RAY WHO?? Life after Ray Evernham?? For
Jeff Gordon and new crew chief Brian Whitesell, it's pretty
darn good. As if Gordon's win at Martinsville on Oct 3 - his forst
race following the departure of Evernham, his longtime crew chief
and confidant - wasn't proof enough, more was provided when
Gordon sped to victory in the UAW-GM Quality 500 to win his
second consecutive event with Whitesell at the helm. "Man, I really
should consider retirement right now," Whitesell said. "I just
don't know how long we can keep this up." The victory was the seventh
of the year for Gordon and the 49th of his career. That ties him
with Rusty Wallace for 10th on NASCAR's all-time list. It
was also his first win in Lowe's Motor Speedway's October event.
He has won the Coca-Cola 600 three times.
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After qualifying fourth for the
UAW-GM Quality 500, Mark led in the early laps of the rain-delayed
event. An equalized tire affected the handling of the car and dropped
Mark back in the pack, however. Later in the race, adjustments during a
pit stop helped the handling of Mark's Taurus and he finished fourth as
Jeff Gordon won his second consecutive race. "We had an awesome race car,"
Mark said. "We had a problem on a pit stop and got way behind, and then
we equalized a tire and had to run until a fuel stop with an equalized
right rear. It's a miracle we finished where we did. The car was really
strong at the end. We could have been a contender if we could have avoided
the earlier problems."
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An "equalized" tire is one in which a
puncture in the inner liner allows the air pressure in both the tire and
the inner liner to change, thereby drastically affecting the handling of
the car.
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Mark had an impressive run during
the Busch Grand National race at Charlotte, only to end up with a
disappointing finish. After trading the top spot with Matt Kenseth and
Jeff Gordon in the early laps of the race, Mark cut a tire on lap 147.
Debris from the tire damaged a brake line as Martin drove the Winn-Dixie
Ford to the pits. "We cut down a right rear tire," Martin said. "It would
have been okay, but it broke a brake line. I was actually lucky we didn't
go into the corner and hit the fence. It was a shame because the
Winn-Dixie team gave me another great car." Mark's next BGN race will be
at North Carolina Motor Speedway on Oct. 23.
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