“This is one weekend where I don’t expect to talk a lot about points”, he said. “So I’m not going to try to pretend that the race fan’s going to see cars going around Indianapolis side by side but I do feel that perhaps this lower downforce is going to give the drivers the opportunity to prepare for overtaking”. This will be the first time in Gordon’s Sprint Cup career that he will not be driving the Number 24 vehicle.
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“When (team owner) Rick (Hendrick) said to me, ‘Are you coming to Indianapolis?’ I said ‘Yes I am”.
On Friday, while meeting the media for the first time since the move was announced by Hendrick Motorsports, Gordon said he was approached about replacing the injured Tony Stewart in this year’s Daytona 500 – the first Cup race following Gordon’s final race at Homestead in November. Its drivers have been shut out of the top three finishing spots in four consecutive races.
“I don’t need spotlight on me anyway”, he said.
Earnhardt’s recovery appears to be progressing, though. In that regard, Earnhardt Jr. sent a tweet Friday morning with an optimistic update on his condition, which pleased Gordon. “Light at the end of the tunnel”. Blaney had a great recovery at New Hampshire following a pit road penalty, and his Penske-powered auto gives him essentially the same equipment as Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.
Kyle Busch doesn’t have the gaudy laps led numbers here, but consistently finds himself up front at Indianapolis, culminating with a win past year for 76.75 DraftKings points. “That’s why I think more and more guys have gone into that and have been trying to do that”.
Johnson is a four-time victor of the Brickyard 400 but has finished 14th and 15th the last two seasons.
But the driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) saw his career take a different path that led him to NASCAR instead of IndyCar.
They all drive for other teams, and while they all had pleasant days and avoided poor finishes, they didn’t put up the huge points that I crave.
“I literally went from the doctor’s office to my race seat and practice, my first time ever in a NASCAR”.
“It’s a big deal to us to win here (at Indianapolis)”, Stewart said.
“We’ve been fast all year and I don’t see any reason why we won’t be the same at Indy”, Truex Jr.
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“There certainly is a lot of preparation that goes into every race and every season, for the driver and the team”, Gordon said.
