Gordon in difficult position to win
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Jeff Gordon came to Daytona with a solid shot at tying Dale Earnhardt's mark of 76 career victories.
Then his Chevrolet failed inspection.
To tie the mark Gordon must do what no driver ever has done before -- win the Daytona 500 from the 42nd starting position. Bobby Allison holds the record, coming back from 33rd to win NASCAR's biggest race in 1978.
John Raoux / the associated press
"You've got to avoid the obstacles that lie in the way. You've got to make sure you don't create a wreck. You've got to make sure you don't get caught up in one. You need good pit strategy and everything," Gordon said Friday. "Trust me, there's a reason why nobody has ever won this race from that far back.
"We want to be the first one to do it, and I think we're capable of it."
It certainly looked that way Thursday after Gordon won a qualifying race in dramatic fashion, going from fourth to first on the final lap and taking the lead with an impressive weave through traffic. The finish earned him the fourth-place starting spot for Sunday's season-opening race.
But as he sat on the podium during his winner's news conference, Gordon was told his car was too low in postrace inspection. The news clearly rattled the four-time series champion, who wasn't sure if he was the victim of a practical joke.
He wasn't.
In a week filled with cheating scandals, Gordon quickly was linked with the offenders. Unlike the other five drivers who were heavily penalized by NASCAR, Gordon received the equivalent of a slap on the wrist. Series officials ruled his infraction was an inadvertent part failure and did not give him a competitive advantage.
Instead of a stiff penalty, Gordon was stripped of his 500 starting spot and sent to the back of the field -- something he knew would lead to calls of favoritism for one of NASCAR's most popular drivers.
"Jeff Gordon's deal? I don't know. It seems like a pretty big deal to me, but that's the way it goes," said Kasey Kahne, who lost his crew chief for four races and was docked 50 points earlier this week.
Elliott Sadler, who had his crew chief suspended two weeks and was docked 25 points, also was puzzled by NASCAR's reaction.
"I was kind of surprised they let him keep the win," Sadler said. "If you don't pass postrace inspection, you don't get whatever position you finished in. I think that's why you have postrace inspection.
"It's just weird the way that all worked out."
Gordon knew some would feel that way.
"That's what's bothered me the most and kept me up all night is that people would think we did something to circumvent the rules," Gordon said. "I will challenge any person in this garage area who is knowledgeable about how these cars travel on the race track to come and tell me that it was an unfair advantage."
But as skeptical drivers took the time to examine the part, on display in NASCAR's hauler, and to discuss the situation with series officials, that stance began to soften.
"It was seen by me as an honest mistake," Jeff Burton said. "For me, I think the penalty fit the crime. If you look at the part ... it is not like they set out to intentionally cheat, which should be dealt with differently if they did."
Still, Gordon couldn't shake a sense of disappointment when he arrived at the track Friday for the only practice session.
"Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but there is no favoritism going on here. I feel like the penalty fit the crime and had nothing to do with that win," Gordon said. "But I'm disappointed in ourselves. We had a failure, which is our responsibility, and those are the types of things that are going to prevent us from winning races and championships."
