Notebook

Gordon overcomes fuel issues for top-5 finish

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Jeff Gordon had a difficult decision to make.

He could stay on the track and risk running out of gas, or make an illegal pit stop, lose his lead and accept a mandatory penalty.

Gordon really had no choice.

"That was unfortunate, because we didn't have any fuel in reserve," Gordon said after his fourth-place finish in the Brickyard 400 on Sunday. "We were just getting ready to come in and couldn't afford to stay out there anymore. We would have run out of gas. So we had to take the penalty, and that put us way back there."

Gordon, trying for his fourth Brickyard victory, started 19th but moved up steadily and took the lead on the 36th lap when he delayed his first pit stop while the other frontrunners came in for fuel.

The strategy might have paid off, but when Dale Jarrett spun and crashed at the entrance of pit road on lap 37, Gordon was unable to come in. Two laps later, with the pits still closed, Gordon came in anyway rather than risk an empty tank that would have put him even farther behind.

"We fought hard to get up there," Gordon said. "Then it was sort of one of those things where you think, `Maybe it's not going to be our day."'

The penalty for the illegal pit stop sent Gordon to the rear of the lead pack. He was never seriously in contention after that and finished 5.861 seconds behind winner Kevin Harvick.

"We struggled so much," Gordon said. "The guys changed everything on that car and came back with basically a new race car today. ... It was a great performance by the team; we just never gave up, never stopped trying to get the car up front and get it better."

Gordon led three laps before his pit stop and penalty, increasing his Brickyard record to 309 leading laps. He has led the field in eight of the 10 Brickyard races.

Gordon also extended his Winston Cup record to 350 straight starts since the first race of his career.

He wouldn't comment on Harvick's performance.

"I never saw him," Gordon said. "I never got up close to see how good he was, but it looked like he was pretty strong from here."

No fueling

Fuel problems also hurt Bill Elliott, the defending Brickyard champion, and Ryan Newman, who has won a series-high four races this season and led 11 laps Sunday.

"We had great pit stops with the exception of that one fuel deal," said Newman, who ran out of gas as he entered the pits just after the halfway point. "We no doubt had a top-five car. If we had been out front at the end we could have won."

Newman, who started second, finished 11th.

Elliott, who started third, led eight laps and wound up fifth.

"In the middle of the race, we were terrible," Elliott said. "We ran out of gas, and I wasn't very good either."

Early exit

John Andretti, the first driver out of the Brickyard, started having trouble long before his crash on the 47th lap.

Three hours before the race started, his crew had to replace the engine of his Chevrolet when they found metal shavings in the oil pan. He had qualified 11th, but under NASCAR rules had to start at the rear of the 43-car field because of the engine change.

Andretti climbed steadily to 15th before he was bumped from the rear by rookie Tony Raines and spun into the wall in the first turn.

Other drivers sent to the back at the start were Jason Leffler, also because of an engine change, and rookie Larry Foyt, who used a backup car after crashing during qualifications Saturday.

Leffler finished 33rd, one spot behind Foyt, son of team owner and four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt.

Wind tunnel time

NASCAR took eight cars after the race and will test them this week at the Marietta, Ga., wind tunnel for possible reductions in the spoilers for next season.

Two cars from each of the four manufacturers were lined up in the NASCAR inspection bay after the race for the Tuesday test.

Participating will be the Chevrolets of Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, the Fords of Elliott Sadler and Matt Kenseth, Dodges from Jamie McMurray and Rusty Wallace and Pontiacs of Ricky Craven and Johnny Benson.

"The focus of this test is for the '04 season and has nothing to do with the competition in '03," Winston Cup director John Darby said. "We're going to get a snapshot of where everyone is today and also conduct preliminary testing in spoiler reduction."

Pit stops

NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. compared winning the Brickyard 400 for the first time to a wedding. "The greatest day of your marriage is the day you get married," he said before the race. ... The traditional command "Gentlemen, start your engines!" was given by Mari Hulman George, Speedway chairman and mother of president Tony George. ... Ricky Rudd, who finished 38th after a late crash, and Rusty Wallace, who was 10th, stretched the longest active streaks to 701 and 610 consecutive starts, respectively. Ken Schrader failed to qualify for a race for the first time since 1984, ending a streak of 579 starts. ... The best finisher among the five rookie starters was Jamie McMurray, who led 22 laps and finished third; the top rookie qualifier, Greg Biffle, started 18th and finished 21st. ... Kevin Harvick's winning average of 134.548 mph was fifth-fastest in the 10 Brickyard races; the record is 155.912 set three years ago by Bobby Labonte. ... Harvick's best previous finish at Indianapolis was fifth last year. ... Car owner Ray Evernham received the Brickyard's annual "True Grit" award and a check for $10,000 before the race. ... Tony Stewart led 60 laps and won a $10,000 bonus for leading at the halfway point; he won another $5,000 for turning the fastest lap during the race, 174.561 mph on lap 53. ... The biggest improvement in the race was by Johnny Benson, who began 40th as one of seven provisional starters and finished 13th.

 

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