Pepsi
400 presented by Meijer -
Michigan
Speedway
Qualifying-
Jeff Gordon will start
Sunday's race in the 16th spot. Dale Earnhardt Jr. grabbed
the Bud Pole for the event, shattering the old track record.
It should be noted that Tony "The Only Way I Can Defend
Myself is by Cursing" Stewart is starting in 19th position,
which is within sheet metal banging range.
Race-
Not again!! For the third race in a row, Jeff Gordon was
involved in an early race accident, thus destroying his
chances of even a top-20 finish. Gordon's day was ended
early when Tony Stewart (yes, the same) was racing Dale
Earnhardt Jr. hard on lap 37. Tony was running the low line
trying to make the pass, when he suddenly got loose, made
contact with Jr., and went spinning towards the outside
wall. Gordon, who was running right behind the two, tried to
go up high to avoid Stewart's spinning car. However, there
wasn't enough room, and Gordon was tagged and bumped up into
the wall. It took the Rainbow Warriors 42 laps to fix the
damaged car. He came back out onto the track, but kept
loosing laps. By the time he parked the car, he was 47 laps
down. In an interview by ESPN while the car was getting
repairs, Jeff basically said that what happened was strictly
coincidental and he didn't blame Stewart at all. Good thing
for Tony.
Jeff lost no points positions, leaving him at 10th in the standings, 604 points behind leader Bobby Labonte.