Chase Capsules: Jeff Gordon - MotorSportsTalk

24 – Jeff Gordon
Team: Hendrick Motorsports
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championships: 4 (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001)
Chase History: 10th Chase Appearance, Best finish of 2nd in 2007

Regular Season Recap: After re-igniting his hopes of a fifth Sprint Cup championship during last year’s Chase, Jeff Gordon has been largely superb in 2014. There have been some scattered hiccups – he was collected in a crash at Talladega, ran out of fuel in G-W-C at New Hampshire, and had a power failure at Watkins Glen. But Gordon earned wins in the very next race after all of those (Kansas, Indianapolis, Michigan in August). He’s either been first or second in the overall Sprint Cup standings since April. In short, he and the 24 camp have been a model of consistency.

Chris’ Take: Nothing’s ever certain in racing, but unless he comes horribly undone, Gordon should be involved in the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. He’s been a front-runner all year, and he’s shown that he can rattle off wins – which, in this new Chase, automatically advances drivers to the next round.

A scenario that I can see happening is that Gordon cranks out enough Top-5s and Top-10s to make the Eliminator Round, and then bags a ninth Sprint Cup win at Martinsville to put himself into the winner-take-all finale in South Florida.

I’ve also been pondering this scenario: What if Gordon does win his fifth Sprint Cup title in Homestead, and then decides to take stock of his career (and his recurring back issues)? Could he possibly decide ‘Enough’s enough’ and go out on this storybook ending?

Jerry’s Take: Given the season he’s had to date, there’s little doubt in my mind that Jeff Gordon makes the four-driver, winner-take-all race in the season finale at Homestead.

I can easily see it come down to Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick as the final four. One thing that Johnson has failed to do in all six of his championships is to win the season finale at Homestead.

A win there is likely what it’s going to take in 2014, and my pick is Gordon to win it all.

Tony’s Take: At least he won’t be the “lucky 13th” added in this year, as he was a year ago. Gordon’s had a bit of a new lease on life in 2014 with his multiple wins and outright consistency earning him one of the top seeds. This may well be his last best chance to take home the title, that elusive fifth, and he’d no doubt be a popular champion.

Jeff Gordon’s Career Statistics at Chase Tracks
Chicagoland (1.5 mile) – One win, 6 Top-5s, 8 Top-10s in 13 starts
New Hampshire (1 mile) – Three wins, 16 Top-5s, 22 Top-10s in 39 starts
Dover (1 mile) – Four wins, 17 Top-5s, 24 Top-10s in 43 starts
Kansas (1.5 mile) – Three wins, 10 Top-5s, 12 Top-10s in 17 starts
Charlotte (1.5 mile) – Five wins, 16 Top-5s, 23 Top-10s in 43 starts
Talladega (2.66 mile) – Six wins, 15 Top-5s, 19 Top-10s in 43 starts
Martinsville (half-mile) – Eight wins, 27 Top-5s, 34 Top-10s in 43 starts
Texas (1.5-mile) – One win, 9 Top-5s, 12 Top-10s in 27 starts
Phoenix (1 mile) – Two wins, 11 Top-5s, 21 Top-10s in 31 starts
Homestead-Miami (1.5 mile) – One win, 7 Top-5s, 11 Top-10s in 15 starts

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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