Tina Gordon meets and greets fans next to her car before Saturday’s Busch race. Julie Brown / Rome News-Tribune
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Armuchee High graduate Tina Gordon just wanted to finish her second career Busch series start. Obviously, that wasn’t good enough.
Starting at the back of the pack after blowing an engine in practice Friday, Gordon finished 10th in Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 Busch Series race at the Talladega Superspeedway, completely outdoing even her own expectations.
“I never dreamed of finishing in the top 10,” Gordon said. “Just working hard has paid off.”
Gordon came into the Aaron’s 312 with the mindset that her job was to gain more experience and seat time, but after overcoming clutch problems, a blown engine and a bad qualifying spot, things could only get better. And they did.
Ironically, it was the misfortune of a few of her fellow drivers that finally got things going Gordon’s way.
On lap No. 8, Johnny Sauter cut a left rear tire entering Turn 4, setting off a chain reaction that wrecked 19 cars, eventually sending 12 out permanently, including top points leaders Todd Bodine and Jason Keller and five of the top 10.
Not involved in the wreck was Gordon, who moved from the back to 21st by lap 10.
Gordon hung around in 20th and 21st for the early part of the race but had moved her way to up 14th by lap No. 40.
“You never know what can help or hurt you at Talladega,” Gordon said of the bit of fortune she found in the early wreck. “I stayed in there and worked toward the top.” Gordon moved up to 12th by lap 70 and stayed there through lap 90.
Late in the race Gordon came into the pits with about 20 to go and as soon as she left pit row a caution came out, basically wasting the stop and worrying some of her crew that she might lose valuable track position. “If we had waited another lap we might have come out fifth or sixth,” Gordon’s husband Gary said when he heard about the caution.
But Gordon didn’t lose any ground and found herself in position for her first Top-10 finish in any of NASCAR’s upper divisions.
“We raced really hard here today,” she said. “Staying with it paid off in the end.”
Gordon, a Cedar Bluff, Ala., resident and a Craftsman Truck Series rookie, raced the No. 22 Sticks ‘n’ Stuff Chevy for Bost Motorsports in the Aaron’s 312 and team owner Danny Bost was more than happy with the way his first-time driver raced.
“We’re a brand new team this year and this is our best finish,” Bost said. “We’ve finished 19th, 15th and now 10th, so maybe we’ll crack into single digits soon.
“Tina did a fantastic job,” he added. “She’s a great driver and we love having her.”
Gordon initially qualified 38th for Saturday’s race with a provisional and then had to replace an engine after Friday’s practice, forcing her to the back of the pack. At the end of the day, she had gained 33 spots.
Gordon’s finish not only did a lot for her confidence as a driver, it also gave Bost extra confidence in her and he mentioned the possibility of adding a second team in the future with Gordon in the driver’s seat.
“We would like to have her,” he said. “Maybe in a second car.”
Gordon, who leads the Raybestos Rookie of the Year points in truck series, will race trucks in Martinsville, Va. next weekend and is 16th in overall points.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. took first place in the Aaron’s 312, his first Busch Series win at Talladega.
Joe Nemechek finished second, Shane Hmiel was third,Ron Hornaday Jr. came in fourth and Mike Bliss was fifth. Kurt Busch finished first in the IROC race Saturday afternoon.
The Aaron’s 499 Winston Cup Series race begins today at noon with Jeremy Mayfield on the pole.
