Man, can it get any worse for former NASCAR champions Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon?
Between the two veterans, they have a total of seven Cup Series titles. But this season has not been so kind.
Gordon, 43, opened the year by sitting on the pole at the Daytona 500. Since then, well, it’s been ugly. He finished 33rd at Daytona, 41st at Atlanta and 18th at Las Vegas, driving a backup car after working hard in the final minutes of final practice.
Stewart, 44, struggled even more, placing 42nd, 30th and 33rd in his first three starts.
At Phoenix, Stewart dealt with a handling issue for most of the race until a late adjustment to his No. 14 Chevrolet.
He told his team on the radio: “I don’t know what you did there, but it looks like we have four tires of a totally different compound.” Much better.
Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. Stewart was already two laps down, a deficit he was unable to overcome.
Meanwhile, Gordon had to chase down Jeb Burton on pit road to apologize for hitting the rookie from behind during the race. There’s nothing worse than having to say to a newbie driver, “I’m sorry.”
Gordon beat Stewart in terms of championship points. Gordon, calling this his final season as a Cup driver, is 30th and his Hoosier State nemesis is 34th.
There is only one path to go from here, and that is the end. RIGHT?
Brian Vickers went from having open heart surgery in December to finishing 15th behind the wheel of his No. 55 Toyota in a Cup race in March. “It’s amazing,” he said. “It feels so good to be back in a race car.” Vickers made his third career medical return Sunday in Las Vegas. “You always want to win, but I think for us it was a win in a lot of ways, and I’m just really proud of everyone on the Aaron’s Dream Machine crew,” Vickers said after the race . “The Camry was great at times and we always need a little bit more to be a winning car, but we were top seven at times and we kind of finished in the top 15. Like I said, I I’m grateful to be here.”
Martin Truex Jr. and AJ Allmendinger continue to defy the odds with their single-seater teams. Truex is fourth in points and “Dinger” is fifth. Truex has not finished lower than 10th since the start of the season. Allmendinger has finished seventh and sixth in his last two starts. “Honestly, it’s probably one of the best races we’ve ever had,” Allmendinger said of his Las Vegas race. “It’s fun to run up front,” Truex said. “It’s fun to drive fast cars.”
