NASCAR: Who’s Hot And Who’s Not Heading Into Kansas
Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
NOT – Jeff Gordon
Yes, the poor finish at Talladega is only one race and before that poor finish Jeff Gordon had strung together six consecutive top-10 finishes and moved from outside of the top-35 in points and into the top-10.
That is all well and good and I understand all of that.
The poor finish at Talladega wasn’t just a poor finish, it was the second time this season that Gordon let the chance to win a race slip away because of a speeding penalty on pit road. Gordon was dominant at Martinsville only to be caught speeding late. At Talladega Gordon led a lot of laps and was near the front all day, only to once again be caught speeding.
Wins aren’t easy to come by in NASCAR and nobody really has the luxury of throwing wins away. That luxury is non-existent for a driver like Gordon who hasn’t won yet in 2015. The other thing worth noting is that Gordon is 2/2 when it comes to wrecking on the final laps of restrictor-plate races in 2015 and both times he finished outside of the top-30.