Gordon comes through

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Jeff Gordon said he came to Martinsville Speedway to do his job, and as he climbed from his car into an embrace with Rick Hendrick in Victory Lane, doing it well never felt better.

Gordon won the Advance Auto Parts 500 on Sunday, turning NASCAR’s first visit to the track since a Hendrick Motorsports plane crashed nearby last fall into a tribute to 10 team members and friends who were killed.

“When you’ve got a guy like Rick Hendrick that you respect so much and you’ve seen what he’s been through, the ups and downs through his life and especially here last year, for him to poke his head in there and say ‘thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,’ and with that tremble in his voice, that impacts you,” a choked-up Gordon said.

“That tells you how meaningful this was.”

Hendrick’s son, Ricky, was among those killed in the crash.

Before making it to Victory Lane, Gordon said, he was focused on driving the car, especially after going three laps down very early because of a vibration.

Once he saw Hendrick, the rest of the implications surfaced.

“When he popped his head in there, it hit me like a ton of bricks.”

In winning the race, Gordon did the same to everyone else. He seemed out of it after going so far back so early, but worked his way back onto the lead lap with 223 laps to go and never stopped closing on the lead.

Fourth on a restart with 46 laps to go, he wasted no time.

He followed third-place Mark Martin past Ryan Newman for third on the 461st lap, went underneath Martin for second three laps later and caught and passed Sterling Marlin for the lead with 34 laps remaining.

From then on, it was smooth sailing to his 71st career victory. It was his sixth victory at .526-mile Martinsville, the shortest and trickiest track in the premier series.

Only Rusty Wallace, with seven, has more among active drivers.

“There’s something special about this place and we lost so many incredible people, part of this organization and racing community, and I think it’s only fitting for us to get this victory,” Gordon said.

Gordon’s only drama as he pulled away from the field was getting around defending series champion Kurt Busch, who had been running with the leaders with 53 laps remaining until Gordon nudged him into the wall.

“We were just two people fighting for one position and neither one of us wanted to give it up,” Gordon said.

Later, running three laps down, Busch banged into the leader during side-by-side racing in the front stretch before Gordon broke free.