Jeff Gordon Wins His 85th Race

Jeff Gordon has cemented himself into third place on the all time wins list in the Sprint Cup series by winning the Advocare 500 Tuesday in Atlanta. This win makes number 85 for Jeff Gordon, who was previously tied with Bobby Allison and Darrel Waltrip for third. There are only two drivers ahead of him but those two will be very difficult to pass. One up from Gordon is the “Silver Fox” David Pearson and the “King”, Richard Petty, will probably always hold the top spot with 200 wins. David Pearson has 105 wins but there are 20 wins separating him from Jeff Gordon. Gordon has been in Nascar’s top series since 1992 where he started the Hooters 500 in Atlanta. That is 19 years at the wheel of a stock car and Gordon is getting long in the tooth as they say when it comes to drivers getting near the end of their career. I’m not saying that Jeff Gordon is washed up by any means, but it is a cold hard fact that the wins slow down a bit in the late years in a driver’s career. 20 wins to take second place in the all time wins category are not going to happen here.

What I think can very well happen though is that Jeff Gordon is on his way to a fifth championship this year if he can keep up this momentum approaching the chase. I think he and the 24 team are the one’s to give ole “ Five Time” a run for their money this year. We have Richmond to go yet before the chase starts and I think that Gordon’s team will be on fire there. Jimmy Johnson and team 48 are tough in the closing races in the season, they sometimes look like they are fading back in the points then all of the sudden they climb right back up there. That happens in some races as well which was evident in this past race at Atlanta. The rain may have dampened some fans spirits but the drivers were out for blood Tuesday. Jeff Gordon was almost two seconds ahead of Jimmy Johnson as the race was nearing the end when Jimmy Johnson started to turn up the wick. It was amazing to listen to it as I was driving and hear that the Lowes Chevy was closing almost 2 tenths a second per lap. At the rate that Johnson was going he would catch Gordon before the checkered flag could fly.

            For about the last four laps Johnson worried Gordon in his mirror as the pair traded the high side for the low side and vise versa. PRN painted a pretty good picture of this epic battle as I listened on my Sirius satellite radio. I really thought that Jimmy was going to catch him. Gordon comes off with the win and his 85th Sprint Cup victory and another bonus point for the chase birth where he is locked in as of the Atlanta finish. The only two drivers that did not get locked in are Dale Earnhardt Junior and Tony Stewart, Earnhardt is 20 points ahead of Brad keselowski and can fall out if he has a bad day at Richmond. The same goes for Tony Stewart except that he is a bit closer to Brad in the points and needs to stay up front next Saturday night. Keselowski and Hamlin are lurking down there in the two wild card spots with brad having three wins and Hamlin one. Keselowski is locked in because no one else has three wins to get the wild card spot out from under him but Hamlin could have a bad day at Richmond and fall out of that second wild card spot letting A.J. Allmendinger into the chase if Allmendinger can pull past Hamlin in the points or get the win and Hamlin gets a DNF. It gets really difficult to figure out from here on down but there are wild scenario’s where drivers can get into the chase but it would take a whole bunch of guys getting wrecked out really early and then the drivers in the scenario would have to lead every lap and win the race.

I’ll go out on a limb since Denny Hamlin is tough at Richmond and say that the top twelve you see now will be the twelve drivers in the chase. Here is the way they crossed the line Tuesday and as usual head over to Nascar.com for the full field rundown.

Jeff GordonJimmy JohnsonTony StewartKurt BuschCarl EdwardsBrad KeselowskiKevin HarvickDenny HamlinMatt KensethA.J. Allmendinger

Dale Junior finished in the 19th spot and held on to 9th in the points.

So here the top 12 in points after Atlanta, and the twelve chase drivers in my opinion. You never know though, pigs could fly in Virginia this weekend.

Jimmy JohnsonKyle BuschCarl EdwardsMatt KensethJeff GordonKevin HarvickKurt BuschRyan NewmanDale Earnhardt JuniorTony StewartBrad KeselowskiDenny Hamlin

I really think that this is how they are going to end up going into the chase, maybe not in that order as Dale and Tony could swap spots but I think junior will have a good race at Richmond and could even be up front challenging for the win at races end.

I am trying to get some work done behind the wheel of this truck as it is a short week due tot the holiday on Monday. I’ve got to ride.

Stay safe out there

TW

If you liked that post, then try these...

View the original article here