Gordon vs. Gordon

Robby edges out Jeff for Dodge/Save Mart 350

Results Pos.  Driver  Make  1  Robby Gordon  Chevrolet  2  Jeff Gordon  Chevrolet  3  Kevin Harvick  Chevrolet  4  Bill Elliott  Dodge  5  Ryan Newman  Dodge  For complete results, click here.

SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- Robby Gordon earned his second Winston Cup victory, but earned some strong criticism for racing back to the yellow under caution on his way to the win on Sunday.

Gordon did nearly everything right in winning the Dodge/Save Mart 350.

He led 81 of the 110 laps on Infineon Raceway's 1.949-mile, 11-turn road course and outraced four-time series champion Jeff Gordon, no relation, over the last 25 laps to earn his first NASCAR win on a road course.

But while Robby celebrated, the runner-up criticized him for his pass of teammate Kevin Harvick under a yellow flag that NASCAR said was perfectly legal.

"Really, that's what won him the race," Jeff Gordon said. "You just don't do that. You don't pass a guy under caution. He did everything right today, except that. What he did can be done, but there's not going to be too many guys going to have too much respect for him."

A NASCAR spokesman said it was made clear in the pre-race drivers' meeting that racing back to the finish line under a waving yellow would be allowed.

"Do you think I really care what Jeff Gordon says?" Robby said. "He's won enough races. I guess he just doesn't like it when someone comes in and rains on his parade a little bit. Kevin Harvick may be mad at me, but it is what it is. I don't see what Jeff Gordon has to do with this."

Harvick, Robby Gordon's Richard Childress Racing teammate, wound up third. The teammates stayed on strategy and pitted under green on lap 66 and briefly fell well back into the field. Harvick beat Gordon back onto the track even though Gordon smoked his tires trying to get out ahead.

Harvick stayed in front of Gordon until rookie Christian Fittipaldi hit a tire barrier and brought out a yellow on lap 71. Gordon took advantage of the situation to pass Harvick as they raced back to the flagstand to take the caution.

"Jeff Gordon sat in the same drivers' meeting as I did and I asked the question three times during the meeting to have the rule clarified," Robby said. "If Jeff was so mad at me, why didn't he spin me out?"

Jeff Gordon said Robby broke a gentleman's agreement not to pass for position under yellow.

"On a waving caution in a corner you can pass if you happen to be making a move on a guy, but that's not what happened because he about did it the caution before that," Jeff Gordon said. "In that situation, we kind of maintain our position because you don't know what's on the track.

"Robby became an animal when that caution came out. That's just unheard of. It doesn't surprise me, but that just doesn't happen in our sport."

Harvick heard what Jeff Gordon said, but his only comment on the pass was, "It was good hard racing except for that chicken move under yellow."

Controversy aside, the victory Sunday was particularly satisfying for Robby Gordon, a former Indy-car star who has had two NASCAR road races slip through his fingers in the past.

Two years ago on this same course, Gordon dominated only to see Tony Stewart slip past when Gordon wasted time trying to keep Harvick a lap down.

Later that year at Watkins Glen -- the only other road course on the 36-race schedule -- Gordon was again the best car but lost an almost certain victory when the in-car camera battery exploded and started a fire.

"I don't think there was any luck here today," Gordon said. "We had a plan and we stuck to it all day. We stopped when we wanted to stop and the strategy just worked out perfect."

Jeff Gordon never led but pressured the leader after passing Rusty Wallace for second place on lap 86.

"We had the fastest car at the end," the runner-up said. "Robby wasn't very good, compared to us, but he was good in the right places, the places where you can pass," Gordon said. "This is a tough place to pass."

Jeff Gordon, who moved past Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take second place in the standings, didn't want to take a chance on wrecking.

"We've got a points battle on the line here," he said. "I thought, 'If I get a really clean shot, we'll take it.' I ran all over him hoping he'd make a mistake, but he didn't."

Bill Elliott was fourth, followed by Ryan Newman. Wallace slipped back to eighth.

During the early stages of the race, Ron Fellows and Boris Said, road racing specialists hired just for this race, appeared to be fast enough to challenge Robby Gordon and Harvick.

Fellows slipped past both Gordon and Harvick under breaking on the hairpin 11th turn on lap 57. Both he and Said, who started from the pole, lost their shot at the win when they got caught out by pit strategy and wound up having to pit at the wrong time. Neither was in contention again, but Said finished sixth and Fellows seventh.

Matt Kenseth finished 14th and his series lead was cut to 174 points over Jeff Gordon. Earnhardt, who came in 185 points back, finished 11th and slipped to third, two points behind Gordon.

Dodge/Save Mart 350 Results
Finish	Start	Driver	Make	Laps	Reason out	Winnings
1	2	Robby Gordon	Chevrolet	110		$204,512
2	8	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	110		$143,203
3	6	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	110		$119,128
4	12	Bill Elliott	Dodge	110		$119,748
5	13	Ryan Newman	Dodge	110		$101,140
6	1	Boris Said	Pontiac	110		$90,990
7	3	Ron Fellows	Chevrolet	110		$92,927
8	7	Rusty Wallace	Dodge	110		$99,482
9	14	Bobby Labonte	Chevrolet	110		$105,223
10	31	Jeremy Mayfield	Dodge	110		$80,335
11	11	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	110		$100,292
12	10	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	110		$110,988
13	20	Michael Waltrip	Chevrolet	110		$75,950
14	4	Matt Kenseth	Ford	110		$78,975
15	9	Ricky Rudd	Ford	110		$84,825
16	19	Ward Burton	Dodge	110		$93,406
17	37	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	110		$75,630
18	27	Sterling Marlin	Dodge	110		$99,775
19	17	Mark Martin	Ford	110		$93,208
20	26	Jamie McMurray	Dodge	110		$62,525
21	38	Ricky Craven	Pontiac	110		$80,050
22	24	Elliott Sadler	Ford	110		$93,125
23	22	Todd Bodine	Ford	110		$70,125
24	36	Johnny Miller	Pontiac	110		$66,939
25	23	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	110		$84,886
26	33	Casey Mears	Dodge	110		$66,300
27	35	Kyle Petty	Dodge	110		$66,160
28	5	Kurt Busch	Ford	110		$75,255
29	30	Kenny Wallace	Dodge	110		$58,035
30	25	Johnny Benson	Pontiac	109		$84,745
31	34	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	109		$54,925
32	15	Dave Blaney	Ford	109		$62,865
33	42	Ken Schrader	Dodge	109		$55,745
34	18	Scott Pruett	Dodge	109		$54,825
35	21	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	109		$54,805
36	39	Jimmy Spencer	Dodge	109		$54,785
37	32	Greg Biffle	Ford	106	out of gas	$54,765
38	16	Jeff Burton	Ford	102		$88,162
39	28	Jack Sprague	Pontiac	95		$54,720
40	41	Christian Fittipaldi	Dodge	86	transmission	$90,463
41	40	Steve Park	Chevrolet	85	accident	$62,650
42	29	Dale Jarrett	Ford	83	transmission	$100,403
43	43	Hideo Fukuyama	Ford	68	rear end	$54,829

Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 73.817 mph.
Time of Race: 2 hours, 57 minutes, 56 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 0.553.
Caution Flags: 6 for 16 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: B. Said (Pole Winner); R. Gordon 2-30; R. Fellows 31-35; R. Gordon 36-56; R. Fellows 57-72; J. Benson 73-79; R. Gordon 80-110.
Top 10 in Points: M. Kenseth - 2,396; J. Gordon - 2,222; D. Earnhardt Jr - 2,220; B. Labonte - 2,136; M. Waltrip - 2,024; K. Busch - 2,012; J. Johnson - 1,965; R. Wallace - 1,940; K. Harvick - 1,901; S. Marlin - 1,892.

 

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