Jeff Gordon was able to do something that he couldn’t do in past years at Talladega, be patient and ride at the back of the field. In a past race while attempting this, he radioed his crew chief, saying, “This is boring.” He would end up wrecking in that race, which is something he couldn’t afford to do on Sunday, with his title hopes on the line.

“It was terrible. I’m telling you, that was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in a race car. I like to think that I’ve got pretty good patience. But that’s beyond patience. There is just nothing fun about that. But I knew it was the smart thing…I’ve never yawned in a race car in my life. I yawned back there just riding along.” Gordon certainly wasn’t yawning in the closing laps, when he found himself behind Jimmie Johnson with just a few laps to go. On the final lap, Gordon jumped to the outside on the backstraitaway, where he got a push from Tony Stewart, who finished 7th, into the lead past teammate Johnson. Gordon would come around and lead his first lap of the day, the final one. The win meant many things for Gordon, but most importantly it gave him a 9 point advantage heading into the Chase’s 5th race at Lowe’s, where Gordon has failed to finish since 2004. The win also was his 12th in a restrictor plate race, the most all-time and 80th of his career.