Jeff Gordon began his Cup Series career in 1992, making his first start at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the season's final race. Perhaps symbolizing a changing of the guard, this was also Richard Petty's final race before he retired. Neither driver had a great day, with Gordon wrecking his DuPont Chevy and Petty's STP Pontiac wrecking in a ball of fire. But this past weekend in Atlanta, Jeff Gordon achieved another milestone. He beat his teammate Jimmie Johnson to the stripe and scored his 85th career victory, which puts him in sole possession of third place on the all-time wins list.
The Advocare 500 was supposed to be held Sunday night, but because of Hurricane Lee, rain and unsafe travel conditions forced Nascar to postpone the race until Tuesday morning. With a green race track and a daytime start, it would be very interesting to see who would come up on top.
There were many comers and goers, but the one car that stayed up front through just about every run was Jeff Gordon's No. 24. Matt Kenseth dominated early on and it looked to be his race, but Martin Truex, Jr, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski all looked to challenge him. With the combination of a green track, jet dryers heating the surface up during the two rain delays and the light mist that fell through almost the whole race, it was difficult for teams to set their cars up right. The track never did the same thing twice.
As the race progressed, Kyle suddenly lost the handle on his car, sending him back in the field. On the other hand, Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus adjusted the No. 48 car enough to where they could race to the front and challenge Gordon and Kenseth.
Restarts were very chaotic as well. It seemed like whoever started second would spin their tires and stack up the field behind them. One restart saw Kevin Harvick get hit from behind, spin almost dead sideways and still manage to make a spectacular save.
There were a couple of wrecks as well. The one with the biggest implications happened when Juan Montoya and Clint Bowyer made contact off turn four that knocked Bowyer's car into the outside wall and out of Chase contention (realistically). The other happened when Mark Martin hooked Regan Smith off turn two and spun Smith's No. 78 down the track and into the inside wall. While Martin never said he wrecked Smith on purpose, he did say that "...people aren't going to get away with running into me." David Ragan also blew an engine, ending his bid for a Chase berth as well (again, realistically).
The racing was fantastic all day long. The side by side, two and three wide racing proved to be well worth the wait for fans that expected a race two days prior. The final battle was between teammates Johnson and Gordon. Both were on worn tires and sliding all over the track. Gordon ran high and that forced Johnson to try and pass the No. 24 car on the low side, making his car much looser. Johnson would get close, but his car's lack of grip would allow Gordon to grab his 85th career win, snapping his tie with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip and giving his sole possession of third on the all-time wins list. I'm not a Jeff Gordon fan, but even I can appreciate an accomplishment like this. Congratulations to Jeff and his Hendrick Motorsports team. Great, great job!!
But it is now time to put Atlanta in the rear view and head to Richmond where the final Chase field will be set. Several teams will also run patriotic paint schemes to pay tribute to the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. It will be a night of remembrance and excitement. Drivers like AJ Allmendiger and Martin Truex, Jr will be fighting hard for a win to lock themselves into a wildcard spot while racers like David Reutimann are racing to win and prove that they belong in the Chase next season. With this "win and you're in" mentality going on this weekend, there will be no shortage of excitement on the track Saturday night at Richmond. They don't call it "The Action Track" for nothing.
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