Jeff Gordon Makes A Statement With Win At Dover's 45th Annual AAA 400

Jeff Gordon celebrates at Dover International Speedway's Victory Lane after taking the 45th Annual AAA 400. PatSportsPhoto - Dean Patton Photo.

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Dover, DE. – RIS – Jeff Gordon makes a statement at Dover….. that statement is - The fun is about to begin! Yes, even though Kevin Harvick looked like the commander and chief, parts give out. When the left front tire finally gave, it cost Harvick, dearly. Then Brad Keselowski was at the controls, but Jeff Gordon was just getting started. Gordon in his #24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet was never too far back that he could not reach out and reel them all in. It just appeared that he was playing with the entire field, well, all except, Harvick. Kevin Harvick in the Budweiser Chevrolet lead more than half the race, to be exact 223.

This win makes it number 92 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Jeff Gordon, but he claims he will not think about win number 100 until he gets to 99. He is not even thinking past this year and the chase. He really wants to get to Homestead and still be in the chase. He believes the Chase is interesting and he likes the way it is all shaking out. He will take it one race at a time and keep in mind that each section of this chase is three races per segment, and the goal is to still be there in the end.

There are 10 Battles, 16 Nations and only one will prevail… Well as of today there are only 12 Nations remaining and only 7 Battles yet to be fought. Call it whatever you want, there are some interesting twists and turns still remaining to to unfold over the remaining 7 events for NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series Championship. All 12 are once again sitting at the starting line waiting for the next Green Flag to wave, because the remaining are all knotted up at 3000 points each. Who’s remaining you ask, well, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, and Kasey Kahne.

Okay, let’s get back to the 45th Annual AAA 400, like I wrote, Jeff Gordon made his point that no one should ever could him out. Brad Keselowski was able to keep Jimmie Johnson in his #48 Lowe’s/Kobolt Tools Chevrolet behind him to finish second after leading 78 of the 400 laps. Joey Logano chauffeured the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford to a 4th place finish after taking the Checkered Flag in the Nationwide Race yesterday. Matt Kenseth finished 5th in the #20 Home Depot Husky Toyota.

Sixth place finisher was the highest finishing rookie in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Kyle Larson driving the #42 Target Chevrolet. 7th was #78 Martin Truex, Jr. in the Furniture Row Chevrolet. 8th place went to Ryan Newman in the #31 Quicken Loans Design a Scheme Chevrolet.  Bringing home a 9th place finish was Clint Bowyer driving the #15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, and rounding out the top ten was Kyle Busch in the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota. The race results are un-official until NASCAR gets to finalize the scoring, and post-race inspections.

Brad Keselowski got to speak to the media before any other driver and gave his thoughts on the day. Brad gave some real thought into his answers. “We’ve had a really good start.  I guess we can’t really complain that much having won a race, a second and a seventh, but it’s hard to look at that.  All I could think about is how I wanted to win all three races and now it’s time to move forward.  Three more races, a new start and what we were able to do in these last three, other than getting us to this next round, really, means nothing.  We’ve got to keep our head on straight and push forward these next three like we have these last three.”

Brad was asked the next three races and the tracks they will be presented at, KANSAS, CHARLOTTE AND TALLADEGA?  “In some ways all the brackets are survival brackets, but that particular bracket is probably more so than the others.  Surviving Talladega is its own horror film title, but it’s also a reality.  That place is gonna be a crazy place to finish that bracket out and certainly there are gonna be a lot of guys on the bubble and it’s probably all gonna change on the last lap and the last corner.  But looking at Charlotte and Kansas you can control your destiny more so at Charlotte than any other race track, which is good.  We’re putting an emphasis on that race, but then I look at Kansas and say that since that track has been repaved it seems to be very, very sensitive to aerodynamics and getting in a pack and spinning out with a really hard tire, so anything could happen there.  It’s almost like a mini-Talladega in that sense, but all in all it’s gonna be a real challenge.  If you can survive all three of these brackets and go to Homestead and win this thing you’ve certainly earned it.”

I just wanted to say that the final seven will be exciting and if you get there I will see you at the track.