Gordon mutes complaints by his own insubordination
It might have been humorous had it not seemed so pathetic. Robby Gordon motored onto the frontstretch at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, his spinning tires disgorging clouds of billowy white smoke. He climbed from his car and pumped his fist to the crowd. He gave every indication of being the winner of NASCAR's first Busch race in Montreal -- except that he wasn't.
That honor belonged to Kevin Harvick, who was on his way to Victory Lane as Gordon threw a mock celebration that left the NASCAR brass seething. Series chairman Brian France and president Mike Helton were on hand Saturday to witness the sport's triumphant return to Canada, and what they saw was an overwhelming success of a race weekend utterly eclipsed by "a brain cramp of stupendous proportion" in the lyrical words of a writer for the Montreal Gazette.
People will debate for weeks the controversy that unfolded in the final laps (watch video), a series of events rendered more confusing by the lack of a definitive television replay. Was Gordon in front of Marcos Ambrose when the caution was issued, as it appeared watching from home? Or was the caution out before Gordon completed his wheels-in-the-grass pass for the lead, as some on the scene have indicated? Isn't that theory bolstered by the facts that the corner worker at the site of the Turn 2 pileup was showing the yellow immediately, and NASCAR officials left Ambrose in front? Did Gordon's history of overtaking the leader under yellow -- which he did to win a Cup event at Sonoma in 2003 -- play into NASCAR's thinking?
It's all devolved into an enigma fueled by hypothesis and presumption, a puzzle where the pieces are so scattered that not even the principals involved seemed absolutely sure. The only certainty is that Gordon could have assured himself of a better finish and a ride the next day in Pocono had he not committed the one crime for which NASCAR has no tolerance -- insubordination.
He's right that mistakes were made, and not by him alone. NASCAR officials knew what was coming when they allowed the race to restart for the final time with Ambrose in front of Gordon, who had ignored a directive to drop back in the field and bumped the Australian's car numerous times under caution. People were left wondering why NASCAR couldn't forcibly remove Gordon from the racetrack, either by halting the race under a red flag or calling out the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Yet Gordon wasn't technically in violation of NASCAR's order until he crossed the start-finish line. By that time it was too late to save Ambrose, or Gordon from ruining his own reputation.
Ambrose, the epitome of class after the race was over, wasn't exactly a paragon of international sportsmanship when he punted Gordon as the final caution came out. But correctly or incorrectly, NASCAR had determined that Ambrose was the leader, that he was in front of Gordon when the field was frozen. So he did what Dale Earnhardt did to Terry Labonte at Bristol, what Jeremy Mayfield did to Earnhardt at Pocono, what Brian Vickers did to Mike Bliss at Charlotte, what's considered a callous but universally accepted practice when trying to take the lead under duress. He bumped the other guy out of the way.
Like it or hate it, it's part of your game, something that separates NASCAR from so many other forms of auto racing, where even the most minor of contact can end a driver's day. Did it happen under caution or under green? Did it happen while Ambrose or Gordon was technically the leader? It doesn't matter. The bottom line is that Ambrose did something fans may wince over, that NASCAR may turn a blind eye to, but ultimately wouldn't have cost him the race. Gordon, meanwhile, openly defied the people who run his series. In a move that can only be classified as hideously vindictive, he sacrificed his own effort to take out the car that should have won the event. And then he celebrated it all afterward.
No wonder he was chewed out by Helton in the Busch hauler, suspended for the Pocono Nextel Cup event, and then Tuesday saddled with a $35,000 fine. (watch now) Gordon took what could have been a legitimate beef over NASCAR's scoring system and shredded it. If you get pulled over for speeding and the trooper has the wrong guy, you don't rectify the situation by pushing the accelerator to the floor and driving away. Yet that's what happened in Montreal, when Gordon let insolence overcome reason, and made a spectacle of himself on a day when the story was supposed to be the show.
Had it all unfolded differently -- had he dropped back to his designated spot on the racetrack after the caution, not spun Ambrose, not staged his mock victory celebration on the frontstretch -- Gordon's complaints about getting rooked out of a win would have held more credence. Instead, Ambrose became the afternoon's tragic hero, as Gordon tried to cobble about 16 wrongs into a right. What is it they always say on all those police shows? Running only makes you look guilty. And Saturday, Robby Gordon ran.
The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.
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