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Six pack Gordon takes sixth win of season in Kansas debut
Updated: Sunday September 30, 2001 10:13 PM
By Stephen Thomas, CNNSI.com KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- It was, to borrow a phrase, the best of races, it was the worst of races. The Protection One 400, the inaugural race at Kansas Speedway, offered occasional bursts of furious racing, topped off by yet another stellar performance from winner Jeff Gordon. But the race also served up an absurd 13 cautions for 70 laps. Of course, since the first yellow flag flew before the field had so much as exited turn 1 it was fairly clear things might be a bit ragged. It all worked out in the end though, so far as Gordon is concerned. After the race had been stopped for 11 minutes to clean up the afternoon's final wreck, it finally -- and mercifully -- went green for the 14th and final time with just six laps remaining, and the points leader went on to capture his sixth win of the year. In those final few laps, Gordon was able to hold off rookie Ryan Newman, of all people, to win. In three of his four previous Winston Cup races this year, Newman has finished 31st or worse. Ricky Rudd, who led 19 laps, held off a frantic charge by Rusty Wallace to take third. Newman crashed in practice earlier in the week and wound up driving a spare car, which was the one in which he won the pole for an ARCA race here in June. He credited the car with the strong finish.
"My car refired better on colder tires than the other cars, but I never expected to get past Ricky like that be able to hang with Jeff at the end," said Newman. He is running a handful of races this season, and will run for Rookie of the Year in 2002. Gordon's lead on Rudd in race for the Winston Cup title is now 222 points. Tony Stewart, who finished eighth, remains in third, 450 points behind. Sterling Marlin moves in front of Dale Jarrett, who was injured in a crash on lap 247, into fourth. Jarrett, unconscious when rescue workers reached his car, was flown to nearby KU Med Center for observation. He was awake and alert and walked to the ambulance with help from safety workers after being removed from the car. Jarrett sustained a concussion and bruised the left side of his chest. He was released from the hospital Sunday night. After the win, Gordon gave credit to his team. "What an awesome day," Gordon said. "This team has come through a lot of adversity this last year-and-a-half. What a great day." Gordon's great day was made possible largely because Rusty Wallace was penalized for speeding as he left pit road on lap 231. "I hated to see it," Gordon said of the penalty that sent Wallace from first to 15th on the next restart. "But, I wasn't too surprised. Rusty's always pushing the limits on pit road. You'd think a guy that's been caught quite a few times would back it down. I hate it for Rusty, he had the car to beat." Wallace was diplomatic in his assessment of the infraction, calling it "frustrating." His crew chief, Robin Pemberton, was somewhat less so. "They can put a man on the moon," he said, "they should be able to come up with a way to time a car on asphalt."
Timing, of course, is everything, and when Dale Earnhardt Jr. crashed, bringing out the 10th caution of the day, Gordon and Wallace were able to duck into the pits and take on fuel and right side tires. Rudd and Jerry Nadeau, among others, took fuel only and were able to get out in front of Wallace and Gordon. "One time earlier in the race, we put on two tires and that was a good thing," said Robbie Loomis, Gordon's crew chief. "But really when it came down to the end, we were going to gas and go. Jeff came on the radio and said he wanted tires. So we put on right sides and Jeff was going to make sure it was the right call from there." In those final 20 laps, Gordon's primary concerns were avoiding trouble, holding off Newman and hoping Wallace didn't have enough track to catch him ... and ensuring that his crew chief wouldn't have cause to be angry. "I was driving the wheels of f that thing at the end there," Gordon said, "just so I wouldn't have to listen to him after the race."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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