Jeff Gordon, the four-time NASCAR champion, will cap his full-time driving career when he competes in the season-ending NASCAR race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday (Monday morning Sydney time).
Advertisement
Hamlin turned in a lap at 176.655 miles per hour to claim his third pole of 2015 and his first in 11 races at Homestead.
“That means absolutely nothing”, Gordon said. “That’s awesome. I’m really proud of that”. “Our teammate on the pole, I’ll definitely go back and learn something from that”.
“There’s only one lap I want to lead, and that’s the last one”, he said of the Homestead race. In this post, I want to put all my attention into YOU, not the fans. But Harvick said he wasn’t concerned about starting behind the other Sprint Cup finalists, pointing out that he qualified 15th before winning at Dover, Del.
“There’s a ton of pressure taken off all of us because we’re just a part of it and we know that we can’t be worse than fourth when this thing is all over”, said Gordon.
The other 39 drivers can only win the race. I had nothing. And I tell Norm all the time, he’s the only guy insane enough to come on board and get started.
Erik Jones won a duel of 19-year-olds to become the youngest champion in the history of the Camping World Truck Series.
That could all change with the race of a lifetime and a championship trophy to bring home. About what he’s been through; his girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, was diagnosed previous year with pancreatic cancer.
Asked whether the pressure exceeds that of his other 796 races, Gordon noted, “I look at it as being exciting”.
“I need three clutch laps like that to close this race out on Sunday”, he said, laughing. He did it clean and beat us fair and square.
Clearly, though, Gordon hopes there’s another, more significant win on the horizon.
NASCAR declined to finish the Phoenix race on Monday instead, but wasn’t as committal about the finale not being held over a day. He said Penske called him after Logano spun Kenseth at Kansas, and Gibbs called Penske after Kenseth wrecked Logano at Martinsville.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Gordon is one of four men who can win the Sprint Cup at the Ford Ecoboost 400, which will serve as his final race before retirement. We’ve been doing so much pre-planning for the weekend, having friends and family here, we knew it was going to be my final race. Of course it is. “Obviously wanted to be better and did a lot throughout qualifying to make adjustments and tried to move my line around and just never really could quite hit on it. So tried something a little different in the third round; probably cost us a few spots there”. Looking back to January, I could not have scripted it the way it is going. Each has had to endure major obstacles to get to the championship round at Homestead, and none of them are ready to give up their dream of being the 2015 Sprint Cup Champion yet. Ryan Blaney will be the driver. Gordon would go on to score five total Brickyard 400 victories, tying Formula One legend Michael Schumacher for the most wins at the iconic track.
“Everybody keeps telling me to enjoy myself and don’t take it too serious and have a good time with it”, Truex said.
Advertisement
Wood Brothers Racing has fielded entries since 1950 but hasn’t attempted a full 36-race schedule since the end of the last decade.
