Wrong pit call costs Gordon Vegas win

If he’d had Chad Knaus as his crew chief Sunday, Jeff Gordon would have had an all-time 15th career victory at a 1.5-mile track and likely would’ve popped some champagne corks in the City That Never Sleeps.

Reality for Gordon, sadly, is that Steve Letarte is his crew chief. The pit boss of the 24 car, ripping defeat from the jaws of victory, made the wrong call at the crucial point in the race, and the Shelby American, as the Sprint Cup race in Las Vegas was known this year, slipped through Gordon’s grasp, leaving opportunistic teammate Jimmie Johnson to register his second consecutive win of 2010. Ironically, it was Johnson who laid claim to the 15th career victory on a mile-and-a-half track; he had been previously tied with Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty for that honor.

Gordon dominated the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading 218 of the 267-lap total, but the wrong call by Letarte, who opted for two tires instead of four during a green-flag pit stop with 37 laps to go, lost Gordon the chance for his first appearance in Victory Lane since the Texas race in May of last year. Pitting at the same time as Gordon, the 48 car went with a four-tire change, the only one of the five lead cars on pit row to do so. In the end it proved to be the winning edge. Gordon maintained a steady half-second lead on Johnson for more than half the remaining distance to the checkered flag, until with just 16 laps left, the difference in the four- vs. two-tire strategy played out for Johnson and Knaus. Gordon then lost second place to Kevin Harvick, the 2010 point standings leader, with four laps to go.

For the second race in a row, Harvick finished second to Johnson. The Richard Childress Racing stable has capably put up a serious challenge to the 48 car in the early going: All three RCR cars currently run in the Top Seven in the standings, with Harvick and Clint Bowyer running Nos. 1 and 2. Johnson stands fifth.

ROADSIDE RANT: Twice during the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, malfunctioning electronic caution lights around the track created unnecessary cautions. The first time, on the restart following the second caution, on Lap 52, yellow lights continued to remain lit after the green flag was waved. Then on Lap 107, out of nowhere, the yellow lights tripped for no apparent reason 14 laps into what would have been a magnificent 135-lap stretch of green-flag racing. That’s two out of the first three races this season that have been halted for track malfunctions, the first being the infamous pothole incident at Daytona during NASCAR’s season opener and the series’ premier race of the year. With all its attendant problems that are contributing to flagging attendance both at the track and on television, NASCAR can ill afford elementary failures in its event production. Torn-up track surfaces and broken lighting circuits only sabotage its program further. When these incidents actually halt races, it sends a message that NASCAR isn’t properly maintaining its facilities, not spending the necessary money to make the track circuits first rate. It all factors into the big picture of why disgruntlement has begun to seep through some discernible cracks in the sport.

Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
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