October 8, 2007
By Ron Felix

Gordon Wins No. 80 * CIA Stock Photo

Jeff Gordon led only one lap on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, the one that counted, the last lap. The UAW-Ford 500 started out like a ballet but ended up like a heavyweight boxing match.

Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears and others hung back to the rear of the field to stay out of the "Big One" that they knew was surely coming. It was a strategy that was out of the normal for the ones holding back and Gordon said it was one of the hardest things that he's ever had to do. After the final caution and a restart with nine laps to go, Ryan Newman led his teammate Kurt Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya to the line. Johnson didn't take the lead until there was five laps to go, and Johnson had Jeff Gordon pushing him to the front. It looked like it was going to finish with Johnson in first and Gordon in second but on the last lap, Tony Stewart made a hard charge to the outside line and Gordon jumped up in front of Stewart.

“I really thought Jimmie was going to win the race. I really wasn’t getting the momentum that I felt I needed to make a pass," said Gordon. "I was sitting there with the 12 and the 2 cars on the outside just locking me down. I couldn’t have gone anywhere if I’d wanted to. Then they got three-wide and the momentum shifted. I got a push from the 22 (Blaney), and I just went with it. Then I heard my spotter say the 20 (Stewart) had a run outside, and it just happened when I made that move on Jimmie that he couldn’t block me. I got to the outside, and I looked in my mirror and there was the 20 pushing me. Sometimes that move works for you, and sometimes it doesn’t.”

Stewart probably didn't like it but he had no choice but to push Gordon past Johnson.

It is the fifth victory for Gordon in 2007 and his sixth win at Talladega. It is Gordon's 12th restrictor plate victory and the 80th career win for the four-time champion. Incredibly, Gordon is the all-time restrictor plate winner, surpassing even the late Dale Earnhardt.

Gordon leaves Talladega nine points in the lead in the Nextel Cup standings over Johnson. A few beer cans were thrown at Gordon's car but it was nothing compared to earlier in the year when bottles and cans rained down on this car after breaking Dale Earnhardt's career win total.

Johnson had his hands full protecting his short lived lead.

“I was doing all I could on the bottom to defend that bottom lane and not get caught in the middle or anything," Johnson said. "It would have been a problem too on that last lap trying to defend and block the No. 24 (Gordon). But there was more going on behind me than I could really see. Evidently the No. 20 (Stewart) had a big run. Jeff moved up in front of it and it was a strong enough run to push him by me and I couldn’t even side-draft him and slow him down.

"I’m happy with our performance," Johnson continued. "When you get that close to winning, it’s tough. But our big picture racing today was really smart. We paid close attention to where the action was on the track and kind of held out in the back and then went up there and race for the thing at the end and almost won it.”

The "Big One" came on lap 144 and involved thirteen cars including two cars in the Chase for the Championship, those of Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth. Busch's car was nearly destroyed and the Kenseth machine was heavily damaged but Kenseth was able to return to the track, many laps down. Denny Hamlin had minor damage and after a series of stops to repair the car, continued.

Johnson held on for second while Toyota driver Dave Blaney's Toyota finished third. It is the best finish for a Toyota in Nextel Cup Series competition (Brian Vickers was fifth at Charlotte).

“We had a good race. Our first goal was to get back in the top-35 in points, so I had to take care of the car all day," said Blaney. "I didn’t want to do anything to put it in harm’s way. I was way more cautious than I probably wanted to be. I just got with the right group of cars there at the end."

Denny Hamlin pulled his Chevrolet to the fourth spot and Ryan Newman was fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Casey Mears, Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Tony Raines and Reed Sorenson.

Jacques Villeneuve finished 21st in the No. 27 Unicef Camry in his first-career NNCS start. The concerns of the drivers that didn't want to see Villeneuve run his first race at Talladega were unfounded.

“I’m glad that I didn’t create any problems with the drivers," Villeneuve said. "The finger was being pointed before the race, and that was understandable. The goal today was to stay out of trouble and not make enemies so next time I come back everything will be a little bit easier. Also, I worked great with the crew and the spotter. Overall, it was a great experience.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 31 laps and it was looking like it could be Earnhardt's day, he was running strong. But on lap 136 his engine erupted in smoke making it the third DEI-Childress engine to blow up on the day. The other two belonged to Martin Truex Jr. and Jeff Burton.

"We had a good car and it's hard to be too upset when we ran so well and the guys worked so hard to give us the horsepower we need," Earnhardt said. "When you're pushing everything to the edge, sometimes that means you're not as reliable as you should be, but I'd much rather go out racing for the win than hang around at the back because we can't keep up. This sport is about taking those kinds of risks, and I think we were going to have a great shot to win the race.

"I feel worse for Martin (Truex Jr, teammate)," Earnhardt continued. "He's out there racing for a championship and it hurts them a lot to go out early. We were setting ourselves up to win that thing. We went to the front early on and we were just kind of hangin' out for a lot of laps. It's boring really to just ride around like that, but it's the first restrictor plate race for the CoT (Car of Tomorrow), so we'll see if it'll be better next time."

Earnhardt Jr. has led in 14 of his 16 career starts at Talladega for a total of 570 laps, or more than 1516 miles.

Juan Pablo Montoya finished 15th in today’s race at Talladega. He took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the 13th time this season and for the second time in the last three races.

“I got a little bit shuffled out and my teammates, they were coming behind and closed the door," said Montoya. "They didn’t help me. That wasn't very helpful. But we finished. What else can you ask for at a place like this?”

David Reutimann was the only Raybestos Rookie to lead a lap in today’s race, holding the top spot once for two laps.

The Nextel Cup Series moves to Lowe's Motor Speedway next Saturday night for the Bank of America 500. Next week's race is the 31st race of a 36 race schedule and the event is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.



For full race results...     (Insider Racing News)
For top-40 Nextel Cup drivers points...     (Insider Racing News)