“Yeah, I mean, things are good”. “Regardless of what affiliation you have … we can all feel good about giving him the ultimate going-away gift”. You know, I joked with him on the plane, the baby was back there crying, and I said, sounds just like you in the vehicle.
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As it has for much of the Chase, the weather might be a factor Sunday.
Hinchcliffe and his representative spent time on Saturday chatting up NASCAR team owners, including Chip Ganassi who owns two Sprint Cup teams and an Xfinity Series team along with his IndyCar team. Joey Logano turned the fastest single lap to top the speed chart. The highest-finishing driver will win the championship.
“Life is short. This is a drop in the bucket”.
Not that this dulled his eagerness to round of 2015 with one final win.
The 44-year-old Gordon wants to give us one last memory. “So you keep that in mind for sure”. And that’s the key for Sunday’s race.
“Well, it’s not bad”.
“I remember the first time we raced against each other he blew my doors off, and about 40 laps later he blew up”, Busch said.
“We cut back because the performance wasn’t where it needed to be and wanted it to be”, team co-owner Len Wood said.
“Nothing to hang our heads about with our teammate on the pole”.
The championship-contending field was set last Sunday at Phoenix, with Jeff Gordon the only victor in the Elimination round of the Chase to the Sprint Cup Championship. “I just totally messed up”.
He continued to run just well enough to advance through the first two rounds of the Chase. “I wasn’t that proud at the moment because we started 21st, but I will remember that forever”. It’s pretty awesome to get top five.
Hinchcliffe, who almost died from blood loss after a suspension piece pierced his race auto during an Indianapolis 500 practice in May, can appreciate the way Gordon is leaving NASCAR after 23 full seasons. NASCAR chairman Brian France called it “a good conversation”, but made it clear all such actions will be dealt with accordingly.
“He said, well, they asked me”, France recalled. I didn’t run a good line on the last run. At least for me, when I get to the track, I focus on that. I should have ran on the fence.
“I’m a fan of this sport, so I can respect this and be a fan”.
Arguably the outsider of the four remaining title contenders is Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., who qualified in 11th place for the grand finale. “Our vehicle has been really fast all day so I’ve been very encouraged with what we’ve seen with our FedEx Ground Toyota”. But for us qualifying hasn’t been our strong suit on these types of tracks.
“I’m not a points racer; I don’t like it. It’s not the most fun way to run the last 10 races of the season, but it’s important”.
The Penske Racing driver likely would have been racing for the championship Sunday if not for the payback delivered by Kenseth at Martinsville in the first race of the Eliminator Round.
Kyle Busch never let doubt creep in, even with a mangled leg. Someone else with a double compound fracture in his right leg and a fracture of his left foot may have caved in emotionally. That changes on the racetrack. His Chevrolet has eight top-fives and 22 top-10s through 35 races.
Having announced his retirement in January, Gordon will start his final NASCAR race as one of four drivers vying for the title. You know, we just never really recovered from what we did in the first round to make it repeat. The only reason they didn’t like him is because he won too much.
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“It’s really no different than any other week, ” he said.
