bigbadbrother
09-28-2014, 10:31 PM
Jared Turner
Jeff Gordon continued his magical season on Sunday at Dover International Speedway, holding off Brad Keselowski and winning for the fourth time and first time in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Sunday's final event of the three-race Chase Challenger Round was anything but magical, however, for AJ Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle and Aric Almirola -- the four drivers who failed to advance out of the final event of the three-race Chase Challenger Round, and won’t be championship-eligible when NASCAR arrives at Kansas Speedway next weekend.
Moving on to the Contender Round but unhappy nonetheless was Kevin Harvick, who led 223 laps on Sunday and had easily the dominant car before a flat left-front tire on Lap 252 of 400 sent the No. 4 Chevy to pit road and left Harvick the last car the lead lap.
Restarting 21st on Lap 261, Harvick made minimal progress in finding his way back to the front and ultimately finished 13th, the first driver one lap down.
Gordon passed Keselowski to take the lead for the first time on Lap 306, and cycled back into the top spot following a scheduled green flag pit stop on Lap 329. Despite Keselowski not letting Gordon out of his sights in the closing laps, there was no catching the four-time Sprint Cup Series champion when it counted.
"I don’t know what happened to Kevin Harvick," said Gordon, who notched his fifth win at The Monster Mile but first since 2001. "It was unfortunate for him. He was the class of the field. We were tuning on it to try to keep even with him. When I saw him go out, I knew we could compete with the No. 2 car (Keselowski)."
A visibly disappointed Harvick said after the race that a lug nut got lodged between the left-front wheel and the brake rotor, knocking the valve stem out and causing the tire to go down.
"Crazy," Harvick said. "Just handing out early Christmas presents to people for winning races that we should be winning, but all in all our Budweiser guys did a great job."
With Harvick out of the picture, Keselowski moved into the lead, but the Team Penske driver was unable to hold off Gordon, whose car was faster on longer runs.
"The No. 2 was really good on short runs, but we could run him down," Gordon said. "Of course he made us work for it there at the end because he was so good on short runs and he got to me. I was really, really tight in traffic there at the end. I didn’t know if we were going to pull it off."
The final 140 laps were run under green, as the race was slowed by only five cautions -- three for debris, and for separate incidents involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and J.J. Yeley, respectively.
"I think Kevin Harvick was probably the guy to beat and it was a shame to see him have that misfortune," said Keselowski, who led twice for a total of 78 laps. "But Jeff was incredible on the long runs. It’s a shame. I thought we were going to win this one. I think maybe with a yellow at the end, things would have turned out differently, but I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Jeff and his team – they had a great car, too."
The 12 drivers in the title hunt entering next weekend's Contender Round opener at Kansas Speedway are Keselowski, Joey Logano, Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Gordon, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne.
The championship standings have been reset, with each of the 12 title contenders carrying 3,000 points to Kansas City.
AAA 400
Sep 28, 2014 | Dover International Speedway - Dover, Delaware | 400.0 mi
Pos Driver Car # Make Started Laps Led Points Driver Rating
1 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet 6 400 94 47 134.5
2 Brad Keselowski 2 Ford 4 400 78 43 130.0
3 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet 8 400 0 41 118.5
4 Joey Logano 22 Ford 16 400 0 40 97.5
5 Matt Kenseth 20 Toyota 14 400 2 40 107.8
6 Kyle Larson 42 Chevrolet 7 400 0 38 100.5
7 Martin Truex Jr. 78 Chevrolet 26 400 0 37 85.7
8 Ryan Newman 31 Chevrolet 20 400 0 36 90.5
9 Clint Bowyer 15 Toyota 9 400 1 36 99.1
10 Kyle Busch 18 Toyota 2 400 0 34 108.4
11 Carl Edwards 99 Ford 18 400 1 34 85.0
12 Denny Hamlin 11 Toyota 3 400 0 32 99.4
13 Kevin Harvick 4 Chevrolet 1 399 223 33 118.6
14 Tony Stewart 14 Chevrolet 15 399 0 30 87.2
15 Brian Vickers 55 Toyota 11 399 0 29 81.7
16 Paul Menard 27 Chevrolet 19 399 0 28 66.7
17 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 88 Chevrolet 25 399 0 27 70.2
18 Kurt Busch 41 Chevrolet 22 399 0 26 80.0
19 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 17 Ford 24 399 0 25 72.9
20 Kasey Kahne 5 Chevrolet 12 399 0 24 90.9
21 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 27 399 0 23 67.7
22 Jamie McMurray 1 Chevrolet 5 398 1 23 71.0
23 AJ Allmendinger 47 Chevrolet 28 398 0 21 60.6
24 Austin Dillon 3 Chevrolet 10 398 0 20 66.4
25 Danica Patrick 10 Chevrolet 13 398 0 19 59.6
26 Marcos Ambrose 9 Ford 17 398 0 18 66.4
27 Casey Mears 13 Chevrolet 30 397 0 17 53.4
28 Aric Almirola 43 Ford 21 397 0 16 56.3
29 Justin Allgaier 51 Chevrolet 23 395 0 15 52.8
30 Cole Whitt 26 Toyota 29 395 0 14 50.5
31 David Ragan 34 Ford 37 395 0 13 43.4
32 Reed Sorenson 36 Chevrolet 33 394 0 12 44.7
33 David Gilliland 38 Ford 31 393 0 11 46.0
34 Alex Bowman 23 Toyota 34 391 0 10 36.3
35 Landon Cassill 40 Chevrolet 36 391 0 0 38.1
36 Mike Bliss 37 Chevrolet 40 391 0 0 35.3
37 David Stremme 33 Chevrolet 38 389 0 7 31.0
38 Travis Kvapil 83 Toyota 42 389 0 6 31.5
39 J.J. Yeley 32 Ford 39 387 0 0 27.9
40 Mike Wallace 66 Toyota 41 384 0 0 25.9
41 Michael Annett 7 Chevrolet 35 361 0 3 42.8
42 Josh Wise 98 Chevrolet 32 197 0 2 37.1
43 Timmy Hill 44 Chevrolet 43 11 0 1 25.8
2014 AAA 400 Stats
Scheduled Laps: 400
Total Laps: 400
Distance: 400.0 miles
Lead Changes: 13
Jeff Gordon continued his magical season on Sunday at Dover International Speedway, holding off Brad Keselowski and winning for the fourth time and first time in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Sunday's final event of the three-race Chase Challenger Round was anything but magical, however, for AJ Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle and Aric Almirola -- the four drivers who failed to advance out of the final event of the three-race Chase Challenger Round, and won’t be championship-eligible when NASCAR arrives at Kansas Speedway next weekend.
Moving on to the Contender Round but unhappy nonetheless was Kevin Harvick, who led 223 laps on Sunday and had easily the dominant car before a flat left-front tire on Lap 252 of 400 sent the No. 4 Chevy to pit road and left Harvick the last car the lead lap.
Restarting 21st on Lap 261, Harvick made minimal progress in finding his way back to the front and ultimately finished 13th, the first driver one lap down.
Gordon passed Keselowski to take the lead for the first time on Lap 306, and cycled back into the top spot following a scheduled green flag pit stop on Lap 329. Despite Keselowski not letting Gordon out of his sights in the closing laps, there was no catching the four-time Sprint Cup Series champion when it counted.
"I don’t know what happened to Kevin Harvick," said Gordon, who notched his fifth win at The Monster Mile but first since 2001. "It was unfortunate for him. He was the class of the field. We were tuning on it to try to keep even with him. When I saw him go out, I knew we could compete with the No. 2 car (Keselowski)."
A visibly disappointed Harvick said after the race that a lug nut got lodged between the left-front wheel and the brake rotor, knocking the valve stem out and causing the tire to go down.
"Crazy," Harvick said. "Just handing out early Christmas presents to people for winning races that we should be winning, but all in all our Budweiser guys did a great job."
With Harvick out of the picture, Keselowski moved into the lead, but the Team Penske driver was unable to hold off Gordon, whose car was faster on longer runs.
"The No. 2 was really good on short runs, but we could run him down," Gordon said. "Of course he made us work for it there at the end because he was so good on short runs and he got to me. I was really, really tight in traffic there at the end. I didn’t know if we were going to pull it off."
The final 140 laps were run under green, as the race was slowed by only five cautions -- three for debris, and for separate incidents involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and J.J. Yeley, respectively.
"I think Kevin Harvick was probably the guy to beat and it was a shame to see him have that misfortune," said Keselowski, who led twice for a total of 78 laps. "But Jeff was incredible on the long runs. It’s a shame. I thought we were going to win this one. I think maybe with a yellow at the end, things would have turned out differently, but I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Jeff and his team – they had a great car, too."
The 12 drivers in the title hunt entering next weekend's Contender Round opener at Kansas Speedway are Keselowski, Joey Logano, Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Gordon, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne.
The championship standings have been reset, with each of the 12 title contenders carrying 3,000 points to Kansas City.
AAA 400
Sep 28, 2014 | Dover International Speedway - Dover, Delaware | 400.0 mi
Pos Driver Car # Make Started Laps Led Points Driver Rating
1 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet 6 400 94 47 134.5
2 Brad Keselowski 2 Ford 4 400 78 43 130.0
3 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet 8 400 0 41 118.5
4 Joey Logano 22 Ford 16 400 0 40 97.5
5 Matt Kenseth 20 Toyota 14 400 2 40 107.8
6 Kyle Larson 42 Chevrolet 7 400 0 38 100.5
7 Martin Truex Jr. 78 Chevrolet 26 400 0 37 85.7
8 Ryan Newman 31 Chevrolet 20 400 0 36 90.5
9 Clint Bowyer 15 Toyota 9 400 1 36 99.1
10 Kyle Busch 18 Toyota 2 400 0 34 108.4
11 Carl Edwards 99 Ford 18 400 1 34 85.0
12 Denny Hamlin 11 Toyota 3 400 0 32 99.4
13 Kevin Harvick 4 Chevrolet 1 399 223 33 118.6
14 Tony Stewart 14 Chevrolet 15 399 0 30 87.2
15 Brian Vickers 55 Toyota 11 399 0 29 81.7
16 Paul Menard 27 Chevrolet 19 399 0 28 66.7
17 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 88 Chevrolet 25 399 0 27 70.2
18 Kurt Busch 41 Chevrolet 22 399 0 26 80.0
19 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 17 Ford 24 399 0 25 72.9
20 Kasey Kahne 5 Chevrolet 12 399 0 24 90.9
21 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 27 399 0 23 67.7
22 Jamie McMurray 1 Chevrolet 5 398 1 23 71.0
23 AJ Allmendinger 47 Chevrolet 28 398 0 21 60.6
24 Austin Dillon 3 Chevrolet 10 398 0 20 66.4
25 Danica Patrick 10 Chevrolet 13 398 0 19 59.6
26 Marcos Ambrose 9 Ford 17 398 0 18 66.4
27 Casey Mears 13 Chevrolet 30 397 0 17 53.4
28 Aric Almirola 43 Ford 21 397 0 16 56.3
29 Justin Allgaier 51 Chevrolet 23 395 0 15 52.8
30 Cole Whitt 26 Toyota 29 395 0 14 50.5
31 David Ragan 34 Ford 37 395 0 13 43.4
32 Reed Sorenson 36 Chevrolet 33 394 0 12 44.7
33 David Gilliland 38 Ford 31 393 0 11 46.0
34 Alex Bowman 23 Toyota 34 391 0 10 36.3
35 Landon Cassill 40 Chevrolet 36 391 0 0 38.1
36 Mike Bliss 37 Chevrolet 40 391 0 0 35.3
37 David Stremme 33 Chevrolet 38 389 0 7 31.0
38 Travis Kvapil 83 Toyota 42 389 0 6 31.5
39 J.J. Yeley 32 Ford 39 387 0 0 27.9
40 Mike Wallace 66 Toyota 41 384 0 0 25.9
41 Michael Annett 7 Chevrolet 35 361 0 3 42.8
42 Josh Wise 98 Chevrolet 32 197 0 2 37.1
43 Timmy Hill 44 Chevrolet 43 11 0 1 25.8
2014 AAA 400 Stats
Scheduled Laps: 400
Total Laps: 400
Distance: 400.0 miles
Lead Changes: 13