Saturday Notebook
Jeff Gordon hasn't forgotten three-wide debacle at Martinsville
Apr. 6, 2013
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
MARTINSVILLE,
Va.—With all the talk about controversy between Joey Logano and Tony
Stewart — not to mention between Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin — the
incident that lit the
fuse between Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon has been shoved into the
background.
Bowyer's
ill-fated three-wide move last spring at Martinsville Speedway, which
wrecked Bowyer, Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, was the catalyst for Gordon's
revenge at Phoenix in
the next-to-last race of the season.
Gordon
had led 329 laps at the .526-mile short track before Bowyer's dive-bomb
move on a late restart. Though the resulting wreck may be on the back
burner this week in light
of more recent rivalries, Gordon recalls that it simmered throughout
the 2012 season.
After
contact between the Gordon and Bowyer cars at Phoenix ruined Gordon's
day, the feud ignited, and Gordon retaliated by wrecking Bowyer in the
Turn 4, ending Bowyer's run
at a possible NASCAR Sprint Cup title.
"Well,
yeah, he wrecked us," Gordon said of the Martinsville restart. "So,
whether it was intentional or not, it's still something that was in the
back of my mind. You could
say it set the stage. But for me, it's an accumulation of things, sort
of like a three-strikes-and-you're-out deal. And we just made contact
too many times last year.
"But
listen, he was racing hard. The thing that bothered me so much about it
last year is that I really don't know if we were going to win that race,
because we were sitting
ducks on old tires. He had it won — really, I think, pretty easily. But
to try and make that move going into Turn 1 was very impatient, and it
really cost him as much as it cost me.
"All he
had to do was wait until we got off of Turn 2 and he probably would
have driven by all of us down the back straightaway. So, certainly
that's not forgotten. But it's
nice to know that some of that attention is off of us. We'll just go
race hard like we have every other weekend."
HIGHER PROFILE FOR A PIONEER
Frank
Scott, son of racing pioneer Wendell Scott, hopes the recognition his
father received Friday in Danville, Va., will help in the push to add
the only African-America driver
to win a race in NASCAR's highest classification to the NASCAR Hall of
Fame.
Friday
was Wendell Scott Day in Danville, where the ceremony included Scott's
restored No. 11 dirt modified car (as opposed to his customary No. 34
stock car) and the unveiling
of a historical highway marker commemorating Scott's 1965 win in
Jacksonville, Fla. Scott's wife Mary attended the ceremony with her
children.
Scott, who posted 147 top-10 finishes in 495 career starts, was nominated to the NASCAR Hall of Fame last year but not inducted.
"As I
reflect back, my mind goes to my mother," Frank Scott said Saturday at
Martinsville Speedway. "The fact that she was there to witness all of
this ... when the songs were
being sung, she was singing along, clapping her hands, and that's
what's important to us as her children.
"Hopefully,
yesterday's occasion will give more of a drive to get my father
inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Hopefully, as more attention is
given to his legacy, the
things that he's done to promote community relations throughout the
South — and even throughout the country — people will realize that he
deserves that. And we hope that my mother will be there for that
occasion as well."
DIFFERENT STROKES
As
NASCAR Sprint Cup practice progressed on Saturday, Mark Martin was
working hard to find a happy medium for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota he'll drive in Sunday's STP
Gas Booster 500 as a substitute for injured Denny Hamlin.
Martin
started out Friday with Hamlin's baseline setup, and it wasn't to his
liking. Unable to overcome a tendency for the car to drag the race
track, Martin qualified 35th
Friday afternoon.
"So
far, I haven't really gotten comfortable yet," Martin said on Friday.
"It's pretty different, and the way Denny runs here is quite different
than my style. We'll have
a lot more time [Saturday]. We're working on getting it to feel like I
need it to feel...
"We
just drug the race track so bad. At the start of practice, the front
drug the race track so bad it was unbelievable. We've got to get that
better."
Toward
that end, Martin and crew chief Darian Grubb made progress on Saturday.
In the final session, the dragging problem ameliorated, and Martin liked
the way the car was
turning through the corners.
Regardless,
winning the race in Hamlin's stead will be a tall order. In 128 Cup
races at Martinsville, only one driver has won from a starting position
outside the top 24.
Kurt Busch accomplished the feat in 2002 from the 36th spot.
SHORT STROKES
As if
Joey Logano needed more drama... Jimmie Johnson's Chevrolet ran into the
back of Logano's Ford, which had gotten loose and slowed in front of
the five-time champion late
in final practice. (And, no, Logano wasn't blocking.) Both cars went to
the garage with cosmetic damage, but both returned to the track shortly
thereafter, seemingly none the worse for the contact. ...
Clint
Bowyer led both practice sessions on Saturday, running his fastest lap
of the day (97.018 mph) in Happy Hour. Kyle Busch was second quickest in
Saturday's first session,
and Johnson ran the second fastest lap in Happy Hour after returning
from the contact with Logano.
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