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Jeff Gordon, the only 3-time winner, extends his Winston Cup lead to 160 points over Dale Jarrett with 15 races left.
By JOANNE KORTH
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2001
INDIANAPOLIS -- Jeff Gordon laid the foundation Sunday for a fourth Winston Cup championship.
With bricks.
Aided by two timely caution flags, Gordon turned a middle-of-the-pack car into his third Brickyard 400 victory before an estimated 250,000 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The past three Brickyard winners also won the Winston Cup championship, including Gordon in 1998. After extending his points lead to 160 over Dale Jarrett with 15 races left, Gordon hopes it's not coincidence.
"Nothing guarantees a championship at this point in the season," said Gordon, who claimed $428,452 of the $6.75-million purse. "But this definitely give us some momentum. If we can win today, that shows we can do about anything."
Gordon, who won the inaugural Brickyard in 1994, is the event's only three-time winner.
Sterling Marlin finished second in a Dodge and Johnny Benson third in a Pontiac. The Fords of Rusty Wallace and rookie Kurt Busch completed the top five.
Ricky Rudd, who was second in the points standings entering the race, spent several laps in the garage with mechanical trouble. He finished 39th, falling to third, 179 behind Gordon.
As a boy racing quarter-midgets in Indiana, Gordon dreamed of competing in the Indianapolis 500. Despite making the switch to stock cars, Gordon remains a favorite with local fans, whose cheers drown out the sound of his engine during the victory lap.
"We've got footage of me, 8 years old, doing a little interview and saying, 'I want to race in the Indy 500 some day,' " said Gordon, who turned 30 on Saturday. "To have all those people still here, cheering us on ... I got choked up."
Gordon, who started 27th, struggled for nearly 200 miles to make the No. 24 Chevrolet handle. After making several adjustments with little result, Gordon suggested to crew chief Robbie Loomis the problem might not be with his car, but the cars around it.
"I thought I had the slowest car out there at one point," Gordon said. "But when you get that far back you can't tell what the car is doing because there's so much dirty air. I said to Robbie, 'I think all we need to do is get up front.' "
And ... presto!
Gordon had made a pit stop ahead of most of the field on Lap 73 of 160 when, three laps later, the caution flag flew for debris on the track. While most cars pitted, Gordon stayed on the track and moved into the top 10 for the first time.
Even so, with 30 laps to go it appeared the race would come down to fuel mileage, with only Bobby Labonte, Marlin, Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton and Rusty Wallace able to finish without stopping.
Another caution for debris on Lap 131 gave Gordon his chance. He changed left-side tires only and came back on the track in second place.
Gordon took the lead on the restart with 24 laps left, bumping leader Marlin's No. 40 from behind, then diving low in front of the lapped car of Todd Bodine.
"I tried to ease off the accelerator a little bit and let him run up close and then take off, and I did," Marlin said. "He tried to hit me in the back end and the next thing I know, here he comes. For some reason, our car has a lot of trouble on restarts."
Gordon pulled away from a final restart -- after Jerry Nadeau smacked the wall in Lap 138 -- when Marlin missed third gear. Bodine's lapped car got between Gordon and Marlin in the low line, allowing Gordon to take a one-second lead.
Though Gordon appeared to drive dangerously close to the wall coming out of Indianapolis Motor Speedway's flat, narrow turns, no one got close enough to force him into a mistake.
The win was especially gratifying for Loomis, whose decision to take four tires on a late pit stop likely cost Gordon a victory after dominating the race at Pocono.
"Jeff was really aggravated with us and finally it started coming around a little bit and we got toward the front," Loomis said. "Jeff is better than a computer with telling you what the car needs."
Gordon attempted to celebrate with a "burn" over the inlay of bricks at the finish line, but didn't quite find the right combination of gas and brake pedals. His burn was a puff of smoke.
"That was sad wasn't it? I'm embarrassed," Gordon said. "But I got a little bit of rubber down on the bricks. I guess that's the first time anyone's ever done that."
Like his victory, it's something to build on.
TIME OF RACE: 3 hours, 3 minutes, 30 seconds.
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.943 seconds.
CAUTION PERIODS: 7 for 28 laps.
LEAD CHANGES: 18 among 12 drivers.
LAP LEADERS: Spencer 1-16, Elliott 17-22, Newman 23-25, Harvick 26-43, Marlin 44-62, Park 63, Busch 64, Earnhardt Jr. 65-70, B. Labonte 71-72, Burton 73-76, Stewart 77-79, Park 80-104, Earnhardt Jr. 105-108, J. Gordon 109-112, B. Labonte 113-116, Marlin 117-118, Park 119-131, Marlin 132-135, J. Gordon 136-160.
Global Crossing at the Glen, 1 p.m. Sunday at Watkins Glen. TV: Ch. 8.