Jeff Gordon’s return to the track on Sunday in Indianapolis resulted in the four-time NASCAR champion quietly finishing 13th. The run was hindered by his biggest Achilles heal.
The one thing that plagued Jeff Gordon over his final seasons in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was also the one thing that kept him from getting the No. 88 machine into the top-10 on Sunday in Indianapolis.
That one thing is restarts.
In the latter part of Gordon’s NASCAR career restarts often plagued the driver of the No. 24 machine. During his final two seasons in 2014-2015 restarts easily cost him a couple of wins and almost cost him a couple that he did hang on to. Gordon’s 2014 win in Indianapolis came when he had the restart of his live and was able to drive around Kasey Kahne and the No. 5 machine on the outside in the closing stages of the Brickyard 500 on a late restart.
On Sunday in Indy Gordon did not have a car capable of winning but he did have a car that was capable of finishing inside of the top-10. The only reason he wasn’t able to do so was because of how badly he was getting beat on restarts late in the race. Some of those restarts also had him in the outside lane, which didn’t help much, but Gordon also struggled on restarts where he was in the bottom lane.
On average it seemed as though Gordon would lose anywhere from 3-6 spots per restart. This killed his chances of finishing top-10, especially on when he was restarting 12th and 13th on some of the final restarts of the race. After the race Gordon did a TV interview with NBCSN and he spoke about the difficulties he had on restarts.
"Wow—the challenges to be out there against the best, especially on those restarts. I got my butt kicked on those restarts. It was embarrassing. While I will fill in for Dale Jr., and I hope he’s doing good, I needed a fill-in on restarts. It was pretty bad.Other than that, I thought it went really well. I really liked working with (crew chief) Greg (Ives) and this whole No. 88 team. … We just couldn’t get the track position. It was pretty tough to pass. And I didn’t want to see those cautions there at the end. But, I’m going to need some practice on restarts for Pocono anyway."
Gordon will be in the No. 88 machine at least one more time next weekend in Pocono. After that there is hope that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be able to return to the No. 88 machine. If Earnhardt Jr. is not able to go, it would make sense for Gordon to remain in the car, but that has not been confirmed to be the plan.
If Gordon plans on running better than 13th in Pocono, he will need to figure out his restarts between now and then. If Gordon hits the track with a car capable of winning next weekend, it would be a shame if the restarts stopped him from doing so.
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Moreover, the odds of Gordon having a car capable of running well in Pocono are pretty good considering the success that the No. 88 machine has had their in recent years combined with Gordon’s success at the track in his career. Gordon’s car seemed a bit off for most of the race in Indy but history says that the No. 88 machine will be in better shape come this weekend in Pocono.
Now we just have to hope that Gordon’s restarts are also in better shape.