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Retooled team puts Gordon back on top

By KEVIN KELLY

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 12, 2001

Through the departure of crew chief Ray Evernham and a pit crew overhaul in 1999, Jeff Gordon unintentionally forgot about performance and focused instead on trying to reconstruct a winner.

"You never stop trying," he said.

Fourteen races into Gordon's ninth season, the three-time Winston Cup champion and his retooled team won their third event of the season Sunday at Michigan Speedway. It pushed Gordon back atop the Winston Cup standings.

The 29-year-old trailed Dale Jarrett by 145 points five races ago, but with two straight wins and four top-two finishes in his past five races, Gordon leads Jarrett by 26 points.

"I've seen this team get stronger and stronger," Gordon said. "We just have to be sure we don't beat ourselves."

TEAM PLAYERS: Gordon gave team owner Rick Hendrick his 100th victory Sunday, but he is one of eight drivers who contributed to the figure.

Three-time Winston Cup champion Terry Labonte has 11 victories for Hendrick. Teammate Jerry Nadeau has one. Tim Richmond (nine), Darrell Waltrip (nine), Geoffrey Bodine (seven), Ricky Rudd (four) and Ken Schrader (four) also won while driving for Hendrick.

FRIGHTENING REMINDER: The potentially season-ending injuries Davey Hamilton sustained in a crash during the Casino Magic 500 on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway proved particularly disturbing to his team owner.

Sam Schmidt was paralyzed from the neck down in a crash in January 2000 in Orlando. He also suffered serious injuries to his legs and feet in that accident and another at Texas the year before.

"Davey's injuries are much worse than mine were then," Schmidt told the Dallas Morning News. "It is pretty devastating. I can't say I've ever seen something like this."

Hamilton, the only driver to start all 48 events in the IRL's six years, crashed into Jeret Schroeder on Lap 73. He had surgery Sunday to assess injuries to both legs and flew to Indianapolis later in the day.

ALMOST, AGAIN: A wreck involving Robert Pressley and John Andretti in the closing laps of the Kmart 400 might have prevented Sterling Marlin from making history. Marlin was leading when the caution came out. The driver of the No. 40 Dodge finished third after losing the lead to Gordon on the restart on Lap 193 of 200. He thought he would have given Dodge its first victory of its first Winston Cup season since 1985 if the green flag had stayed out.

The manufacturer placed three cars in the top 10 -- Dave Blaney finished third and Bill Elliott ninth -- for the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500.

RESULTS CHANGED: The finishing positions of Felipe Giaffone and Billy Boat at the Casino Magic 500 improved Monday when official results were released.

Giaffone and Boat filed protests. Both said they had been passed during the final four laps of caution that ended the race.

IRL officials reviewed timing data and video, and determined that Sam Hornish Jr. improperly passed Giaffone under yellow conditions and that Donnie Beechler did the same to Boat.

The IRL reversed the finishing order. That didn't affect Scott Sharp's victory. The final order was Sharp, Giaffone, Hornish, Buddy Lazier, Boat and Beechler.

ROUGH TACTICS: Another concern stemming from the IRL race was overly aggressive driving late. Robby McGehee fractured his left leg and had a concussion after a late crash that also involved Eddie Cheever Jr. and Greg Ray.

Cheever, Ray and Sharp were dicing for the lead when the crash happened five laps from the end. Afterward, Cheever said Sharp and Ray were too aggressive and repeatedly crowded each other during the late stages on the fast 11/2-mile quadoval.

Brian Barnhart, IRL vice president of operations, told the Indianapolis Star, "I didn't like the moves that were made in the last 10 laps. They were unacceptable. ... That is not the level of driving we want, and it does not meet the code of ethics that goes with high-speed oval-track racing."

IRL spokesman Ron Green said Barnhart plans to study videotapes, particularly in-car camera footage, and hand out penalties if he believes they are warranted.

ODDS AND ENDS: In an effort to cut costs for Winston Cup teams, NASCAR is checking the possibility of requiring teams to use one engine for qualifying and racing. ... Hut Stricklin's sixth place at Michigan marked his best finish since a second in the 1996 Southern 500 at Darlington.

- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

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