Jeff Gordon hopeful heated exchange with crew chief spurs turnaround

A week after a fiery exchange with his crew chief that included multiple f-bombs, Jeff Gordon said everything is fine between himself and Alan Gustafson.

“It is all good. We are big boys,” Gordon said Friday at Michigan International Speedway. “We respect the heck out of one another and we had great conversations this week.”

The impassioned back-and-forth came during a caution with about 20 laps to go in last Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway. Gustafson wanted his driver to pit for new tires, but Gordon didn’t want to sacrifice track position and preferred to remain out.

What ensued was Gordon and Gustafson each swearing multiple times with Gordon also venting about the handling of his No. 24 car and how the race had gone to that point. At the time he was running mid-pack. He would rally to finish 14th.

“At that point I think both Alan was frustrated and I was frustrated,” Gordon said. “The restarts weren’t going great. We took a risk on pit strategy and the caution came out. That blew that strategy and that put us back. We saw how tough it was to pass and track position was really important, especially in that final run. He was thinking that we needed to come in. I felt like the car was pretty good at that point.

“I rarely ever question those calls. He is the crew chief and he makes great calls, but at that point I felt like I needed to stay out and it got a little heated.”

Gordon explained that part of the acerbity expressed by himself and Gustafson stemmed from what has been a frustrating season for the No. 24 team. Several times in 2015 Gordon has had strong cars, though not the finishes to match.

In this his final season before retiring, Gordon is winless and ranked 10th in the standings with just two top-five finishes. Penalties for speeding on pit road negated potential victories at Martinsville Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, while a misjudged move in the draft cost Gordon in the Daytona 500. He would go from leading 87 of the first 111 laps to finishing 31st after being swept into a multi-car wreck on the white flag lap.

“It seems like every time we have a car that is capable of either winning or running in the top-five some circumstances come about that take us kind of out of that,” Gordon said. “That is frustrating. When you are in the closing laps of a race or coming down to the final pit stops, and you are making choices and decisions you are not always going to like those decisions.”

When announcing in January that 2015 would be his last as a full-time competitor, Gordon said his primary goal was to retire as on top. A victory Sunday would virtually lock him into the playoffs, giving the four-time Cup Series champion a chance to win a coveted fifth title.

Gordon is hoping what happened at Pocono will end up being a constructive and spur a turnaround in performance.

“I think it’s actually been more positive that we kind of got that out there and had this heated moment and said some things and got them off our chest,” Gordon said. “I think it has actually helped us come into this weekend focused, motivated and excited.”