Hendrick Motorsports’ Jeff Gordon may have celebrated his first-career pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Friday night, but come Sunday he will start the Kobalt 400 from the rear of the field.
With 30 seconds left in Saturday’s final practice session, Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet suffered damage to the nose and right rear of the car after contact with Danica Patrick’s No. 10 Chevrolet.
With the incident coming in the final minutes of the session, the team did not have an opportunity to make any practice laps in the backup car. The backup car previously raced at Chicagoland Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway in 2014.
“Danica spun out and we hit her,” Gordon said.
“Oh my (expletive) god,” replied crew chief Alan Gustafson.
“It shouldn’t be too bad, just the right front,” Gordon said.
“Isn’t she smart enough to know when (indiscernible) to watch out,” Gustafson added.
Gordon scored his 79th pole on Friday for the Kobalt 400. He was 14th on the speed chart after posting a lap of 185.306 mph. He was on stickers tires at the time when Patrick lost control of her car.
“The right front fender is pretty bad,” spotter Eddie D’Hondt said from above the track. “Gosh, darn it.”
“We’ll have to get a backup,” Gustafson concluded.
Gordon wasn’t alone. David Ragan also had an issue and slapped the right rear of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota.
“Got in a little too high in the gray stuff,” Ragan radioed to the crew.
Ragan will also go to a backup car.
