Monday Racing Roundup: Gordon Wins at Dover
September 29, 2014 | By John Schwarb
Jeff Gordon put an end to Team Penske’s early dominance in NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup, leading the last 71 laps to win at Dover on Sunday as the Chase field had its first cut.
AJ Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle and Aric Almirola held the bottom four points positions after the race and were eliminated. The remaining 12 drivers – Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne – will now race in the Contender Round at Kansas, Charlotte and Talladega.
The dozen drivers will all have their point totals reset to 3,000, with no bonuses for prior wins. That said, Team Penske’s Keselowski (first, seventh, second in the first three Chase races), Logano (fourth, first, fourth) and Gordon have established themselves as the three to beat – so far.
“We get a lot out of it. A win is a win. I think it makes a statement in one sense of what type of a team we are, how hard we fight, how you never count us out,” said Gordon, who was also second in the Chase opener at Chicagoland. “I think that it makes a statement that we’re a team to beat for this championship.
“This is very interesting how this format is playing out … you do have to somewhat look at just the next three races and not look too far ahead because you’ve got to make it through to the next round. I think we’re a team very capable of doing that, and I’m excited about our chances, not just these next three but all the way to Homestead. We can’t get that far ahead. Right now, for me, I’m just thinking about Kansas and nothing else.
MotoGP: Lorenzo prevails in wild race at Aragon
A proactive move to switch bikes in rainy conditions midway through Sunday’s race at Aragon lifted Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo to his first win of the season in the MotoGP World Championship.
The race was wild from the beginning. Lorenzo started seventh but was up to second by the second lap. On the fourth lap Italy’s Valentino Rossi – the winner two weeks ago in his homeland at Misano – crashed and was taken to a hospital for observation. He was diagnosed with a concussion.
Points leader Marc Marquez and Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa started 1-2 on the grid and Marquez led the most laps, but he and Pedrosa pushed their slick-tired bikes too far on the wet track and crashed in the closing laps.
Lorenzo switched to a Movistar Yamaha with rain tires earlier, which made all the difference.
“What a race. Everything happened,” Lorenzo said. “Knowing when to change was very tough and we got some luck to help us out too. I was upset when it started spitting (rain), as I had to roll off and the Hondas pushed ahead. I had settled for third or fourth.”
Instead, with Marquez’ crash, he found himself in the clear and won by 10.295 seconds ahead of fellow Spaniard Aleix Espargaro. Great Britain’s Cal Crutchlow was third. Marquez remounted after his crash and finished 13th, his second consecutive finish outside the top 10 after winning 11 of the first 12 races including the Red Bull Indianapolis GP.
“I, like many other riders in MotoGP, had never experienced track conditions like this before,” Marquez said. “It was a shame that it started to rain; if it hadn’t, then I think that Dani, Jorge and I would have made the end of the race really exciting for the fans. I tried to hold on because there were only a few laps remaining, but today I learned that in these situations it is better to use a different strategy.”
American Nicky Hayden raced for the first time since wrist surgery in mid-July and finished ninth on his Drive M7 Aspar Honda.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch won Saturday’s second Nationwide Series race of the season at Dover in virtually the same way he had won the first.
Busch took the lead from Joey Logano after a quick pit stop on Lap 100 and held on the rest of the way in his Monster Energy Toyota, beating Logano by 2.545 seconds.
In May, Busch took the lead from Logano on a Lap 77 stop and never trailed after that.
The second Dover win gives Busch a series-leading five on the season and extended his series record to 68 wins.
“I knew we had a good car. I was just kind of biding my time, I was just chillin,’” Busch said. “The second half of the race, when we beat the No. 22 (Logano) off pit road, these guys did a great job on that pit stop.
“It was good for us to get out front like that, get in clean air and show what this car had for speed. This Monster Energy Toyota Camry was really, really fast.”
Points leader Chase Elliott finished third, extending his lead to 26 points over Regan Smith, who finished eighth. Ty Dillon, a winner at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, finished 10th and remains third in points, 46 back.