Jeff Gordon’s farewell included every memorable moment he could have dreamed of with the exception of his elusive fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
With some 300 family, friends and invited guests in town, Gordon said he was having “the time of my life” with the anticipated touch of “insanity.”
Pre-race was all that and more, with daughter Ella accompanying him on stage for driver introductions, Mario Andretti and Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton admiring his car, and rival pit crews saluting him as he drove pit lane on his way to the track for a final time.
During the pre-race driver’s meeting, Gordon received a standing ovation from his fellow drivers and crew chiefs. NASCAR played a 75-second reflective video of his career and NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton thanked him for his contributions to the sport, calling Gordon a “true champion.”
“Drivers are so competitive,” Gordon said. “For them to show, publicly, their appreciation for another competitor just doesn’t happen that often and it was extremely special.” He said his most “surreal” moment was hearing fans chant his name as he climbed into his car for final practice.
But when the festivities were over, the hard truth was that Gordon did not have the handling or speed in his Chevrolet to keep pace with Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.
“We just had a tough time getting the balance,” he said. “My car would be good for two laps, then kind of go haywire and other cars would start attacking me.”
Harvick’s 2015 Theme
Last year’s championship experience taught Kevin Harvick that he’d likely have to win at Homestead-Miami Speedway to claim back-to-back Sprint Cup titles. His car was strong enough to lead 46 laps, but didn’t have enough to catch Busch on the final restart.
“The 18 car just had us beat all night, for the most part,” Harvick said. “We kept throwing stuff at it but never really found anything that helped the car. As the night went on, it seemed the 18 got better and we never got any better.
“It’s been a great couple of years. After last year, when we had everything go our way, I’ve learned not to be greedy. I know we’re disappointed about finishing second tonight, but that’s been kind of the theme of the year – finishing second.”
Although he set career highs in top-fives (23), top-10s (28) and laps led, Harvick also settled for second place in 13 races this season.
Truex On Fire
The left rear quarter of the Furniture Row Chevrolet was on fire when Martin Truex Jr. left the pits after his pit stop on lap 138. Other than not getting a full tank of fuel, this was not Truex’s problem.
After qualifying 11th, Truex knew that crew chief Cole Pearn was going to have to take a big swing in making adjustments to make his car competitive. In the end, the adjustments were never quite enough. Although able to run in the top 10, Truex had faded to ninth, 15.9 seconds off the pace, by lap 125.
That didn’t stop Pearn from taking his shots. The No. 78 team rolled the dice, taking only two tries to take the lead with 96 laps to go. Unfortunately for Truex, Brad Keselowski powered by him on the restart, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick soon followed, and 15 laps later, Truex was back in 11th place, 7.5 seconds off the pace and last among the Championship 4 contenders.
“We never could quite hit on anything to get the car to do the things we needed it to,” Truex said. “But I’m super-proud of the season. We came here and really tried everything we knew to put out our best performance. It just wasn’t in the cards.”
Finishing Strong
Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin, a two-time winner at HMS, began leaking rear-end grease from a faulty clamp on lap 13, forcing him to the garage. Although Hamlin went three laps down, fought his way back to the lead lap. He finished 10th in the race and ninth in series points.
Seven-time Sprint Cup champ Jimmie Johnson dropped to 35th after being ordered by NASCAR to repair illegal alterations to his right rear quarter panel on lap 58. Johnson battled back to fifth with 100 laps to go and finished ninth.
Brett Moffitt earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. Moffitt, 23, finished 31st Sunday in his 31st race of the season. He finished eighth for Michael Waltrip Racing at Atlanta but spent the bulk of his season gaining experience with Front Row Motorsports and ended up 34th in points.
Waltrip Bids Farewell
Gordon wasn’t the only NASCAR veteran dealing with the melancholy feelings of farewell Sunday. At the far end of the Sprint Cup garage sat the blue and white Aaron’s Dream Machine, emblematic of owner/driver Michael Waltrip’s decade-long quest for success. Michael Waltrip Racing which began competing full-time in 2007, is closing its doors.
On the surface, it seemed like business as usual, with Waltrip, in his bright blue polo greeting fans, posing for pictures and signing autographs as his cars rolled through inspection.
“Business as usual on the outside,” Waltrip mused. “But today’s been a lot of hugs and thank-yous and (about) appreciating what we built and what we did for a long time.”
MWR won seven Sprint Cup events and guided Clint Bowyer to a second-place finish in the 2012 series standings. MWR fielded cars for David Ragan and Bowyer this season.
“We stumbled and tripped and we won and we nearly won a championship,” Waltrip said. “You think about all that stuff. It’s a different (kind of) day – a little hard. You reflect on the beginning and how special it was to have the ability to start something from nothing and be the custodian of Toyota’s (effort) – coming to the sport and helping them with that. Not only helping them on the track but helping fans understand that Toyota was great for NASCAR.”
