Jeff Gordon was fed up with Clint Bowyer and
decided the final laps of Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Phoenix
International Raceway was a good time to take out a season’s worth of
frustration.
Gordon
intentionally wrecked Bowyer’s No. 15 Toyota late in the
AdvoCare 500, a
move that ruined both cars and led to a melee between the teams in the
garage and Bowyer to say that Gordon’s action “makes us look like a
bunch of (idiots).”
NASCAR met with both drivers after Sunday’s race in
a Sprint Cup Series hauler guarded by five sheriff’s officers at one
point. Any penalties will be announced later this week.
“It’s just things have gotten escalated over the
year, and I’ve just had it,” Gordon said after meeting with NASCAR
officials. “Clint’s run into me numerous times, wrecked me, and he got
into me on the back straightaway and pretty much ruined our day. I’ve
had it and was fed up with it and got him back.”
After the incident, Gordon drove his car back to
the garage. A member from Bowyer’s team went after Gordon, and a
skirmish ensued between the teams. Bowyer parked his car on pit road and
could see the fight on a giant video board behind his pit stall. He
climbed out of his car and sprinted to the garage, running to Gordon’s
hauler before he was physically restrained a few feet from the door.
“The crew thing is between Jeff and Clint and not
those team members,” said Alan Gustafson, Gordon’s crew chief. “My
instruction to the guys was just, ‘Don’t let anybody get to Jeff.’ And
that’s what that’s about. We’re going to protect him and stand behind
him at all costs. Those guys obviously have tempers running high as are
ours, and that’s what happens.”
Gordon’s action cost Bowyer what slim chances he
had of a championship. Bowyer entered Sunday’s race 29 points out of the
lead. Bowyer finished 28th Sunday and was eliminated from title
contention.
“For him to act like that, I barely touched him and
then I feel him get into Turn 3 and try to turn me, and he missed,”
Bowyer said after meeting with NASCAR officials. “Next thing I know,
(spotter) Brett (Griffin) is telling me on the radio that he’s waiting
on me.”
Would there be retaliation from Bowyer as the
season ends next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway? “We’ll just have to
see,” Bowyer said.
“That was my opportunity to try to get myself back
in the championship hunt. When you’re disrupting a championship run like
that, it’s too bad. They ask us not to do that in the drivers’ meeting,
and there’s usually a lot of respect there.”
Asked if he saw anything on or off the track that
might merit suspension to any drivers or crewmembers, Robin Pemberton,
NASCAR’s vice president of competition said: “It’s Sunday night. The
best decisions are made sometime after Sunday night, maybe Monday or
Tuesday.”
Source : http://www.suntimes.com/sports/16337126-419/jeff-gordon-defends-nascar-fight-with-clint-bowyer.html
