Jeff Gordon can now list his names withA.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, and Al Unser Sr.; Gordon has won his fourthrace at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While A.J. Foyt, RickMears and Al Unser Sr. earned their four wins in Indy Cars, Gordonbecame the first to earn the honor in stock cars.
"I can't compare four times in a stockcar to my heroes like Rick Mears and A.J. Foyt and those guys didhere," Gordon said. "It's just a very special day for my entireteam. What an amazing year these guys are having."
Gordon had a dominating performance,leading 124 laps and holding off Matt Kenseth, Dale Jarrett andElliott Sadler in the closing laps despite hitting some debris.
"What an amazing week this has been,"Gordon said. "That Yard of Bricks is so special. It feels soincredible. This guy, Robbie Loomis, what an amazing job. What agreat effort. I'm so excited."
The race started off with a lead change,usually a rare site at Indianapolis, with Sadler passing polesetter Casey Mears. Sadler led for 24 laps before Gordon passed himon lap 27 on a restart following a spin by Tony Stewart.
"I just got under the rumple strips andgot loose," Stewart said. "I was trying to keep the left frontfender down under Jimmie (Johnson) to keep the thing in clean air.These things are so air dependent. We just got down there too muchand got the left rear up on top of it enough that it made it loosetraction and spun around.''
Sadler would take the lead off the pitlane following debris being found on the backstretch on lap 71.Nearly immediately after the green flag flew, Greg Biffle madecontact with Rusty Wallace that triggered an eight-car wreck thattook Scott Riggs, Ward Burton, and Terry Labonte out of therace.
"We just can't seem to make it to thecheckered flag," Riggs said. "It was just (Rusty Wallace). He gotturned around and somebody got turned into him and he got turned upinto the wall. I checked up a little bit and the No. 22 car got mefrom behind and spun around to the inside wall and then back intothe track and then here come some more cars that creamed into us.It's the kind of luck we've been having here lately."
Points leader Jimmie Johnson's engineexpired on lap 88, ending his day and tightening the points race.Johnson's 232 point lead dissolved to 97 points as the final threeraces of the 'regular season' before the new ten-race shootoutchampionship begins.
One lap 142 Gordon and Kenseth hit apiece of debris which dented the left front of Gordon's car andcaused Kenseth to head down pit lane. While Kenseth stayed on thelead lap, he was only able to recover for a 16th place finish.
"I feel good that we ran good, but I'mreal frustrated we didn't get to finish," Kenseth said. "It'sdisappointing, but we've had a couple years of good luck, andthat's just something that happens; that's bad luck."
Despite the aerodynamic damage toGordon's Car, Gordon continued to hold off Jarrett and Sadler asthe laps wined down. Jarrett and Sadler had a number of chances,including the Nextel Cup series first green/white/checkeredfinish.
"It seemed to go okay today," Jarrettsaid. "It didn"t affect the outcome of the race. I don't know whathappened in the back, if they had an accident or what. I don't knowexactly what the caution was for as we were coming to theline."
The final caution on lap 155 was the13th on the day, a track record.
"There were a lot of people having cuttires," Jeremy Mayfield, who finished ninth, said. "Let's put itthat way. I guess they was just running over stuff and cuttingtires down."
The green white checked ended undercaution after two separate incidents took out tires on DaleEarnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin.
"It's a hell of a heartbreak to have atire cut down on the last lap," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We had a realgood run going, sitting there in sixth place and trying to make itto the end and leave here with a top ten."
Gordon led Jarrett, Sadler, rookie KaseyKahne and Stewart to the finish, with Biffle, Jamie McMurray, KevinHarvick, Bill Elliott and Kurt Busch rounding out the top ten.
Gordon, Kahne and Stewart raced in theIndiana-based USAC series and Stewart and Gordon list their homestate as Indiana. Kahne hasn"t ruled out a trip to the Indy500.
"I definitely, you know, would love torace here twice a year instead of once," he said.
For Gordon, the fourth victory in the400 may have been the most enjoyable.
"I can't believe we've won this racefour times now,'' he said. ''Coming down the straightaway andlooking at that race team down there getting ready to kiss thesebricks is very special.''
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