(Press Release from New Hampshire Motor Speedway)
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is celebrating 25 years of racing at the track with a countdown of memorable moments
Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, NASCAR postponed the Sept. 16 New Hampshire 300 to Nov. 23, 2001. Fans braved the cool fall temperatures to watch Robby Gordon win the race and Jeff Gordon capture his fourth Cup Series championship. (Photo: Courtesy of New Hampshire Motor Speedway)
In a battle of the Gordon’s, Robby got the best of Jeff, the eventual NASCAR Cup Series champion, on Nov. 23, 2001. Jeff was unhappy with the way this one ended, as Robby bumped Jeff, who had led 257 of the 300 laps out of the way with 15 laps remaining, and would hold on to claim his first-ever Cup Series win. Jeff would hold the bigger hardware up at the end of the day, capturing his fourth title, but that didn’t mean he was happy about being pushed out of the way for the New Hampshire 300 win.
This unforgettable moment is No. 5 on New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s top-10 moments of all-time as it celebrates 25 years of racing at the Magic Mile.
“See? Everybody thought you couldn’t make me mad,” Jeff said. “You can make me mad. That 31 certainly did today. It was a heck of a battle. It was between him and me anyway. I just wish it would have happened fair and square instead of just knocking a guy out of the way. We had some lapped traffic to go through, and you’ve got to be patient. I don’t care if there’s 15 laps to go, you’ve got to be patient.”
The race was originally scheduled for Sept. 16, but due to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, the race was postponed to the day after Thanksgiving.
Without qualifying, the field was set by owner points as of the original race date. That meant Jeff started on pole.
Jeff and Robby would get into it after Robby’s aggressive pass, as Jeff hit Robby under caution.
“I didn’t expect that from Jeff Gordon,” Robby Gordon said of the retaliation. “I didn’t wreck him. I could see if I wrecked him. But he had a car good enough to win the race and took himself out of the race. I knew if he didn’t wreck me, there wasn’t another car out here to beat me.
“I had to go. I didn’t mean to get into him. The 12 got sideways, and once the 12 got sideways, Jeff got on the brakes. I got into him, but I didn’t hit him hard.”
Despite the poor 15th-place finish, Gordon won the Cup title by 349 points over Tony Stewart.
“We showed them that we weren’t just going to come here to New Hampshire and walk away,” Jeff said. “We wanted to come up here and show them what we’re made of, and that was just an awesome effort. That was just a shame.”
It certainly made it a November to remember.
Great seats are still available for the 2015 Oxford Casino Season of Speed at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series New Hampshire 301 right around the corner on Sunday, July 19. To purchase tickets please call the NHMS ticket hotline at (603)783-4931 or visit www.nhms.com.
I miss R Gordon.I loved his go all in attitude.He wasn’t one of nascars robots we got now.Sprint Cup is like Wrestling now.