Gordon’s Win Puts All Four Hendrick Drivers In Victory Lane

Gordon On Cusp Of Making Chase After All

Never count out a four-time champion and 85-race winner until the last lap has been run. Jeff Gordon has come all the way back from a 35^th-place ranking following the Daytona 500 to lay claim – for the moment anyway – to the second of two "wild card" qualifying berths for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™. He was outside the top 20 and ineligible for a "wild card" as recently as June’s Pocono stop. He now stands 13^th. Being in the right place at the right time to break a 31-race drought and score his 86^th NASCAR Sprint Cup victory, Gordon joined Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne at the top of the "wild card" standings with five races remaining until the post-season lineup of 12 drivers is set. Gordon might need another victory to cement his "wild card" status but has won a combined 18 races at tracks left in the Race to the Chase. He is a four-time winner at the next stop – Sunday’s road race at Watkins Glen International – but not since 2001.

Kyle Busch Needs To Quickly Rediscover Winning Vibe

Where there’s a winner – Gordon – there’s a loser. And that guy is Kyle Busch. Busch dropped to 15^th in NASCAR Sprint Cup points after Pocono’s race and stands fourth of five winners ranked 11^th through 20^th in the standings. After winning no fewer than three races a season since 2008, Busch has been uncharacteristically missing from Victory Lane in 2012. His single win came in May at Richmond International Raceway – the final pre-Chase stop. Good news for Busch: 12 of his 24 career victories have been scored at the five remaining Race to the Chase tracks.

Johnson’s Late-Race Stumble Leaves No. 1 Seed Up For Grabs

Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was well on his way to the provisional No. 1 Chase seed at Pocono until spinning from the lead on a 91^st lap restart. Johnson, Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski remain deadlocked at three wins apiece – each driver counting nine bonus points to be added to a Chase base of 2,000 points should they remain among the top 10 in the standings. This week could be Stewart’s time to shine. The three-time and reigning champion is the leading winner at The Glen (five) most recently in 2009. Johnson, a road course winner at Sonoma, has yet to score at Watkins Glen while Keselowski finished second there a year ago.

Gordon’s Win Puts All Four Hendrick Drivers In Victory Lane

Hendrick Motorsports’ stock has shot to the top of the board since Johnson gave the organization its 200^th victory in May at Darlington Raceway. Gordon’s Pocono victory was HMS’ seventh of the season (in the past 11 races) and third in a row. It also marked the first time that all four Hendrick drivers – currently Johnson, Gordon, Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. – have won in same season since 2007. HMS’ drivers that year were Johnson, Gordon, Kyle Busch and Casey Mears.

Earnhardt retained the NASCAR Sprint Cup points lead despite a transmission failure that ended his lead lap finishing streak at 20 races. Eight points are the difference between first and fourth place with Earnhardt trailed by Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Johnson.

NASCAR Sprint Cup’s Two Road Courses Produce Differing Results

Watkins Glen International and Sonoma’s road course each has left and right-hand turns. That’s where the similarities end – especially when it comes to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™. The Sonoma winner has qualified for the Chase in every season (2004-11). This year’s winner Clint Bowyer is ranked among the top 10 and likely will make the post season roster. It’s a different story at The Glen where the last two winners – Marcos Ambrose and Juan Pablo Montoya – failed to make the Chase. Kevin Harvick, one of two drivers among the top 10 without a victory this season, could end The Glen’s short string of non-Chase winners. Harvick won at The Glen in 2006 and finished sixth a year ago.

Remaining Race To Chase Venues Test Many Skills

Variety may be the spice of life and it’s certainly the definition of tracks comprising the final five stops in the Race to the Chase. The next month’s schedule visits a road course (Watkins Glen International), a pair of superspeedways (Michigan International and Atlanta Motor Speedways) and two short tracks (Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond International Raceway). Three of the five tracks have run events this season with Keselowski the winner at Bristol, Kyle Busch on top in Richmond and Earnhardt ending a four-year victory drought at Michigan. Clint Bowyer won the year’s only other road race in Sonoma, Calif. Busch was the last driver to sweep both road course events (2008).