TALLADEGA, Ala. — Teamwork meant very little in the closing laps at Talladega Superspeedway.
Unless, of course, you were driving a Ford.
Clint Bowyer bailed on teammate Jeff Burton on the last lap of Sunday’s race, pulling around him when the checkered flag was in sight to pick up his first victory of the season and the 100th in the Sprint Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing.
“You hate that it comes down to that; it is what it is,” Bowyer said. “You owe it to your team, to your sponsors to go out and win the race. Unfortunately, it came down to that situation.”
Burton and the RCR team understood that’s how the game is played.
The grumbling was far behind the leaders, where Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne ditched Jeff Gordon because Bayne was part of a pact made by Ford drivers to only push fellow Ford drivers in an effort to help Roush Fenway Racing drivers Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth in the championship race.
Gordon was seventh on the final restart and thought Bayne was committed to pushing him over the last two laps. Instead, Bayne backed off, and Gordon, with no help, faded to 27th. An animated Bayne went immediately to Gordon’s car after the race, then posted his thoughts on Twitter.
“I’m not happy about what this has become,” he posted on Twitter in reference to Talladega’s two-car drafting style and the reliance on partners.
“It’s too premeditated. We should be able to go with whoever is around us. I would have rather pulled over and finished last than tell (Gordon) I would work with him and then be strong armed into bailing.”
Gordon said he was deceived.
“The Fords made it very clear about what they were doing in working with one another,” Gordon said. “So I didn’t expect him to commit to me on the radio. I expected him to say, ’Man, I’m sorry, I can’t.’ And when he said, ’Yeah, I’m pushing you, we’re good,’ I believed him. I think they had a different plan.”
And as expected, the race heated up in the closing laps.
Drivers jockeyed for position and partners in the new two-car drafting system. Although the race was not marred by “the big one,” there was a series of accidents, and the last, with eight laps remaining, was a hard hit by Regan Smith that required repairs to the SAFER barrier.
It made for a shakeup in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings. Harvick and Kyle Busch were both in accidents, and fivetime defending series champion Johnson finished 26th as he and partner Earnhardt never made their charge to the front.
Edwards, who came into the race up five points over Harvick, finished 11th and saw his lead increase to 14 points over Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth.
There were hard feelings after the race as drivers were upset at etiquette in the closing laps. Stewart had been working with RCR driver Paul Menard during the second half of the race, but Menard wasn’t able to push him to the win when the race restarted after Smith’s accident with two laps to go.
Stewart finished seventh.
But team owner Richard Childress said Menard was there to help Stewart, a fellow Chevrolet driver.
“I went on Paul’s radio and told him go up there and push Tony and try to win the race,” Childress said. “I wanted him to win the race, but I also wanted him to push Tony. That was just the way it was.”
If Stewart had been a Ford driver?
“We were going to help Chevy try to win,” Childress said. “I’ve been Chevy all my life. It’s kind of hard to change an old dog.”
Sports, Pages 15 on 10/24/2011