Gordon tames ‘The Lady in Black’ for a 7th time at Darlington
Quote selected text Published May 13th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Jeff Gordon wins his third race of the year as Hendrick domination continues
Jeff Gordon overcame a leaky radiator and used a gutsy late call to race to his third victory of the season Sunday at Darlington Raceway.Gordon made it four in a row for the powerful Hendrick organization, which has won eight of the last nine Nextel Cup races and remained perfect in all five events the Car of Tomorrow has been used.
Rain washed out Saturday’s race and it was rescheduled for Sunday, making it the first NASCAR race run on Mother’s Day since 1986. So the victory was the perfect gift for Gordon’s pregnant bride. Gordon and wife Ingrid Vandebosch are expecting their first child at the end of June and this was the last race doctors have permitted her to travel to before the birth.
Denny Hamlin, who led a race-high 179 laps, had to settle for second after loose lug nuts on a late pit stop cost him a shot at running for the win. Hamlin has finished second or third in four COT races.
“We’ve got to win a race sooner or later,” Hamlin said. “Everybody will be talking about how Hendrick won another race, but this was our race to win.”
Jimmie Johnson, last week’s winner, finished third for Hendrick. Ryan Newman was fourth and followed by Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. capped a frenzied week that began when he said he’s leaving DEI at the end of the season by finishing eighth.
“Pretty happy,” Earnhardt said. “I want to thank my guys for working hard and giving me a good car this weekend.”
Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton, teammates at Richard Childress Racing, rounded out the top 10.
RESULTS:
1. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 367, running
2. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet, 367, running
3. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 367, running
4. Ryan Newman, No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge, 367, running
5. Carl Edwards, No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, 367, running
6. Tony Stewart, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet, 367, running
7. Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, 367, running
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet, 367, running
9. Clint Bowyer, No. 07 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, 367, running
10. Jeff Burton, No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, 367, running
11. Martin Truex Jr., No. 1 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet, 367, running
12. Kurt Busch, No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge, 367, running
13. Sterling Marlin, No. 14 Ginn Racing Chevrolet, 367, running
14. Mark Martin, No. 01 Ginn Racing Chevrolet, 367, running
15. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, 367, running
16. Jamie McMurray, No. 26 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, 367, running
17. Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, 367, running
18. J.J. Yeley, No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet, 367, running
19. Bobby Labonte, No. 43 Petty Enterprises Dodge, 367, running
20. Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge, 367, running
21. Elliott Sadler, No. 19 Evernham Motorsports Dodge, 367, running
22. Jeff Green, No. 66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet, 365, running
23. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge, 365, running
24. Kenny Wallace, No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet, 365, running
25. Kyle Petty, No. 45 Petty Enterprises Dodge, 364, running
26. Ricky Rudd, No. 88 Robert Yates Racing Ford, 364, running
27. David Ragan, No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, 363, running
28. Joe Nemechek, No. 13 Ginn Racing Chevrolet, 363, running
29. Johnny Sauter, No. 70 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet, 361, running
30. David Gilliland, No. 38 Robert Yates Racing Ford, 361, engine
31. Paul Menard, No. 15 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet, 358, running
32. Dave Blaney, No. 22 Bill Davis Racing Toyota, 355, engine
33. David Reutimann, No. 00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, 351, engine
34. David Stremme, No. 40 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge, 349, engine
35. Casey Mears, No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 345, engine
36. AJ Allmendinger, No. 84 Team Red Bull Toyota, 344, running
37. Kyle Busch, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 338, running
38. Robby Gordon, No. 7 Robby Gordon Motorsports Ford, 317, running
39. Tony Raines, No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Chevrolet, 310, engine
40. Reed Sorenson, No. 41 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge, 310, running
41. Ken Schrader, No. 21 Wood Brothers/JTG Racing Ford, 254, accident
42. Kevin Lepage, No. 37 Front Row Motorsports Dodge, 127, transmission
43. Brian Vickers, No. 83 Team Red Bull Toyota, 122, accident
Bookmark to:
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- Gordon, Blaney conduct Goodyear tire testing at Darlington
- Goodyear to tire test at Darlington
- Darlington could get new track surface
- Repaving begins at Darlington
Why is it when a car blows up on lap 20 or whatever, a caution in thrown. Then on lap 6. a car hits the wall, no caution, on lap 5, a car blows up and no caution. I’m starting to believe that NASCAR has a plan and will pull out all the stops to make “their” driver win. Give me a break! THAT’S CRAP!!!! If this continues, the same people (team) winning, the fans are going to get bored and stop watching! I am right there with Stewart, NASCAR throws cautions when it’s convenient for them and the driver that they want to win! Again, THAT’S CRAP!!!
I gotta agree with Mandajay. That last caution…for sure I thought there would be a caution. There wasn’t. And Jeff Gordon was in the lead. Why is that? Wow…I dont think NASCAR is helping themselves at all with this. What a bunch of BS. I think alot of ans are starting to get turned off by this.
Nascar once again Cheated for a loser.
they wont bring caution out if those driver stay out of the way and stay low in yellow line… if there was 3 laps to go then jeff would got beat by dennis…. u guys winne to much grow up
i agree with everybody elce who posted up there.. its a bunch of bull. the second i saw that 3 cars blew their engines and there was smoke everywhere, i threw my remote at the wall and started screaming at the tv.. if it was any other driver who was about to win, they sure as hell would have called the caution. and ‘wake up people’, why dont you f&^%^g wake up? Fox was SHOWING how much smoke there was around the track on the last 4 laps. Nevermind the fact that one engine blew on lap 6, but then on lap 5 there was another guy who blew his engine, causing tons of smoke to hover over the track..you could see the drivers edging their way through it carefully as not to hit another driver..and they don’t call the damn caution. I’m finally set on what I believe NASCAR is doing. I tried talking myself out of it for the past few weeks saying to myself that it was just luck, but now I am completely rock solid on what I believe. I ran downstairs after the race and screamed and ranted about NASCAR finally loosing my trust. Tony was right about the cautions all along and those of you who debated that a couple weeks ago and said he was ‘completely wrong’, you’r the ones who are realizing right now wtf nascar is REALLY doing. I have finally decided that I will NOT be attending the pepsi 400 this year in daytona. Why spend my money on a rigged race? forget that, I have better things to spend $185 on, not including the hotel costs.
Forget it.. NASCAR is being completely two-faced.
they are acting more and more like jealous bitchy school girls every weekend.
You guys are such whiners. The last thing Jeff needed was cautions. Or maybe you didn’t see the steam coming from the hood???? I’m all for you whiners to stop watching the races. I know plenty of things you can spend your $185 on, too, but I’m too much of a lady to spell it out for everyone.
GO JEFF!!!!!! You’re the best driver out there every week and it shows!!!
Do you guys want cheese with your whine? Boo hoo hoo you can’t deal with greatness.
wtg to go jeff ur the man woohoo 78th win….
I know I’m gonna get bashed for this but the two late blow ups didn’t lay any oil or significant debris on the track. We should all be hoping for NASCAR to not be throwing so many damn cautions. Denny was back because of his team’s mistake, Gordon should have blown up anyway and Denny almost caught Gordon under green. I really don’t believe there was a conspiracy in play here. Don’t be wishing for more cautions it makes things artificial. The less cautions there are the less chance there is of an outside force determining the race.
I understand that not having a caution in the last 4 laps helped Gordon and hurt Denny but there was nothing to throw a caution for other than smoke.
Way back in the day they didn’t throw cautions for much unless the track was blocked… I think NASCAR should keep a similar mentality when there’s only 5 laps to go… Denny almost caught Gordon and it would have been an awesome finish under green.
Anonymous, you’re pretty arrogant in your view of Gordon’s situation… Since you’re such a lady I’m curious what we should be spending 185 bucks on?
Just because the drivers who blew up got to the bottom doesn’t mean their wasn’t any oil on the track from
when they first blew up, anyone think of that? apparently only a few of y’all, and anyone else’s engine would
have blown runnin like that for that long, all I got to say to those “amazed” that is bullshit, we all know what
was goin on just like Ryan Newman running 70 somethin laps to win a race a few years ago on a single tank.
Obviously there wasn’t enough oil on the track or they would have spun… No one did. Cautions are a waste of time if its nothing severe. So, something could be severe and someone wrecks without an immediate caution? Oh, well, they know they could crash. There should be some danger involved. Less cautions are better. That was the most natural finish you could have had to that race. Things worked there self out on the track… Denny couldn’t catch him after the loose lug. There’s always next week.
LMAO! Wasn’t this the convo last week?
We’re all gonna have our opinions about the caution flags (I personally think that they suck, and I find it odd that they always work in the favor of Gordon or Johnson, but I digress)
There’s always next week………..and this will be the topic as long as someone from Hendrick carries the checkered flag.
BTW….the NASCAR officials must have been on the rag today with all the rule changes & bitching about spoilers. But when isn’t this the case? Just a thought:)
there wont oil for the other engine failures that the cautions were thrown for either. the cautions stopped comin out after gordon started whinin on the radio that he needed green flag finishes. did nobody see steve letarte talkin to the official wen this was goin on under that las caution. wat was there to talk about there??they didnt pit or nothin. its one thing to joke wit somone but no reason to jump off the pitbox like that and talk to the official wen u dont pit or anything. yea hendricks good but nascar needs to stop wit this bs caution no caution shit. it jus makes nascar not look credible in their judgements anymore.
Denny’s team lost him the race. Wishing for cautions is the lamest thing ever.
wishing for cautions?…really, its very sad and so stupid. and all youre doing is whinning again. whine whine whine. thats all you people know. i thought that this was a place that adults could come to talk about the race, not cry and moan when their drivers dont win. gordons team has the COT down. no questions asked. and if anything, wouldnt you think that nascar would have wanted to throw the race so jr could have won? he could have been in victory lane, proving he can still win even with all this going on in his personal life. but oh no, if JR wins, its on his talent. but if gordon wins, its because he’s a cheater. just get over yourselves, grow up, and realize that some drivers are just better then others, that some TEAMS are just better then others.
And all your moaning, groaning, whinning and crying wont keep Gordon from winning.
Very well said Roxie and Axel. Everybody complains about all the cautions, but when they don’t get one to help another driver win other than HMS driver they complain even more. All this HMS bashing is getting very old. If you don’t like HMS winning so much than stop watching cause that ain’t changing, do watch IRL or Formula1. Was everyone bitching a couple years ago when Rousch was winning so much. I doubt it.
Congrats Jeff on an awesome job and Steve for making the race winning call on not pitting.
That is what you have to do to win races. Way to go and keep the Drive for 5 alive.
Steve LeTarte deserves a bonus for that last call!!!! I had pretty much written Jeff’s engine off, but
once again, Steve makes the right decision. I thought they were going to stay just to get their
bonus points for leading a lap, but who knew he could actually make it to the end?!
Way to go!!!!
[Comment deleted]
darrell is that all you have to use? uncalled for words? its people like you who make nascar look bad and give it its reputation. do you talk like that in front of your children?
nascar banned fans like you from their tracks and i hope that this blog editor bans you from this site.
People let’s watch the inappropriate comments please!
thank you editor.
Had there been a caution, I’m sure the comments on here
would be whining for an an imaginary debris caution.
One of those deals for NASCAR, damned if they do, and damned if
they don’t.
I myself am actually sick of seeing the Hendrick cars win.
But the fact is they are the best team right now and the
way Jeff had run this weekend was a perfect reflection
of that..Mostly for their engine department and calls made from
the pit box. The teams of our favorite drivers that we pull
for are gonna have to step it up if they want to beat Hendrick.
Sorry, to crash the party here..but this is racing. It is up to the other
teams to beat the Hendrick cars on the track…on the track…
that’s the way it should be. Too many politics going on here.
It would be best for the other teams to take their games up a notch,
it will only be bad for the sport in the long-term if that crap
“let’s re-write the rules so I can win.” starts…That’s bad.
Not that I bring that up, any of you guys on here old enough to
remember the stranglehold that Tasca had in drag racing years back?
Kinda reminds of that in way.
Quit bitching. If they dont throw the caution your whine conspiracy. If they start throwing cautions for all sorts of things (engines debris) even if it may be out of the racing groove (which at Darlington it was ) then you will all start complaining about to many cautions. Let it go…just because HMS has made some great calls when yellows come out doesnt mean the race is rigged. Grow up. Hendrick hasnt dominated the COT…its other teams mistakes that has won them races (mechanical failures by Stewart at Bristol..pit crew for Hamlin at Darlington…)