution waved on lap 185 after Danica Patrick cut a tire and slammed the wall. Following pit stops, Gordon restarted 11th on lap 196 and moved into the top-10 on lap 200. A caution for David Gilliland’s cut tire brought the field to pit road with 74 laps to go. Gordon changed 2 tires and restarted in 9th place.
Gordon dropped to 10th with 68 to go and lost another spot to Joey Logano one lap later. Gordon re-assumed the 10th spot with 48 to go. He took 9th from Kevin Harvick with 30 laps to go. However, he dropped to 10th with 6 laps to go when Jeff Burton went by. Ken Schrader’s wall contact with 3 laps to go brought out the caution and a green/white/checkered finish. On the final restart, Gordon took 9th from Burton where he came across the finish line.
Turning point
The Pepsi Max Chevrolet tended to work better on longer runs. As Gordon was making headway into the top-10, a caution with 74 laps to go brought the field to pit road. Gordon lost spots on the restart, which hindered his forward march in the closing stages.
source: gordonline.com
Race Results [PDF]
Driver Standings [PDF]
In Car Audio
MP3 Download
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MP3 Download – with spotter chatter
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