For the thousands of race fans who left Atlanta Motor Speedway before the green flag finally flew Tuesday morning, the 2011 AdvoCare 500 weekend will be remembered for the rain delays and disappointments produced by the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee.
For the 30,000 or so who stayed around for the race, the enduring memory will be of a classic battle for the win between Jeff Gordon, a four-time Cup champion, and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, the five-time and defending Cup champion.
When the 325-lap race boiled down to a 30-lap shootout between the two, many figured Johnson would eventually prevail. He’s younger, 35, compared to Gordon, who’s 40. And when it comes to car control on a slick track such as AMS, especially late in a run when the tires are worn, many would give the edge to Johnson.
But it was Gordon who prevailed. He fought off Johnson’s attempts to pass in the closing laps to score his fifth AMS win, his third victory of the season and the 85th of his career.
Gordon had the dominant car for much of the race, run under overcast skies and with persistent drizzle occasionally interrupting the action. He led seven times for 146 laps, but with 10 laps to go, Johnson had erased his teammate’s margin and appeared poised to take away the victory.
But as Johnson made moves high and low, Gordon held on. On the final lap, Johnson had his car almost sideways exiting the turns in a desperate attempt to take the lead.
As he entered the door of the media center after exiting his car, Johnson said to no one in particular: “That was fun!”
He went on to say that the race for the win was one he won’t forget. And he didn’t seem too unhappy to have come up short.
“He may not have had the dominance that we’d seen before in recent years, but it’s still Jeff Gordon, and it’s so cool to race that hard with him,” Johnson said. “And even if I did come in second, it’s OK. I’d much rather have won. But we left it all out there on the track. And he got it done today.”
Gordon also seemed to relish the chance to race that hard for a Cup win.
“I tell you what, that was a lot of fun racing with [Johnson],” he said. “I was slipping, and he was slipping. The throttle control was very tough there at the end. There were a couple of moments where I really thought he got us. But what an incredible victory.”
Gordon’s victory secured his spot in the Chase. Also clinching berths were Kevin Harvick, who finished seventh; Ryan Newman, who finished 20th; and Kurt Busch, who finished fourth. Brad Keselowski, who finished sixth, secured at least a wild-card slot.
All told, nine Chase spots have been claimed, eight of them by the top eight drivers in the standings. Denny Hamlin and Paul Menard are the top two drivers in the wild-card standings, but several others including A.J. Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer and Greg Biffle, could make the Chase by winning the regular-season finale at Richmond on Saturday, depending on how the drivers ahead of them run at Richmond.
Tony Stewart, who had been clinging to the 10th spot in the standings despite several mediocre runs over the summer, rallied to finish a strong third at AMS.
“I’m really proud of everybody at Stewart Haas Racing for their dedication,” Stewart said. “They keep persevering and pushing it to make it better each week. It’s been a tough last couple of months, but I appreciate everybody in our shop, the road crews.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t show great speed in Tuesday’s 500, but he continues to maintain a fairly secure ninth place in the standings. He fell off the lead lap early, but joined the leaders when he got the “Lucky Dog” free pass during a caution period at Lap 129.
He was running 27th at the time and wound up 19th, which left him with a 25-point cushion over 11th-place Keselowski, who will be in the Chase as either a top-10 driver or one of the two wild-card entries because of his three race victories.
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