By Dick Mittman
allstate400atthebrickyard.com
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Jeff Gordon not only became the fourth four-time winner of a major race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Aug. 8 but also moved into fourth place in all-time earnings at the track.
Gordon, driver of the DuPont Chevrolet, received a $518,053 payoff for winning the Brickyard 400. This brought his 11-race Brickyard winnings to $4,370,715. That pushed him around Rick Mears, one of three four-time Indianapolis 500 champions, into fourth behind Arie Luyendyk ($6,110,859), Al Unser Jr. ($5,582,440) and Buddy Lazier ($4,491,125).
Luyendyk, who'll be 51 on Sept. 21, and Unser, 42, are retired, and Lazier, 37 on Oct. 31, has only started the Indianapolis 500 this year.
Meanwhile, Gordon, who celebrated his 33rd birthday four days before this year's Brickyard 400, is in the prime of his career. The victory moved him to within 97 points of teammate Jimmie Johnson for the lead in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series point lead.
There are five races remaining before the cutoff to decide the top 10 that will be involved in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup over the final 10 races. The leader after the Chevy Monte Carlo 400 on Sept. 11 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway will start the chase with 5,050 points, and the other nine will get five points less per position down to the 10th-place driver, who will start with 5,000 points.
It appears the top seven of Johnson, Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Elliott Sadler and Kurt Busch are secure without a total breakdown in the next five races starting with the Sirius at the Glen on Aug. 15. That happens to be on the Watkins Glen road course, and Gordon is one of the best road-course drivers in NASCAR.
Bobby Labonte holds seventh, 511 points behind Johnson and 73 points in front of 11th place Kasey Kahne. Kahne, like Gordon a former USAC midget champion, drove to fourth place in the Brickyard 400 and pulled to within 31 points of 10th-place Ryan Newman and 51 of ninth-place Kevin Harvick, the 2003 Brickyard pole and race winner.
Newman, 1999 USAC Silver Crown champion, has had a topsy-turvy 2004 season after scoring eight victories and 11 poles last season. In the last 10 races he has finished 35th, 24th, 30th, first, 14th, 12th, 34th, third, 13th, and 31st.
The bottom three also are being challenged by Jeremy Mayfield, one point behind Kahne in 12th, and Dale Jarrett, second to Gordon at Indy, 23 more back. They appear to be the only three capable of squeezing into the top 10 before the cutoff. Jamie McMurray in 14th trails Newman by 109, and Mark Martin is 123 points behind Newman, in 15th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the point standings the first two races and then again for seven straight from April 18 to June 20. He now seems destined to enter the Chase in third after a blown tire on the extra 161st lap in the Brickyard dropped him to 27th place. Although Earnhardt picked up 27 points on Johnson, who suffered engine failure and fell out in 36th, Earnhardt still trails Johnson by 240 points and Gordon by 137.
Labonte jumped from ninth to seventh, while Newman slipped from eighth to 10th. Harvick moved up one slot to ninth.
INs
1. Jimmie Johnson, 3,095 points
2. Jeff Gordon -97
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -240
4. Tony Stewart -334
5. Matt Kenseth -357
6. Elliott Sadler -421
7. Kurt Busch -480
8. Bobby Labonte -511
9. Kevin Harvick -533
10. Ryan Newman -553
OUTs
11. Kasey Kahne -584
12. Jeremy Mayfield -585
13. Dale Jarrett -608
14. Jamie McMurray -662
15. Mark Martin -676
16. Casey Mears -808
17. Rusty Wallace -821
18. Michael Waltrip -827
19. Sterling Marlin -872
20. Terry Labonte -887
21. Greg Biffle -921
22. Brian Vickers -924
23. Robby Gordon -926
24. Jeff Burton -985
25. Joe Nemechek -997
26. Scott Wimmer -1,089
27. Ward Burton -1,166
28. Ricky Rudd -1,171
29. Brendan Gaughan -1,280
30. Scott Riggs -1,350
31. Ken Schrader -1,356
32. Kyle Petty -1,369
33. Ricky Craven -1,380
34. Jeff Green -1,392
35. Jimmy Spencer -1,848
36. Johnny Sauter -1,878
37. Dave Blaney -1,891
38. Derrike Cope -2,206
39. Morgan Shepherd -2,498
40. Kevin Lepage -2,513
41. Todd Bodine -2,616
42. John Andretti -2,635
43. Kirk Shelmerdine -2,658
44. Bill Elliott -2,685
45. Hermie Sadler -2,746
46. Bobby Hamilton Jr. -2,763
47. PJ Jones -2,779
48. Johnny Benson -2,824
49. Carl Long -2,874
50. Scott Pruett -2,888
51. Joe Ruttman -2,888
52. Andy Hillenburg -2,889
53. Larry Foyt -2,901
54. Geoffrey Bodine -2,903
55. Stanton Barrett -2,911
56. Mike Wallace -2,925
57. Boris Said -2,945
58. Kerry Earnhardt -2,958
59. Tony Raines -2,979
60. Larry Gunselman -2,982
61. Kenny Wallace -2,982
62. Klaus Graf -2,983
63. Kyle Busch -2,988
64. Jim Inglebright -2,989
65. Andy Belmont -2,997
66. Mike Skinner -2,998
67. Eric McClure -3,005
68. Mike Bliss -3,025
69. Ted Christopher -3,040
70. Austin Cameron -3,046
71. Jason Jarrett -3,052
72. Brandon Ash -3,055
73. Greg Sacks -3,058
74. Randy LaJoie -3,061
75. Tom Hubert -3,061
76. Chad Blount -3,061
77. Jason Leffler -3,061 ***
2005 tickets: The 12th Brickyard 400 is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 7, 2005. Customers who are upgrading or purchasing Brickyard 400 tickets for the first time should act quickly to increase their chances of obtaining their desired seats.
To purchase tickets, camping or parking, contact the IMS ticket office at (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area, (317) 492-6700 locally or log on to www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.
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