Jeff Gordon said he’s dealt with an unprecedented level of anger and disappointment after his team was essentially robbed of a Chase for the Sprint Cup berth on Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.
In the final laps, Clint Bowyer and teammate Brian Vickers made unnecessary pit stops that allowed Joey Logano to pass them on the track; Logano ended up with one more point than Gordon to remain in the top 10 and secure a Chase slot.
“When I found out later how they manipulated it, that was anger on a whole ‘nother level,” Gordon said Wednesday before playing a charity kickball game to benefit pediatric cancer research. “It’s hard to describe and it’s disappointing. You realize people all want to do things for their teammates to help them, but you also know there are certain lines that have to be drawn with that.” Gordon said after hearing about everything that happened during the race, his team “deserves to be in this thing.”
He spoke as if the possibility of making the Chase still existed after learning of suspicious radio chatter involving David Gilliland and Logano, but he declined to comment on that situation until he knows more.
Though Gordon said he could have been more aggressive on the final restart like shoving other cars out of the way or possibly even wrecking them he only went as far as he deemed fair under the code of sportsmanship.
“There are certain morals that are still involved with what you’re comfortable with doing and not comfortable with doing,” he said.
“And it has an effect on far more people than we could ever understand. That’s what I’ve really learned through this situation: It’s way beyond me and you, it’s way beyond the sport, it’s beyond the fans. It reaches out much further than that. And that’s what is so important for NASCAR to work on maintaining and also us as competitors, we have a responsibility there as well.”
