Gordon wins at Dover for the first time since 2001
Jeff Gordon has earned his fourth win of the 2014 season.
Jeff Gordon got his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet past the No. 2 Team Penske Ford of Brad Keselowski on lap 305 of the AAA 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway on Sunday and drove away. In doing so, he won for thw 92nd time in his career.
"Alan Gustafson (crew chief), this whole. No. 24 Drive to End Hunger team worked so hard all weekend," Gordon said. "They gave me a great car today. We weren't the best on short runs."
Keselowski and Johnson come up short
Keselowski finished second, and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson was third.
"I think I've won here nine times, but I've raced here a heck of a lot more than that," Johnson said.
Harvick encounters tire issue
Kevin Harvick dominated the first half of the race until he suffered a another valve stem issue caused him to cut down the left front tire. Up to that point, he had led 223 laps. After bringing out the final caution of the race, Harvick restarted the race 21st, still on the lead lap. He wound up 13th at the finish.
"Hated that Kevin had his trouble," Gordon said. "Don't know that we could've beat him."
Race rundown
Keselowski took the lead from Harvick for the first lead change of the race on lap 148, but Harvick got off pit road first to reassume the top spot during a lap 171 caution for debris.
Keselowski was back up front when Harvick suffered his tire problem, but he was forced to do battle with Gordon for the win. After Gordon took the lead, he followed closely behind for the remainder of the event.
"We had a really good short run car," Keselowski said. "Just needed a little more on the long run."
Keselowski began to reel in Gordon somewhat after the cycle completed, but in the final 10 laps, Gordon, again, pulled away.
Rest of the top ten
The No. 22 Team Penske Ford of Joey Logano finished fourth, and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Matt Kenseth was fifth. Finishing sixth through 10th were the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet of Kyle Larson, the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet of Martin Truex Jr., the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Ryan Newman, the No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota of Clint Bowyer and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch.
Eliminated from Chase
Four drivers were eliminated from championship contention: A.J. Allmendinger, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola. Kasey Kahne was the final driver to advance, doing so by just two points.
"We didn't give up. That was an awful day," Allmendinger said. "We kept throwing the kitchen sink at it every stop. It's disappointing to miss it by two points, but we didn't deserve to be in it the way we ran."
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Gone but not forgotten
About this article
| Series | NASCAR Cup |
| Event | Dover II |
| Sub-event | Sunday race |
| Location | Dover International Speedway |
| Drivers | Clint Bowyer , Kasey Kahne , Kevin Harvick , A.J. Allmendinger , Brad Keselowski , Kurt Busch , Michael Waltrip , Jimmie Johnson , Martin Truex Jr. , Joey Logano , Jeff Gordon , Kyle Larson , Matt Kenseth , Kyle Busch , Aric Almirola , Ryan Newman , Greg Biffle , Chip Ganassi |
| Teams | Team Penske , Chip Ganassi Racing , Richard Childress Racing , Furniture Row Racing , Hendrick Motorsports , Michael Waltrip Racing , Joe Gibbs Racing |
| Author | Amanda Vincent |
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