SPARTA, Ky. -- Kentucky Speedway is far and away the bumpiest track currently on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, and Jeff Gordon wouldn’t want it any other way.
NASCAR Kentucky results: Jeff Gordon posts back-to-back top-10s and doesn’t like repaves
Jeff Gordon has scored consecutive top-10s for the first time this season and heads to Daytona just two points outside of the Sprint Cup top-10.
Todd Warshaw
Gordon finished eighth on Sunday afternoon and contended for much of the day, despite getting trapped deep in the field, twice after an ill-timed pit stop and caution. While many of the drivers and teams struggled with the conditions, Gordon continually ran off some of the fastest lap times of the day.
He started the final restart in third but just couldn’t get going on the bottom lane. He lost several positions and steadied in eighth. Despite the frustrating finish, Gordon urges Kentucky Speedway officials to not alter the track surface.
“I would rather it stay the way it is,” Gordon said. “I don’t like the repaves. I actually think the smooth new pavements they are putting on some of these tracks is worse than this. Yeah it’s rough and it beats the cars all up ... but I like everything about this track.”
His team was tossed when the rainout changed this race from a Saturday night to Sunday afternoon start time and that presented several challenges. Fortunately for Gordon, his crew chief Alan Gustafson preferred the slick conditions, as he felt it put the race back into his hands as an engineer.
“The track that needs that change the most is Charlotte,” Gustafson said. “There’s not a whole lot you can do when there is that much grip into the track. I think these conditions gave us a lot of options as a team today.”
For the first time this season, Gordon has scored back-to-back top-10s and started to establish a little momentum.
He leaves Kentucky 12th in the standings, just two points outside of the top-10. Kentucky is also a track that has recently given Gordon and his team some trouble, so he finds it exciting that they have started to regain success on intermediate circuits.
“I’m happy the way we’ve been running,” Gordon added. “The past two weeks have been promising and that’s going to help us as we move forward. If we keep doing the right things and continue to qualify better -- hopefully things will start going our way.”
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