Joey Logano held off Kevin Harvick to win the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Jeff Gordon ran as high as 2nd place in the rainbow-themed #24 car, but needed two unscheduled pit stops for loose wheels in the final 110 laps before finishing in 20th place. Gordon dropped to 15th in the NASCAR Chase standings, with a 52-point cushion over the cutoff with 2 races remaining before the 10-race Chase begins.

Gordon started 24th and moved to 21st by lap 15. He entered the top-20 with a move around Austin Dillon on lap 19. He took 19th from Kasey Kahne on lap 45 and took 18th from Ricky Stenhouse one lap later. The first caution came on lap 52 for debris. Pit stops followed with Gordon opting for 4 tires and restarting in 18th place. He used the low line to his advantage and ran 16th on lap 60. Gordon entered the top-15 on lap 113 when Matt Kenseth came to pit road with terminal engine problems. He advanced to 14th past Jimmie Johnson on lap 117. The next caution came on lap 125 for Kyle Larson’s cut tire. The leaders came to pit road with Gordon restarting in 17th. He gained a spot prior to a caution for AJ Allmendinger’s spin on lap 145. Gordon came to pit road to fix sheet metal damage and restarted in 20th place. He quickly gained 3 spots and ran 17th on lap 160, and re-entered the top-15 on lap 170. At the 200-lap mark, Gordon ran in 13th place. He took spots from Jimmie Johnson and Justin Allgaier to run 11th on lap 225. However, Kevin Harvick took a spot from Gordon on lap 229. He regained 11th place by passing Brad Keselowski on lap 238. A debris caution at the halfway point brought the lead lap cars to pit road with Gordon exiting in 11th place.

Gordon entered the top-10 on lap 263 and took 9th from Martin Truex on lap 272. Harvick passed on lap 287 to send Gordon back to 10th. He regained 9th by passing Jamie McMurray for the spot on lap 299. Gordon moved to 7th on lap 345 after taking a spot from Kurt Busch and an unscheduled pit stop by Kyle Busch. He moved up to 6th on lap 355 when Carl Edwards pitted with a flat tire. A spin by Kyle Larson brought the caution on lap 360. Gordon came to pit road and restarted in 5th place. He moved to 4th when David Ragan crashed on the backstretch. On the restart, Gordon used the outside line to move up to 2nd place behind race leader Joey Logano. Ricky Stenhouse’s wall contact slowed the field on lap 383. Gordon lined up next to Logano for the restart on lap 389. Gordon slipped to 4th when Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr went by. Kyle Busch took a spot on lap 399 to send Gordon back to 5th. On lap 406, Gordon came to pit road for an unscheduled 4-tire pit stop after feeling a vibration. He dropped to 18th place and ran 2 laps down. A debris caution with 71 to go slowed the field. Gordon took the wave around and restarted 1 lap down in 17th. With 25 to go, Gordon came to pit road for a loose wheel. He fell to 23rd place, 4 laps down. Gordon was able to gain 3 spots in the final laps before finishing in 20th place.

source: Jeff Gordon Online

Race Results [pdf] [html]
Driver Standings [pdf] [html] [jpg]
Owner Standings [pdf] [html]
Chase Standings [html] [jpg]

Jeff Gordon Bristol In-Car Audio

MP3 Download
Run Time: 25 minutes
File Size: 3 mb

MP3 Download – with spotter chatter
Run Time: 8mb
File Size: 68 minutes

Jeff Gordon Bristol Photos

Jeff Gordon Bristol

Jeff Gordon struggled with the handling in the mid-stages and his struggles were exacerbated by a pit road mistake. His 16th place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway was his lowest short track finish in the last 9 races. Nevertheless, he remained the NASCAR series points leader (+27) with two races remaining before the Chase begins. Gordon started 2nd and ran behind race leader Kevin Harvick for the opening 36 laps. Gordon took the race lead from Harvick on lap 37 and led until Kyle Busch went by on lap 56. The competition caution on lap 60 brought pit stops. Gordon opted for four tires and restarted in 4th place. He quickly moved to 2nd on the outside line before a caution for Josh Wise’s spin on lap 70. On the next restart, Gordon dropped to 4th after being trapped on the inside line. Kurt Busch got into the left rear of Gordon’s car and pushed the fender in while battling for position. The rear of the car showed tire smoke in the corners for several laps as Gordon held the 4th spot. The next caution came on lap 125 for a wreck involving Aric Almirola, Brian Vickers, and Kyle Busch. Of the drivers involved, only Almirola was unable to continue. Pit stops followed with Gordon restarting in 9th place.

The complexion of the race changed when Harvick tagged Denny Hamlin while battling for the race lead. Hamlin hit the inside wall and came back into the path of Dale Earnhardt Jr, which eliminated both cars. Gordon took 7th from Matt Kenseth on lap 178 prior to the next caution for Michael Annett’s wall contact. Pit stops ensued with Gordon making a mistake by overshooting the pit box. He needed to back up and restarted in 20th place. At the halfway point, Gordon had moved up to 14th place. He passed Greg Biffle and Paul Menard to take 12th place on lap 260. The next caution came on lap 263 for Danica Patrick’s spin courtsey of Alex Bowman’s front bumper. After a four-tire pit stop, Gordon restarted in 18th place. He steadily worked through race traffic and ran 15th on lap 300. However, he was unable to gain spots as the run progressed and held 15th on lap 350. On lap 355, he dropped to 16th place, the last car on the lead lap. He went a lap down on lap 356 prior to a caution for debris on lap 359.

Gordon restarted in 17th place, one lap down. He fell to 19th on lap 370 as he battled to be the first car one lap down. The next caution came for Marcos Ambrose’s spin on lap 375. Gordon restarted 18th and was the first car one lap down. Gordon got back on the lead lap when a debris caution waved on lap 431. He restarted in 16th place with 63 to go. However, he battled handling and went a lap down with 5 to go.

Turning point
A mistake on pit road where Gordon overshot his pit box cost him valuable track position in the mid-stages of the race. He went from the top-10 back to 20th place.

JG’s comments
“The contact didn’t help. I made a mistake I over shot the pit getting in there one time and just stalled. We went from doing a two tire stop to doing a four tire stop. We missed the set-up a little bit tonight. It wasn’t our best night, but we fought hard. I like the fight we put up there. We got back on the lead lap, and proud to finish 16th. It wasn’t our best night.”

EVEN THOUGH IT WASN’T THE BEST FINISH YOU GUYS ARE STILL PRETTY HOT
“Yeah we are. We keep bringing great race cars and race teams to the race track. Right now I’m kind of glad this track is not in the Chase because it was tricky tonight. It was just really challenging. I would hit one good lap and I couldn’t do it for the next 10 laps. Then I would hit another good lap and just the way the rubber was building up in that outside groove it was really challenging. The conditions were a lot different than in practice. Looking back on it I wish I would have worked on a couple of more things in practice and been better tonight.”

source: Jeff Gordon Online

Race Results [pdf] [html]
Driver Standings [pdf] [html] [jpg]
Chase Standings [html] [jpg]

In-Car Audio

MP3 Download
Run Time:
File Size:
[audio:https://www.scannerbytes.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Jeff-Gordon-2014-08-23-Irwin-Tools-Night-Race-Bristol.mp3]

Photos

On a night where Jeff Gordon dominated at Bristol Motor Speedway, he came up empty in the final rundown as Brad Keselowski won a late race off pit road to take the lead. Gordon, who led more than 200 laps, fell to 5th for the final restart. He regrouped to finish 3rd, but was distantly behind Keselowski at the finish. Gordon led more than 60 laps at Bristol for the first time since August 2003 — a span of 16 races. In addition, he led more laps than he had in the previous 9 Bristol races combined.

Gordon started 4th and jumped to 3rd by the end of the first lap. He took the runner-up spot from Carl Edwards one lap later. Gordon took the race lead from Ryan Newman on lap 6. He led the race until the first caution flag for debris on lap 31. He came to pit road while others stayed out. As such, he restarted in 14th place. Gordon worked in race traffic and moved back into the top-10 on lap 60. He took 8th from Kevin Harvick on lap 65 and moved up to 6th by the 100-lap mark. A debris caution on lap 102 brought the leaders to pit road. He restarted 6th on lap 110 and quickly entered the top-5. Gordon took third place from Edwards on lap 116. He took the runner-up spot from Brad Keselowski on lap 124 and closed in on Jimmie Johnson for the race lead before a caution on lap 129. Gordon lined up along side Johnson for the restart on lap 138, but was unable to make headway to re-take the race lead while battling a loose handling condition. Gordon bided his time and passed Johnson for the lead on lap 183.

Gordon came to pit road on lap 239 for a green flag stop. He dropped to 2nd behind Matt Kenseth following the pit stop cycle, but eventally took the lead once again on lap 267. David Reutimann’s crash on lap 297 brought the leaders to pit road. Gordon exited in 2nd place behind Kenseth, but re-took the race lead on lap 326. Mark Martin’s wreck on lap 360 brought a caution flag pit stop sequence. Once again, Kenseth beat Gordon off pit road to take the lead. Gordon worked around Kenseth to re-take the lead on lap 372. A caution for Kyle Busch’s wall contact brought the field to pit road. Gordon dropped to 5th off pit road and was hindered by the inside line. He worked his way around Johnson with 62 to go, and took 3rd from Kenseth one lap later. Gordon is now tied with Kevin Harvick for 5th in the series standings — though the points will be resent following the Richmond race.

Road ahead: With just two races before the Chase for the Championship, the series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday night’s 500-mile race. The Atlanta race provides the #24 team with an opportunity to fine-tune their intermediate track program since Atlanta has similar characteristics to Charlotte Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway (Chase tracks).
 

source: gordonline.com

Race Results
Driver Standings

Audio

MP3 Download – In Car Audio
[audio:https://www.scannerbytes.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Jeff-Gordon-2011-08-27-Irwin-Tools-Night-Race-Bristol.mp3|titles=Jeff Gordon – 2011-08-27 – Irwin Tools Night Race – Bristol]





MP3 Download – In Car Audio with Spotter Chatter
[audio:https://www.scannerbytes.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Jeff-Gordon-2011-08-27-Irwin-Tools-Night-Race-Bristol-with-spotter-chatter.mp3]





Post Race Comments
[audio:https://www.scannerbytes.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Jeff-Gordon-2011-08-27-Irwin-Tools-Night-Race-Bristol-Post-Race-Comments.mp3]

Photos

Up Close at Bristol

Jeff and Ingrid Pre-race

Leading the pack