CONCORD, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon had an uphill battle ahead of him in the Bank of America 500 after qualifying 22nd.
But he didn't let the start deter him.
"I’m really proud of this 3M Chevrolet team," he said. "We didn’t even start the race off very good, let alone starting 22nd didn’t help us out. But they made some incredible adjustments and our pit crew was rock solid on pit road. I’m so appreciative of that. So, overall, it was a great team effort."
Gordon pointed to the fact that the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was postponed from Saturday night to Sunday due to inclement weather as an unexpected benefit for the team.
“The day race helped us starting 22nd," he explained. "At night, it’s so grippy and fast and it’s hard to get multiple grooves; where during the day with the sun being out and heating up the track, losing a little bit of grip, I think it helped. It didn’t move around a lot, but it moved around enough where we could maneuver through some traffic and work our way up there; a little bit on the track and a little bit on pit road.
"I certainly liked that it was a day race. I thought we had a heck of a crowd here for a rain-delayed race that was not supposed to be run (Sunday). You’ve got to be happy about that.”
And Gordon was also happy about starting the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with a top-10 finish.
His eighth-place result leaves him in seventh in the standings, two points ahead of the cutoff eighth-place spot and eight points ahead of the first driver that would be eliminated in ninth place.
"Everybody wants to be sitting there where the No. 22 (race-winner Joey Logano) is. That’s a great place to be; especially with Talladega looming," he said. "But I couldn’t be happier with the entire effort that we put out there today. (No. 24 team crew chief) Alan (Gustafson) made some great adjustments to get us back in this thing. I’m real happy with eighth.
"The problem is you’ve got six of the guys we’re racing in the championship right there ahead of us. But we didn’t lose much to them and I thought it was a really strong effort.”