BNS: Adirondack: Tracy Gordon race summary

Tracy Gordon recovers from late race spin to take twelfth at Adirondack.

Tracy Gordon, of Strong, Maine, driver of the Tic Tac Chevrolet on the NASCAR Busch North Series, finished twelfth Saturday night at the new Adirondack International Speedway in Beaver Falls, New York. Gordon's run from his scheduled pit stop to the front of the field was interrupted by a spin with just twenty-six laps to run.

Gordon's, and Busch North's, first visit to the half-mile track left the Gordon Racing team scrambling during the two-hour practice session to learn the track and get the car handling to his liking. Gordon's initial assessment of the track was lukewarm.

"I think the only person who's going to say this is his favorite track is the winner of the race," he said. "It's different. It's nothing like anything I've raced on before. It's not going to be one of my favorite tracks, even if I win. I wish they would have put more banking in the thing. The one mile track [currently under construction around the half-mile track] is going to be a nice track."

In time trials, Gordon qualified tenth after turning a lap of 17.044 seconds, averaging 105.609 MPH.

"We tried a lot of different stuff in practice. I don't think we're the fastest car here, but hopefully we'll be consistent and get the car where it was comfortable on old tires, hopefully we'll come out with a top three finish and move on to the next one," he said.

Gordon rode for the first portion of the race, then started making his move to the front. He ran as high as fifth just before the halfway point, and was sixth when caution came out 71. Electing to stay on the track while others pitted, Gordon moved up to third on the lap 76 restart and held that position as the race proceeded. He fell to sixth but picked up two more positions under a lap 88 yellow when more leaders pitted.

Gordon didn't make his pit stop until under a lap 99 yellow. He came to pit road where the Gordon Racing crew put on fresh right-side tires and sent him back on the track. He was the only car to pit and restarted at the tail of the field, in nineteenth. He tried making progress against heavy traffic but wound up spinning with another car on lap 124. No damage was done to the car and Gordon quickly had the car restarted and under way before the leaders came around, so he stayed on the lead lap but was still deep in the field. On the following restart, the last of the race, Gordon was sixteenth and could only make up four more positions through the final laps.

"We had a top three car," he said afterwards, "but coming back from my pit stop I got spun and that put me back a ways. I'm quite disappointed right now. The spin cost me a chance at the top five. We wanted to pit when the 44 car [eventual race winner Andy Santerre] pitted on lap 90, but we didn't see him drop down and it was too late for me to commit by that point. I came in on the next yellow and that put me in the back, and I got spun by one of those guys. I wasn't very happy."

Gordon will now look forward to going to a pair of his favorite tracks, including Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in his native Maine, and Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Vermont.

"We try to keep our heads up and not get down," he said. "We'll bounce back next week. I like Beech Ridge, and Thunder Road is my favorite track, and we don't have to make any pit decisions at Thunder Road."

-tgr-