Jeff Gordon Wins at Martinsville, Clinches Spot in Championship Round

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Jeff Gordon won the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 from Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Gordon clinched a spot into the championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway by winning on Sunday.  Gordon was emotional in victory lane after picking up his first victory of the season.

Photo courtesy Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

“Wow, we’re going to Homestead and I can’t believe it,” Gordon said.  “This is the sweetest, most amazing feeling.”

Gordon’s team came through under pressure late in the race after a late-race pit stop.  Gordon said a lot of this victory is due to his team.

“I am so proud of this team,” Gordon said.  “People don’t give this team enough credit and we seized this opportunity right there.”

The race did finish with some controversy for the second week in a row.  While leading, Joey Logano was spun by Matt Kenseth, ending the race for both drivers.  

Many people, including Logano, thought Kenseth’s actions were payback for a spin two weeks ago at Kansas that put Kenseth in a difficult spot heading into last weekend’s race in Talladega.

“It’s just a complete coward move, especially for a championship racecar driver,” Logano said.  “Just a chicken-you-know-what move to completely take out the leader when your race is over.  We just got to win.” 

Kenseth said his car was damaged from an earlier incident and he blew a tire down going into the corner.

“We had so much damage on the right front, I should have probably just put it in the garage,” Kenseth said.  “Just got into [Turn} 1 and couldn’t get it to turn and ran Joey over.”

Kenseth didn’t want to focus on the possibility that the wreck was payback for Kansas when he was asked following the race.

“I don’t have any comments for that.”

Unofficial results

1. Jeff Gordon

2. Jamie McMurray

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

5. Kyle Busch

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Ryan Newman

8. Kevin Harvick

9. Kasey Kahne

10. Tony Stewart

11. AJ Allmendinger

12. Jimmie Johnson

13. Justin Allgaier

14. Carl Edwards

15. Paul Menard

16. Aric Almirola

17. Casey Mears

18. Austin Dillon

19. Kyle Larson

20. Cole Whitt

21. Landon Cassill

22. Alex Bowman

23. Michael Annett

24. David Gilliland

25. David Ragan

26. Greg Biffle

27. Jeb Burton

28. Sam Hornish Jr.

29. J.J. Yeley

30. Matt DiBenedetto

31. Trevor Bayne

32. Brad Keselowski

33. Alex Kennedy

34. Kurt Busch

35. Brett Moffitt

36. Timmy Hill

37. Joey Logano

38. Matt Kenseth

39. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

40. Danica Patrick

41. Kyle Fowler

42. Ryan Preece

43. Clint Bowyer

Photo courtesy Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images