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Talladega, Ala. - Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Monte Carlo SS captured his 77th NASCAR Cup career victory with his win of the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway and passed the legendary Dale Earnhardt Sr to take sole possession of sixth place on the all-time list. The win came on the date that would have been Earnhardt’s 56th birthday.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver crossed the finish line under caution ahead of teammate Jimmie Johnson, pilot of the No. 48 Lowe’s Monte Carlo SS, giving Team Chevy a one-two finish. Hendrick Motorsports has taken four of the last five races at Talladega and Team Chevy drivers have now won 16 of the past 17 races there. In all, Chevrolet has posted 32 race wins at Talladega, more than any other manufacturer.
The historic victory also marked the second consecutive win of the season for Gordon and tied Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ‘s record of five wins on the 2.66-mile race track, the most of any active driver.
Leading the points for the past five events, Gordon leaves Talladega with a 203 point lead over Jeff Burton.
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT MONTE CARLO - Race Winner:
CONGRATULATIONS, TWO IN A ROW:
“All those marks I’ve got on my car are from all the cans that were thrown at it. But what a great day for this DuPont Chevrolet team. I know there are a lot of fans out there that probably didn’t want us to win this race, but nobody had more respect for Dale Earnhardt than I did. Everything that I learned from him, I applied it out there on the race track today. It was a great victory and I know there are fans out there that are happy and love to see us win as well. I appreciate everybody that pulls for NASCAR racing. I hope they enjoyed the race today. It was a pretty awesome race. “
TALK ABOUT YOUR RUN TO THE FRONT:
“I thought if we could get a top five or six out of this, that would be a good day. The cautions fell at some strange times that didn’t work out in our favor, but the second to the last caution actually worked in our favor because we were sitting there lining up, getting ready to go, and I think a restart was a little bit better opportunity for me and Tony (Stewart) and Jimmie (Johnson) and maybe Harvick and a couple of other guys to get some runs going. Once it shuffled up, we were coming to the front. And I’ve got to thank my teammates. I have some awesome teammates. I hated to lose Casey Mears and Kyle Busch out there but I still had Jimmie Johnson and those guys were all awesome to work with today. We were all working really well together. You can’t do it without somebody pushing you and helping you and this victory certainly would haven’t been possible without Jimmie helping us there at the end. “
HOW LONG WERE THOSE LAST FEW LAPS RIDING AROUND UNDER CAUTION WAITING FOR THE CHECKERED TO FLY?
“Well, as much as Jimmie pushed me and helped me to get that lead, I knew he was going to be the toughest guy to beat there on that last restart.
“He had a couple of good runs. He obviously got to second there on that restart. Nobody does it better out there. He’s learned so much on these restrictor plate tracks. And he’s one of the best out there right now. I didn’t know if we were going to be able to hold him off. That last caution worked out for us too. “
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