Gordon seeks first Kentucky win
SPARTA, Ky. – Kentucky Speedway gave Jeff Gordon a parting gift that would make a native of the commonwealth jealous with 24 bottles of its trademark bourbon from four master distilleries.
That’s fine, but he’d settle for drinking champagne in victory lane.
Though NASCAR’s four-time Sprint Cup Series hasn’t raced enough times on the 1.5-mile oval to develop a love/hate relationship for it, he enters Saturday night’s 400-mile race with some unfinished business. In a stellar career featuring 92 wins, it’s the lone track that the 43-year-old hasn’t conquered, a void he looks to fill in his final start at the track before retiring at the end of the season.
“It’s the only one left on the list, so it would mean a lot to accomplish that,” Gordon said Friday in a packed media center. “It wouldn’t mean so much to me if I hadn’t won so much at all the other ones. It’s all been good, we’ve come close before.
“It’s not like if we don’t win, I’m going to be super disappointed. I’d be disappointed if we finished second, to come that close.”
Gordon’s four top-10 finishes here suggests he’ll at least be in the discussion as he seeks his first win since September at Dover. His strong record here, overall pattern of success on intermediate-length tracks and 10th-place points standing also make him a solid contender this weekend.
He’ll start third in the No. 24 Chevy.
Considering the love Gordon has already received as he takes his final lap around the NASCAR circuit, there’s no doubt the California native with Indiana racing roots will be the sentimental favorite when the green flag waves.
What Gordon seeks most is an upward trajectory as he drives toward the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Despite five top-10s in his last 10 starts including sixth in Monday morning’s wild ending at Daytona, he has led just one lap in his past seven races.
Rain returned to Kentucky Speedway Friday, canceling qualifying for the Sprint Cup and Xfinity series races.
With the starting grids set on practice speeds, Kyle Larson will be on the pole beside Brad Keselowski for Saturday night’s 400-mile Cup race at the 1.5-mile track. It’s the second career pole for Larson, who had the fastest practice speed of 182.537 mph earlier in the day.
Though Keselowski is happy with his Ford in both series, he was disappointed at not getting to show its strength on the track.
“I felt like we had a shot at the pole in both races and didn’t get to qualify, so I’m a little bummed about that,” said Keselowski, the defending Cup race champion. “But I’m happy with the speed that we’ve shown so far.”
J.J. Yeley’s top speed of 174.967 mph in Thursday’s final practice earned the pole for Friday night’s 300-mile Xfinity race.
Two days of showers canceled tests of a new track-specific rules package for Cup teams. Practice and qualifying for Thursday’s Camping World Truck Series race were also washed out.
Cup drivers got on the track Friday morning for more than an hour before showers halted practice. Another session was held in the afternoon, with drivers adapting to rules that reduce downforce in hopes of creating more passing.
Rear spoilers were reduced from 6 to 3.5 inches with the front splitter expanded by 25 inches. An overhang was also reduced by 1.75 inches.
Even with limited practice, the package seems to be working for Larson.
“I was glad we got a little bit of track time,” he said. “We were quick off the truck, which I was really proud of my team for just because we haven’t had any laps on this new package. We were quick in race trim off the truck, and then we went back to mock qualifying trim and were really fast.”