Saturday Texas Notebook

Saturday Texas Notebook

Notebook Items:

·         Jeff Gordon’s sole focus at Texas is on winning the race

·         Second chance for Hamlin?

·         Mixed bag for Chase drivers in morning practice

Jeff Gordon’s sole focus at Texas is on winning the race

Nov. 1, 2014

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

FORT WORTH, Tex.—Jeff Gordon may be the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup leader, but his position atop the standings is hardly secure.

With five drivers, including Gordon, bunched together within a seven-point range, and with only four spots available for the title race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Gordon prefers to focus on the only certain way to maintain championship eligibility for the season finale—by winning one of the next two races.

That’s why Gordon and his team are approaching Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET on ESPN) intent on taking the checkered flag.

“To me, our focus is about going out there and winning the race,” Gordon said. “We’re not really thinking about anything else other than doing that. Last week (second at Martinsville) was a good performance.

“Obviously, we would be very comfortable right now if we’d gotten that win. But we didn’t. And so now, it’s all about coming here and executing and doing what we’ve been doing all year long, which is approaching each race working on the details and trying to get the job done.”

With Dale Earnhardt Jr., Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate winning at Martinsville, there will be at least two positions in the final available on points after the third race in the Chase’s Eliminator Round on Nov. 9 at Phoenix.

To Gordon, the best way to assure a strong finish at Texas is to concentrate on trying to win the race. And the benefits of a victory are enormous, with championship eligibility at Homestead the major prize.

“We’ve got to come out of (Texas) with a solid finish,” Gordon said. “Whether we win or not, there is definitely added pressure than what we’ve seen in the past.

“But I think if we just execute and do our jobs the way we are capable of, then that will take a lot of the pressure off.”

SECOND CHANCE FOR HAMLIN?

In 2010, Denny Hamlin won the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas and built a 33-point lead over second-place Jimmie Johnson with two races left in the season.

A strategic mistake at Phoenix, however, trimmed Hamlin’s advantage to 15 points, and in the season finale at Homestead, the weekend went horribly wrong for the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Hamlin qualified 37th and started deep in the field. On Lap 24, he collided with Greg Biffle’s Ford exiting Turn 2 and spun through the infield. Hamlin rallied to finish 14th but lost the title to Johnson, who secured the championship with a second-place run.

If Hamlin gets a shot at redemption by surviving the Chase’s Eliminator Round, he believes the new championship format—with the highest finisher among four eligible drivers winning the title—will dictate a different approach to the deciding race.

"Now, I think you have to go with the mentality of you have to win that final race to be a champion,” Hamlin said. “I feel like if you are part of that championship four now -- you have to know that you can win, if you want to win a championship. 

“In 2010, we went in with a fairly minimal lead. I think we had to finish within three spots of Jimmie (Johnson) that weekend.  We just had a bad weekend overall, and for some reason, I just never felt it that entire weekend. None of the days just felt right at all.”

From Hamlin’s point a view, another major difference between this season and 2010 is the level of expectation, which was much higher for the No. 11 team four years ago. 

“We had won so many races that year that everyone expected us to go out there and win,” Hamlin said. “I feel like now we're kind of on that house money-type thing where people aren't expecting us to be here. Everywhere we go from here on out is a bonus, and I feel like we've had an off-year with our race team and our cars. 

“Everything has been not nearly as stellar as it was in 2010, so if we can somehow pull off an upset this year, it will be way more gratifying than if we won in 2010 -- where we kind of dominated and won all the races.”

MIXED BAG IN PRACTICE

Chase driver Carl Edwards, needing a strong showing after last week’s 20th-place finish at Martinsville, led Saturday morning practice at Texas with a lap at 196.342 mph. Edwards is sixth in the standings, 20 points behind Chase leader Jeff Gordon.

The two drivers behind Edwards, however, weren’t as fortunate. Brad Keselowski (seventh in points) showed little improvement over his 26th-place qualifying effort, practicing 25th at 190.691 mph. Kevin Harvick (eighth in points) was 16th on the speed chart at 192.616 mph.

Both Harvick, who was 11th in final practice, and Keselowski, who was 14th, likely will need a victory in one of the next two races to advance past the Chase’s Eliminator Round.