Darrell Waltrip / AllWaltrip.com
Posted: 2 hours ago
Folks, I really wasn't going to get my dog in this fight — the controversy about the race Saturday night and all that happened at the end of the race. (It was rather confusing.) But you know me. If there's a controversy, I can always add a little something to it, I guess.
First of all, let me try to explain what happened to Jeff Gordon. I described it as the perfect storm, and it was for him because of freezing the field. A lot of people who have followed the sport for years still think everything happens at the start/finish line. But, these days, we have about eight start/finish lines around the racetrack with no racing back to the caution and the field being frozen.
Running second to Tony Stewart, the caution came out about the time Gordon entered the pits so he went down pit road and got his work done. Stewart was just going down into Turn 1. He slow down to pit road speed, which allowed Gordon plenty of time to get in his pit box. Gordon's crew chief, Steve Letarte or Pop Tart, made the call of the race. Instead of him panicking, he stayed cool and kept his driver cool. Most guys probably would have driven through their pit, back out on the racetrack and would have come out at the back of the pack.
Because they were calm, cool and collected, they were able to make their pit stop and get back out on the racetrack before the leaders came around with the pace car. Gordon came out, and he was behind all the guys that hadn't pitted yet. When all of the drivers in front of him made pit stops, he moved up and assumed the lead.
I know it's confusing, but it's how it can happen these days. Back in the old days, Stewart would have raced back to the caution, and Gordon would have been a lap down. But it doesn't happen that way anymore with the frozen field. We explained that little bit of business pretty well on Saturday night. I know a lot of people didn't agree with it, but that's exactly what happened. It might happen once in a blue moon, but it happened on Saturday night. It was a great race, particularly the finish again. Every week, we've had incredible finishes, and we've had pretty decent racing.
Poor old Denny Hamlin. The rest of the field better be glad that his car was as fast on pit road as it was on the racetrack, or Hamlin would have been the guy going to victory circle because he had the fastest car. Other than about 100 feet in the pit lane, he had the car to beat all night long. To start dead-last at the end of the longest line and work his way all the way back up to finish 3rd, that's a huge accomplishment. I'm sure he feels awful about throwing away the race, but he ought to be proud of how well the car ran.
Stewart, Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, had a good car, too. Gordon just had a little bit better car right at the end. When Tony squeezed by Jeff and took the lead, I thought the race was over. But Jeff came back with about as much determination as I've ever seen the man have. He drove it underneath of Tony, took the lead, drove off and won the race.
Circumstances certainly didn't hurt Jeff on Saturday night, but he was way overdue for a win. What a record-breaking weekend he had! Nobody had won Phoenix from the pole in 21 tries. He broke that record. On Thursday, he tied my modern-day record for 59 poles on Thursday. That's fourth all-time, but it's a record in the modern era, which started 1972. After reducing the schedule and running around 30 races a year, they recalculated everything. So you have all-time, and you have the modern era. As a matter of fact, 84 wins — which Gordon will approach one of these days — is the record for wins in the modern era. David Pearson and Richard Petty obviously have more wins, but they ran a lot of races before the modern era began.
Tying Dale Earnhardt's 76 wins is a great accomplishment, and that's where things went a little awry with a lot of folks. A lot of people misunderstood Jeff's intentions. People have said, "Y'all got mighty quiet up in the booth." Well, let me tell you why. When we heard crew chief Steve Letarte say that he had a flag for Jeff, we just assumed that it was a Virginia Tech flag so we were waiting for them to bring the flag to Jeff. We were being quiet to pay tribute to the moment.
When Jeff was handed the No. 3 flag, our jaws dropped, not because of the gesture and not because it was the 3 flag. We just hadn't anticipated it. Once we saw what it was, we understood perfectly. It had been planned for quite some time. Jeff and Steve had talked some of the folks at DEI last year about carrying that flag in honor of Dale. In no way can I read anything ill into what Jeff did on Saturday night or what his intentions were. I thought it was fitting and honorable, and I thought Jeff was gracious and humble. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran over to victory circle, patted him on the back and told him thanks.
Think about it folks. Dale Earnhardt died in 2001, and we're still honoring the man today. There are still things that he's done and records that he has that all drivers are pursue — not only the 76 wins but seven championships as well. But Jeff Gordon was destined to rewrite the record books. Just think about it. The kid has only been driving 15 years in Cup, and he's won 76 races. It took me 28 years to win 84. It took Dale 25 years to win 76. Jeff Gordon has won four championships. He's won Daytona. He's won Indy. Turning 36 in August, there's nothing he hasn't done, and the man's got another 10 good years ahead of him.
When he won his first championship in 1994, I knew that he was going to erase all of the modern era records so it doesn't come as a great surprise to me. He's the all-time leading money winner with over $80 million now. There's no end to what Gordon can do. Right now, he's as focused as I've ever seen him. He's back like he was seven or eight years ago. He took a hiatus for a couple of years to sow some wild oats. That's behind him, and he and wife Ingrid are expecting a beautiful little baby girl. Gordon is a changed man, and he's going to be hard to beat this year. The team is incredible. The car is consistent. He's driving the best I think I've ever seen him drive. He and Letarte are singing the same song. Folks, I'm afraid everybody else is in trouble.
There's no denying that Gordon is a great driver. Is he another Dale Earnhardt? Or is he a Dale Earnhardt? We all know that nobody can fill those shoes, but there are things that Dale did that everybody wants to take a shot at because Dale was the greatest. If you break the greatest's record, then you've accomplished something extraordinary. Gordon was saying, "I love Dale. Dale was the man. He taught me a lot. I respect him. Now that I've tied his win mark, I want to honor him, and I just want him to be part of it. That's all it was. I'm just glad I was there to watch and be a part of it because Jeff Gordon is not another Dale Earnhardt. But Jeff Gordon is extraordinary.
Oh, by the way...
I can understand why Tony Stewart was frustrated and left the racetrack on Saturday night. His public relations representative, Mike Arning, did exactly the right thing. Tony was upset, not that Gordon was carrying the 3 flag around the racetrack. Tony was upset because he didn't understand how Jeff could make that pit stop, come back out and be in the lead. Tony did everything right; Jeff did everything righter, if I may say. So I understand why he was upset, and he probably did the right thing by leaving. I'm sure he probably would have said something that he would have regretted. Who knows? He might have even started talking about retirement again.
Posted: 2 hours ago
Folks, I really wasn't going to get my dog in this fight — the controversy about the race Saturday night and all that happened at the end of the race. (It was rather confusing.) But you know me. If there's a controversy, I can always add a little something to it, I guess.
First of all, let me try to explain what happened to Jeff Gordon. I described it as the perfect storm, and it was for him because of freezing the field. A lot of people who have followed the sport for years still think everything happens at the start/finish line. But, these days, we have about eight start/finish lines around the racetrack with no racing back to the caution and the field being frozen.
Running second to Tony Stewart, the caution came out about the time Gordon entered the pits so he went down pit road and got his work done. Stewart was just going down into Turn 1. He slow down to pit road speed, which allowed Gordon plenty of time to get in his pit box. Gordon's crew chief, Steve Letarte or Pop Tart, made the call of the race. Instead of him panicking, he stayed cool and kept his driver cool. Most guys probably would have driven through their pit, back out on the racetrack and would have come out at the back of the pack.
Because they were calm, cool and collected, they were able to make their pit stop and get back out on the racetrack before the leaders came around with the pace car. Gordon came out, and he was behind all the guys that hadn't pitted yet. When all of the drivers in front of him made pit stops, he moved up and assumed the lead.
I know it's confusing, but it's how it can happen these days. Back in the old days, Stewart would have raced back to the caution, and Gordon would have been a lap down. But it doesn't happen that way anymore with the frozen field. We explained that little bit of business pretty well on Saturday night. I know a lot of people didn't agree with it, but that's exactly what happened. It might happen once in a blue moon, but it happened on Saturday night. It was a great race, particularly the finish again. Every week, we've had incredible finishes, and we've had pretty decent racing.
Poor old Denny Hamlin. The rest of the field better be glad that his car was as fast on pit road as it was on the racetrack, or Hamlin would have been the guy going to victory circle because he had the fastest car. Other than about 100 feet in the pit lane, he had the car to beat all night long. To start dead-last at the end of the longest line and work his way all the way back up to finish 3rd, that's a huge accomplishment. I'm sure he feels awful about throwing away the race, but he ought to be proud of how well the car ran.
Stewart, Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, had a good car, too. Gordon just had a little bit better car right at the end. When Tony squeezed by Jeff and took the lead, I thought the race was over. But Jeff came back with about as much determination as I've ever seen the man have. He drove it underneath of Tony, took the lead, drove off and won the race.
Circumstances certainly didn't hurt Jeff on Saturday night, but he was way overdue for a win. What a record-breaking weekend he had! Nobody had won Phoenix from the pole in 21 tries. He broke that record. On Thursday, he tied my modern-day record for 59 poles on Thursday. That's fourth all-time, but it's a record in the modern era, which started 1972. After reducing the schedule and running around 30 races a year, they recalculated everything. So you have all-time, and you have the modern era. As a matter of fact, 84 wins — which Gordon will approach one of these days — is the record for wins in the modern era. David Pearson and Richard Petty obviously have more wins, but they ran a lot of races before the modern era began.
Tying Dale Earnhardt's 76 wins is a great accomplishment, and that's where things went a little awry with a lot of folks. A lot of people misunderstood Jeff's intentions. People have said, "Y'all got mighty quiet up in the booth." Well, let me tell you why. When we heard crew chief Steve Letarte say that he had a flag for Jeff, we just assumed that it was a Virginia Tech flag so we were waiting for them to bring the flag to Jeff. We were being quiet to pay tribute to the moment.
When Jeff was handed the No. 3 flag, our jaws dropped, not because of the gesture and not because it was the 3 flag. We just hadn't anticipated it. Once we saw what it was, we understood perfectly. It had been planned for quite some time. Jeff and Steve had talked some of the folks at DEI last year about carrying that flag in honor of Dale. In no way can I read anything ill into what Jeff did on Saturday night or what his intentions were. I thought it was fitting and honorable, and I thought Jeff was gracious and humble. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran over to victory circle, patted him on the back and told him thanks.
Think about it folks. Dale Earnhardt died in 2001, and we're still honoring the man today. There are still things that he's done and records that he has that all drivers are pursue — not only the 76 wins but seven championships as well. But Jeff Gordon was destined to rewrite the record books. Just think about it. The kid has only been driving 15 years in Cup, and he's won 76 races. It took me 28 years to win 84. It took Dale 25 years to win 76. Jeff Gordon has won four championships. He's won Daytona. He's won Indy. Turning 36 in August, there's nothing he hasn't done, and the man's got another 10 good years ahead of him.
When he won his first championship in 1994, I knew that he was going to erase all of the modern era records so it doesn't come as a great surprise to me. He's the all-time leading money winner with over $80 million now. There's no end to what Gordon can do. Right now, he's as focused as I've ever seen him. He's back like he was seven or eight years ago. He took a hiatus for a couple of years to sow some wild oats. That's behind him, and he and wife Ingrid are expecting a beautiful little baby girl. Gordon is a changed man, and he's going to be hard to beat this year. The team is incredible. The car is consistent. He's driving the best I think I've ever seen him drive. He and Letarte are singing the same song. Folks, I'm afraid everybody else is in trouble.
There's no denying that Gordon is a great driver. Is he another Dale Earnhardt? Or is he a Dale Earnhardt? We all know that nobody can fill those shoes, but there are things that Dale did that everybody wants to take a shot at because Dale was the greatest. If you break the greatest's record, then you've accomplished something extraordinary. Gordon was saying, "I love Dale. Dale was the man. He taught me a lot. I respect him. Now that I've tied his win mark, I want to honor him, and I just want him to be part of it. That's all it was. I'm just glad I was there to watch and be a part of it because Jeff Gordon is not another Dale Earnhardt. But Jeff Gordon is extraordinary.
Oh, by the way...
I can understand why Tony Stewart was frustrated and left the racetrack on Saturday night. His public relations representative, Mike Arning, did exactly the right thing. Tony was upset, not that Gordon was carrying the 3 flag around the racetrack. Tony was upset because he didn't understand how Jeff could make that pit stop, come back out and be in the lead. Tony did everything right; Jeff did everything righter, if I may say. So I understand why he was upset, and he probably did the right thing by leaving. I'm sure he probably would have said something that he would have regretted. Who knows? He might have even started talking about retirement again.