Gordon, now vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, gave owner Rick Hendrick is his first victory at the iconic track in 1994 and also four more before his driving career came to a close.
On Sunday, Gordon sat on a pit box and marveled at the moves made by Hendrick driver Kyle Larson as he sliced through the field to put himself in position to win his first race on the 2.5-mile oval.
After an off-sequence pit stop, Larson lined up 23rd on the restart on lap 130 of the originally scheduled 160-lap race. He took the lead for the first time on the start of the first overtime period (lap 161). Before then, Larson had let just a single lap in the race.
“What I loved about driving this track is what I loved watching some of the competitors, especially Kyle there, at the end, do. You’re thinking about how to set up a run, right? How do you make these passes happen?” Gordon said.
“He had a good car, a little bit fresher tires. I just enjoyed watching him work that traffic, whether it was getting a small run off of Turn 4, go into (Turn) 1, then just dive in there, make them look in their mirror, spotter say something, something to get them off their line.
“It's all about creativity, finding ways to pass.”
For Larson, it was almost like he had a point to prove – and maybe he did.
Redemption after thwarted attempt at The Double
Gordon was a big supporter of Larson’s attempt to complete the “Double” this season – running the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
A year’s worth of planning went into the feat, but weather ultimately intervened by delaying the start of the 500 by several hours.
Larson ran the 500 but was hampered by a pit road speeding penalty and finished 18th. By the time he got to Charlotte, the 600 had been red flagged for rain and never restarted.
Larson returned for the Brickyard 400 race with the same paint scheme on his No. 5 Chevrolet that he would have run in the Coke 600.
“You could just tell he had a lot of passion behind the wheel today,” Gordon said of Larson. “I don’t know exactly what was driving that other than he wanted to win the Brickyard 400 really bad.
“You could tell, he was driving with a purpose.”
Gordon said the experience in May made Larson’s win on Sunday even more special.
“As much as we’ve all loved the history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I think being here for the month of May, those events when we were here in May, just makes you appreciate it that much more,” he said. “The fans and everybody that makes this speedway so special.
“I just feel like today, especially with that car, that paint scheme, the one that was going to run that day, just seemed to bring it all full circle, made it very special.”
