Jeff Gordon finished 3rd at Talladega to advance to Round 3 of the NASCAR Chase. Gordon ran in the top-10 for most of the event, and tied his best finish of the 2015 season. He posted top-10 finishes in all 3 races in Round 2.

Gordon started on the pole and led the opening 8 laps before Dale Earnhardt Jr moved to the top spot. He dropped to 4th on the outside line on lap 10, before working with Joey Logano in a draft to move to 3rd. On lap 20, he moved to 2nd behind Earnhardt Jr in a single line with his Hendrick Motorsports teammates. Gordon came to pit road for a green flag pit stop on lap 41. He ran 5th on lap 44 on the outside line. Gordon ran there for the next 25 laps before being shuffled to 10th on lap 70. He elected to play it safe and dropped to 15th on lap 77, and came to pit road for a green flag stop on lap 81. Gordon ran 8th at the halfway point.

On lap 105, he drafted with Kevin Harvick into the top-5. He ran 2nd on lap 120 when a cycle of green flag stops began. Gordon ran 5th on lap 125 in a single file draft. The first caution waved on lap 132 for Justin Allgaier’s engine. After a 2-tire change, Gordon restarted 4th on lap 139. With 40 to go, he ran in 10th place on the outside line. Five laps later he entered the top-5 in a draft with Jimmie Johnson. With 20 to go, Gordon ran 8th on the inside. He came to pit road for a gas only stop with 18 to go, and ran 10th in a single file line with 14 to go. With 5 to go, he drafted up to 5th place by pushing his teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jamie McMurray’s blown engine brought out the caution with 4 to go to set up a green/white/checkered finish.

Gordon restarted 4th but the start was called off after Jimmie Johnson was spun prior to the start/finish line. The field regrouped for a second attempt with Gordon lined up in 4th behind Joey Logano on the outside line. Gordon was scored 3rd as drivers began wrecking just after the green flag waved. Gordon advanced to Round 3 of the NASCAR Chase.

Jeff Gordon Talladega in-car audio link can be found below in the next section.

JG’s comments

“Talladega can surprise you at any time. I actually had a lot of fun out there. We had an awesome car. It was so much fun battling up front, even if we got shuffled back a little bit I was able to drive up through there. I was looking forward to working with Dale Jr there at the end. When those guys swapped, I was like, ‘Man, this is going to be tough.’ I thought maybe my only chance was splitting Joey Logano, getting inside of him, getting 3-wide and maybe shuffling him out. I had no idea about all the crazy stuff behind me. I know the first green/white/checkered restart, I kind of misjudged it and I nailed the 22 and almost spun him out. Then they started stacking up behind us. So, crazy…absolutely crazy. But what a relief. I know my wife sitting at home was very relieved as well. We’re in. This season’s been a crazy season for us. Since the Chase started, the attitude of this team, the momentum, and execution. The things we weren’t doing earlier in the year, we’re doing them all right now at the right time. Watch out, we’ve got something for them these next 3 or 4 races.”

source: Jeff Gordon Online

 

Race Results [pdf] [html]

Driver Standings [pdf] [html] [jpg]
Owner Standings [pdf] [html]
Chase Standings [html]

 

Jeff Gordon Talladega In-Car Audio

 

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MP3 Download – with spotter chatter

Run Time: 80 minutes
File Size: 5mb

 

 

Jeff Gordon Talladega Photos

 

Jeff Gordon Talladega