Global Crossing@ The
Glen -Watkins Glen
Intl. Raceway, Watkins Glen, NY
Qualifying-
After being rained
out for the 2nd time, NASCAR officials decided to line
the cars up for Sunday's race by each driver's points
position. Jeff will start 8th, after having the second
quickest car in practice. Boris Said, who had the fastest
time in practice, will not start the race because he has
wasn't in the top 36 in Winston Cup points, and did not make
the provisioal draw.
Race-
On lap two, Gordon
tried to make a pass on Stewart through the esses. Two cars
can not fit through that section of the race track, and
during the very early stages of the race, it is only
sportsmanlike to let the faster car get by. Stewart did not
do this, and in so doing put Gordon into the wall. Both cars
sustained sheetmetal damage. Tony's crew got him back out
onto the track quickly. Gordon's car, however, had much
heavier damage, and the Rainbow Warriors lost a lap fixing
the car. Gordon got back on the lead lap, but it was too
little too late. He finished 23rd. Stewart went on to post a
sixth place finish.
Afterward the two drivers had a heated "discussion" in the garage area. Gordon threatened, "The next time you get near me, I'll put you in the wall."
Stewart replied with a string of swear words. That in itself is immature. Later on, Tony said, "I thought I gave him enough room." Obviously not.
During this whole argument between the drivers, analysts have agreed that Gordon used no profanity. This shows some great character. It would have been easy to lay into Stewart with every swear word in the book, but he didn't.
Gordon fell back to tenth in the standings. He is 489 points behind the series leader, Bobby Labonte.