No Fueling, Gordon Wins

FONTANA — For 500 miles, the perception was that Jeff Gordon had the fastest car on the California Speedway, even when he was as far back as 11th.

The perception proved correct Sunday when Gordon and his Rainbow Warrior crew used some conservative fuel management to bring their Chevrolet Monte Carlo home in front of an estimated 95,000 spectators at the inaugural California 500 Winston Cup race.

Gordon led 113 of the 250 laps and beat his Rick Hendrick teammate, Terry Labonte, to the finish by 15 car-lengths. Ricky Rudd, who received a provisional starting place after failing to qualify, came from 39th to finish third.

It was the 25-year-old Gordon’s seventh victory in 15 Winston Cup races this year and his 26th career victory in his last 103 starts.

It was also the second time he had won an inaugural race. He won the first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1994.

The Chevrolets of Gordon and Labonte were left to battle it out the last 11 laps when the Fords of Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace had to make desperation stops for a splash of fuel.

Martin was leading when he pitted for five seconds’ worth of fuel on lap 239, giving Gordon the lead for keeps. It turned out that five seconds’ worth wasn’t enough--Martin ran out of gas on the last lap and fell to 10th place.

“They told me to let Mark go [for the lead], that he was definitely going to have to come in,” Gordon said. “I was really nervous. It was like, ‘If he doesn’t pit, I’m going to be really mad.’ But he did have to pit.

“You’ve got two races going on out there. We’re going for the win by chancing the fuel mileage, but we’re also going for the [season] championship. It doesn’t pay to run out of gas because it would have hurt us for the championship.

“It was kind of a gamble either way. I was kind of excited that we went for it.”

Jarrett was second, closing in on Gordon, when he pitted on lap 241, but by the time he got back to speed he was seventh.

Final pit stops also were the difference between Gordon and Labonte. On their last stops, Gordon took right side tires only while Labonte changed all four.

“When Jeff took only two, that time we lost taking four was the difference in the pits and on the track,” a disappointed Labonte said.

“We had to put on four because I had a vibration and didn’t know which tire it was, so we had to change them all. We still thought Jeff might run out of fuel and we wanted to be in position to win if he did.

“Our cars were so equal that if we had been out front, I don’t think he could have passed us.”

Even though he picked up time on Labonte, Gordon was still worried that his teammate might run him down in a duel of fuel.

“Ray [crew chief Evernham] got me nervous at the end when he started telling me to conserve, conserve, conserve,” Gordon said. “I kept watching Terry in my mirror. I was trying to conserve, but I didn’t want him to catch up too much. I could tell he was kind of conserving too.

“You know how close it was. I ran out [of gas] after taking the checkered flag. I ran out coming to victory lane.”

The Hendrick cars had the edge when they both pitted two laps later than the Fords on what was their last stop. Those four miles made the difference in running out of gas, or not.

With Ricky Craven finishing ninth, it gave the Hendrick Motorsports team a 1-2-9 record, its best since finishing 1-2-3 at the Daytona 500. Hendrick was not here because of leukemia, which prevents him from traveling, but he was in radio communication with Gordon during the race.

“If there was anybody happier than me when we took the checkered flag, it was Rick,” Gordon said.

After polesitter Joe Nemechek led the first time around at the start, and Wally Dallenbach led the next six laps, Gordon asserted himself by moving in front on the eighth lap. The ease with which he circled the two-mile oval in front of the 42-car pack led to the feeling that the race would be his.

When Hut Stricklin became the first Winston Cup driver to hit the California Speedway wall in competition, all the leaders pitted on lap 35. Gordon was fifth when the field reassembled, but once again he moved through the leaders and was out in front eight laps later.

“The pace was so fast that track position was really important, so I worked hard all day, communicating with the team, trying to get our car better and better,” Gordon said. “To me, it’s the teamwork that makes us stand out so far this year, getting those seven wins. When we need the pit crew to step up, they step up.

“No other team is quite as precise as we are now. You never know how a race is going to shake down, but the team has confidence in each other.

“It’s like the Chicago Bulls. There are nights when [Michael] Jordan is not the guy, so they rely on [Scottie] Pippen or someone else. They stepped up. That’s what our crew does. It was Ray who stepped up today with his call for a two-tire stop and his judgment on our fuel mileage.”

With Gordon and the leaders running laps in the 179-mph range during green flag periods, the 500 miles took 3 hours 13 minutes 31 seconds to complete. Four yellow flags for 22 laps reduced the average speed to 155.025 mph.

Gordon received $144,600, plus the Les Richter Trophy, for the win. It upped his season earnings to $1,874,869.

The day was a tremendous success for Roger Penske, whose vision led to the building of California Speedway, but for the actual race itself, it didn’t turn out so well.

Penske, not busy enough with preparing to welcome 42 drivers and 95,000 spectators to his track, did the spotting for Rusty Wallace during the race.

“Roger wanted me to win this race really bad,” said Wallace, who won the final race at Riverside International Raceway in 1988. “He was my spotter for the whole race. He was my coach, I guess you could say. He talked to me every single lap, you know, telling me ‘a little higher, a little lower,’ who was coming up behind me.

“We didn’t have a winning car, but I thought we had a top-five car. When Robin [crew chief Pemberton] said we were going to have to stop with 11 laps to go, I thought that was fine. But then I didn’t see anybody else stop, Evidently our fuel mileage wasn’t so good.”

Wallace finished 14th, which only goes to prove that even Roger Penske can’t have everything.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TOP FINISHERS

No. Driver: Car

1. Jeff Gordon: Chevrolet

2. Terry Labonte: Chevrolet

3. Ricky Rudd: Ford

4. Ted Musgrave: Ford

5. Jimmy Spencer: Ford

COMPLETE LIST: C10

* EMPTY FEELING: Mark Martin gambles, runs out of gas and finishes 10th. C10

* HANDY MAN: Yes, that was Greg Penske out directing traffic. C10

The Leader Pole

How leaders stood at various points of 250-lap, 500-mile race:

CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY

LAP 60

1: 24

2: 6

3: 33

8: 5

13: 10

*

LAP 120

1: 88

2: 5

3: 24

9: 10

*

LAP 180

1: 5

2: 88

3: 24

7: 10

*

LAP 250

1: 24

2: 5

3: 10

*

Key:

24: Jeff Gordon

5: Terry Labonte

10: Darrell Waltrip

88: Dale Jarrett

6: Mark Martin

33: Ken Martin

10: Ricky Rudd