Gordon Is at Home on Road to Victory

On a sunny Sunday in the Sonoma Valley wine country, in front of 100,000 screaming NASCAR fans at Sears Point Raceway, Winston Cup cars burned, spun in the dirt, crashed into tire barriers, bumped and banged one another through slippery corners and generally acted as if they were on an unfamiliar road course.

Then there was Jeff Gordon and his car.

The onetime teenage sprint car phenom from over the hills in Vallejo, driving as if he had handled 3,400-pound stock cars on road courses all his life, put his DuPont Chevrolet Monte Carlo on cruise control and won his sixth consecutive Winston Cup road race, the Save Mart / Kragen 350, and his third in a row at Sears Point.

Winston Cup cars race on only two road courses in a 34-race schedule, here and at Watkins Glen, N.Y. Gordon has now won three in a row on each.

Instead of all left-hand turns on ovals, here drivers also had to make right-hand turns on the 1.949-mile hillside course.

“Things worked out perfect for us, but it wasn’t as easy as it looked there at the end,” Gordon said. “It was tough out there, it’s so hard to pass. At the end, we got in front and had some clean air, but the last 25 laps seemed like they took forever.”

Gordon passed Kenny Wallace going through the hairpin Turn 11 on lap 86 and was never challenged. He quickly opened up a four-second lead and that was as close as anyone got. His winning margin was 4.101 seconds over Sterling Marlin, who fought off a challenge from Mark Martin on the final laps. Series points leader Bobby Labonte was fourth.

“It’s nice to come out here where I call home, where I was born, and win in front of all the fans I have here. It’s just amazing,” Gordon said.

It was Gordon’s second win this year. But because of his brilliance a few years ago with Ray Evernham as his crew chief--winning seven or more races a year and three Winston Cup championships--critics have pointed out that Gordon has slowed down with Robbie Loomis as his new crew chief.

“Everybody said before we came out here that ‘If they don’t win on a road course, there’s really something wrong,’ ” Gordon said. “Well, we dodged the bullet. Robbie and the pit crew were phenomenal today. It certainly wasn’t a gimme. We had to work hard for it, every lap.”

Although Gordon led three times for 43 laps, more than any other driver, the race turned on a series of incidents on laps 68-69.

Tony Stewart tried to pass leader Scott Pruett as the two flashed past the start-finish line. Stewart got his nose in front but couldn’t hold it, spinning in Turn 1.

Pruett continued on but locked up his front tires and spun in Turn 3, giving Gordon the lead. Before the lap was completed, Pruett had more trouble, crashing into a tire barrier and severely damaging his car, bringing out a yellow flag.

All the leaders pitted, handing the lead to Kenny Wallace, who was in front for the first time in more than a year.

Gordon came out of the pits in fifth place, about six seconds behind Wallace. It took him 16 laps to catch and pass Marlin, Mike Skinner, Ward Burton and finally Wallace.

For all intents, it was all over.

“A lot of crazy things went on right there in that segment,” said Gordon. “It looked like Tony Stewart made a move on him [Pruett]. Somehow, Scott kept locking up the front tires. There was a big cloud of smoke, so we went down into the [S-turns] and I guess Jeff Burton [a lap down] got by us. We went down in there and he locked up the tires. I was going to the outside of him, and I couldn’t really see for the smoke. I touched him, there’s no doubt about it, but he was probably a little too defensive at that time.

“Scott was on old tires and he was fading, but Tony was going to be tough. I tell you, he was awful strong. He made some passes on guys in front of them that I couldn’t make. It’s so difficult to pass on this track it makes track position so important. When Tony got in front of me I wasn’t real happy about it.”

Said Pruett: “We had a neck-and-neck race, Tony and I. We managed to get through that and then took a good shot from behind. I’m not sure who got ahold of me, but it turned me around up in [Turn] 3.And then going down in the back it must have damaged something because we went through the little dogleg and it wouldn’t turn. It went straight off the track and took a big shot.”

Stewart, who became ill during the race, turned his Pontiac over to John Andretti during the caution period brought out by Pruett’s accident.

Andretti’s car had been knocked out of the race when it got hit from behind on lap 14 and was engulfed in flames when an oil line broke.

After getting in Stewart’s car, Andretti was one of the fastest drivers in the race. In 40 laps, he went from 25th to finish 10th.

“I was happy to help out, but I was very unhappy that I was available to help out,” Andretti said.

Gordon collected $143,025 from a $2.89-million purse for the 2-hour, 46-minute, 16-second race. He averaged 78.789 mph as four caution periods for 13 laps held down the speed.

The second the race ended, another race started as crews and teams packed up and headed down the highway on a cross-country trek to Daytona Beach, Fla., where the NASCAR troupe will perform Saturday night in the Pepsi 400.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE TOP 3

1. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet

2. Sterling Marlin Chevrolet

3. Mark Martin Ford

Complete Results: Page 11

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NASCAR

SAVE MART/KRAGEN 350 RESULTS

*--*

No. (St) Driver Car Laps Out/Money 1. (5) Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 112 $143,025 2. (6) Sterling Marlin Chevrolet 112 $90,725 3. (7) Mark Martin Ford 112 $75,950 4. (3) Bobby Labonte Pontiac 112 $81,290 5. (10) Ricky Rudd Ford 112 $67,915 6. (29) Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet 112 $65,165 7. (18) Dale Jarrett Ford 112 $69,665 8. (20) Jerry Nadeau Chevrolet 112 $56,765 9. (11) Robby Gordon Ford 112 $42,415 10. (4) Tony Stewart Pontiac 112 $73,610 11. (19) Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 112 $55,700 12. (28) Michael Waltrip Chevrolet 112 $53,475 13. (17) Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 112 $53,325 14. (14) Bobby Hamilton Chevrolet 112 $51,775 15. (21) Ken Schrader Pontiac 112 $45,775 16. (30) Jeff Burton Ford 112 $59,225 17. (15) Steve Park Chevrolet 112 $50,200 18. (35) Johnny Benson Pontiac 112 $45,775 19. (2) Kyle Petty Pontiac 112 $50,420 20. (13) Mike Skinner Chevrolet 112 $53,685 21. (37) Ward Burton Pontiac 112 $55,725 22. (27) Mike Bliss Pontiac 112 $38,665 23. (42) Kenny Irwin Chevrolet 112 $49,030 24. (31) Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 112 $47,550 25. (40) Chad Little Ford 112 $49,230 26. (1) Rusty Wallace Ford 112 $61,500 27. (25) Terry Labonte Chevrolet 112 $55,465 28. (33) Darrell Waltrip Ford 111 $40,580 29. (43) Dave Blaney Pontiac 111 $37,360 30. (22) Brett Bodine Ford 110 $37,820 31. (36) Stacy Compton Ford 110 $40,950 32. (38) Matt Kenseth Ford 110 $48,190 33. (39) Jeremy Mayfield Ford 110 $48,170 34. (12) Jimmy Spencer Ford 110 $47,650 35. (8) Bill Elliott Ford 98 $45,130 36. (34) Brian Simo Ford 95 $37,110 37. (41) Robert Pressley Ford 91 trans., $37,090 38. (32) Elliott Sadler Ford 91 $45,045 39. (9) Scott Pruett Ford 67 crash, $37,025 40. (26) Wally Dallenbach Jr. Ford 44 trans., $37,480 41. (24) Kevin Lepage Ford 40 trans., $44,960 42. (23) Boris Said Ford 26 engine, $36,940 43. (16) John Andretti Pontiac 15 crash, $54,915

*--*

RACE STATISTICS

* Time of race: 2 hours 46 minutes 14 seconds.

* Average speed: 78.789 mph.

* Margin of victory: 4.101 seconds.

* Caution flags: 4 for 13 laps.

* Lead changes: 10 among seven drivers.

LAP LEADERS

*--*

Rusty Wallace 1-10 Sterling Marlin 11-35 Wallace 36 Tony Stewart 37-38 Robby Gordon 39-43 Scott Pruett 44-45 Jeff Gordon 46-59 Pruett 60-67 Gordon 68-69 Kenny Wallace 70-85 Gordon 86-112 Bobby Labonte 2,400 Dale Earnhardt 2,333 Dale Jarrett 2,271 Ward Burton 2,196 Jeff Burton 2,134 Ricky Rudd 2,130 Mark Martin 2,130 Tony Stewart 2,115 Rusty Wallace 2,089 Jeff Gordon 2,059

*--*