NSCS: Jeff Gordon comes up just short of making Championship Four cut

With a second place finish at Phoenix International Raceway, Jeff Gordon would come up just short of making the cut to be one of the four drivers fighting for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend.

“I’m really proud of the effort, not just today but throughout this whole season and the Chase,” Gordon commented. “I couldn’t be more proud of this team and the effort that they put out.  Today was another one of those — I mean, Kevin was in another zip code.  There was no touching him.  But to come out of here second, I really thought second would get it done, but obviously it didn’t.  We did everything that we could, other than have a faster race car than Kevin (Harvick).  That was near impossible.  But yeah, it’s disappointing.  It makes last week that much even tougher to swallow, but that’s all right, we put in a great effort at Martinsville, great effort here, and it just wasn’t enough.

“Some things are out of our control, and I felt like we did a great job putting all the effort into the things that we could control.”

Gordon looked to be in position to clinch a spot all the way till the last lap when Ryan Newman got underneath Kyle Larson in turn four and moved him up the track, taking over the spot and getting that one more point needed to beat Gordon for the final spot.

“Newman just told me that that apron was really slick, like there was some oil down there or something,” Gordon said was the explanation that he was given. 

It marked the second time that a move has been brought into question, both moves affecting Gordon. The other move was at Texas Motor Speedway when Brad Keselowski tried to go three-wide between Gordon and someone else, resulting in contact between Keselowski and Gordon that cut Gordon’s tire. Despite being at the wrong end of both incidents, Gordon says that both moves were acceptable.

“I mean, don’t think that that’s not going to come back to you, you know.  I mean, I could have taken out Harvick, too, to make it in, but I didn’t,” Gordon added.

With the Chase not going as Gordon would’ve hoped, one would think his original feelings of enjoying the format would now disappear. However, the four-time champion says that he still likes the format.

“I’m a little concerned where it could go with — just like last week we found out on pit road where the line is drawn and when you cross over that line, and I think that it could get to that on the racetrack, as well,” he commented. “I don’t necessarily know that it has gotten there yet, but it’s certainly possible.

“I think it’s incredibly intense.  This is the most interest we’ve had in this sport in a long time, so obviously it’s been good.  I feel like the only disappointing thing or the only thing I don’t like right now is the fact that I’m not in it next week.”