Gordon writes history in Long Pond

Photo By Tammy Benscoter

By Tammyrae Benscoter

Jeff Gordon returned to victory lane at Pocono International Raceway in Sunday’s 30th annual 5-Hour Energy 500. Gordon’s 84th career win elevates his place in the record books. He is now tied with legends Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison on the all-time win list.

“Today to see it all come together, to have a fast racecar, great pit stops, calling the race right, good restarts, those types of things, I was so caught up in that, I was so excited, plus I have my family here to celebrate it with, I didn't even think about 84 till they reminded me, Gordon said. “When I went to do the SPEED Channel Victory Lane Show, I was like, Oh, yeah, man, that's unbelievable. I really can't even express in words what it means to tie Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison at 84 wins because I just never thought it would ever happen for me, or really when I got in this sport for anybody to win that many races is amazing.

 Photo By Gary Buchanan

Jeff Gordon returned to victory lane at Pocono International Raceway in Sunday’s 30th annual 5-Hour Energy 500. Gordon’s 84th career win elevates his place in the record books. He is now tied with legends Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison on the all-time win list.

“Today to see it all come together, to have a fast racecar, great pit stops, calling the race right, good restarts, those types of things, I was so caught up in that, I was so excited, plus I have my family here to celebrate it with, I didn't even think about 84 till they reminded me, Gordon said. “When I went to do the SPEED Channel Victory Lane Show, I was like, Oh, yeah, man, that's unbelievable. I really can't even express in words what it means to tie Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison at 84 wins because I just never thought it would ever happen for me, or really when I got in this sport for anybody to win that many races is amazing.

Gordon, a four-time champion in his own right, has started 631 NASCAR sanctioned point races. This is his fifth win at the Pennsylvania speedway. With Sunday’s win Gordon tied Bill Elliott with the most wins at this facility.  “It's really a great accomplishment for our team,” said Alan Gustafson Crew Chief on the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet. “Winning at Pocono, it's a really tough track. To win, there's a lot of difficult challenges you have to face.”

Adding to this weekend’s challenges was a new inverted qualifying procedure and the re-introduction of shifting process. As a veteran with prior experience and an advocate for shifting out of the turns, Gordon took the lead from Juan Pablo Montoya late in the race.

“I'll be honest. This is a tough place to win at. I do think the shifting made survival a little bit more important today, in today's race, than what we've seen in the past because you're just shifting more, so you throw that extra element in there. It can put you in position to make more mistakes,” Gordon said. “I think from the shifting standpoint, this again goes back to me almost being 40, I was pretty conservative when it came to shifting. The first hundred laps of this race, I guarantee you I shifted less than any other car out there. It wasn't because I was trying to save the equipment. It's just that it was easier to drive.”

The win also puts Hendrick Motorsports in line to reach 200 wins this season. Gordon’s win at the Tricky Triangle is number 197.

Gordon, a four-time champion in his own right, has started 631 NASCAR sanctioned point races. This is his fifth win at the Pennsylvania speedway. With Sunday’s win Gordon tied Bill Elliott with the most wins at this facility. “It's really a great accomplishment for our team,” said Alan Gustafson Crew Chief on the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet. “Winning at Pocono, it's a really tough track. To win, there's a lot of difficult challenges you have to face.”

Adding to this weekend’s challenges was a new inverted qualifying procedure and the re-introduction of shifting process. As a veteran with prior experience and an advocate for shifting out of the turns, Gordon took the lead from Juan Pablo Montoya late in the race.

“I'll be honest. This is a tough place to win at. I do think the shifting made survival a little bit more important today, in today's race, than what we've seen in the past because you're just shifting more, so you throw that extra element in there. It can put you in position to make more mistakes,” Gordon said. “I think from the shifting standpoint, this again goes back to me almost being 40, I was pretty conservative when it came to shifting. The first hundred laps of this race, I guarantee you I shifted less than any other car out there. It wasn't because I was trying to save the equipment. It's just that it was easier to drive.”

The win also puts Hendrick Motorsports in line to reach 200 wins this season. Gordon’s win at the Tricky Triangle is number 197.

Childress V. Busch- Why Blame Anyone?

By Nathan Butler

It is very easy in today’s racing world to immediately accuse one of the most depicted drivers in NASCAR history, but why should you? Twenty-Four hours after the big fiasco with Richard Childress and NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, and we are still debating who is at fault.

Most fans of this sport have their opinions of Kyle, and I would be willing to say most can’t stand him. I can’t really answer why unless it has something to do with his attitude, his consistency, or his no fear attitude. It is really obvious during pre-race introductions, when the boo’s for Kyle are much more amped than the cheers, never thought it would be so evident until I heard it for the first time. Majority of NASCAR fans can’t stand him, but this isn’t a reason to blame him for yesterday’s incident with Richard.

If you blame Richard for his actions yesterday, be careful as well. As in most cases, one can come up with an excuse for everything, and I can come up with one for Richard. RCR has had plenty of “not so nice” experiences with Kyle, dating back to last year with Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch went at it after a race. Richard’s patience with Kyle has been growing slim for quite some time. Think about it this way, Richard’s glass was sitting only half full, but when Kyle continues to have his tantrums at the expense of RCR, eventually that glass that sat half full will eventually begin to overflow. Several weeks ago in Darlington, Kyle and Kevin Harvick had one of “those moments” on pit road after the race. When Kevin got out of his car to confront Kyle, Kyle pushed Kevin’s car into the pit wall causing damage to the 29 machine that may not have had a scratch on beforehand. Richard told Kyle not to touch any of his cars again, which leads us to yesterday’s truck series battle.

Apparently, Kyle Busch did not like the tight racing from RCR NCWTS driver Joey Coulter was using during the final laps of the race. Kyle wasn’t afraid to let Joey know on the cool down lap by putting a donut on the side of his door. This was the final straw for Richard.

According to reports, as Kyle was walking to his hauler after the race, Richard took off his jewelry and proceeded to put Kyle in a headlock, and continued to punch Kyle several times, dropping him to the ground.

Richard was the one who will be held responsible for his actions, but there are two sides to every story. Should we have an opinion on the matter, or focus on one side over another? That seems to remain the question as we await Richard’s final punishment.