Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have had their fair share of battles on the race track. The most notable of them came under gray skies in Atlanta in 2011. The AdvoCare 500 took place on Tuesday that season owing to Tropical Storm Lee. None anticipated an engaging showdown in the high-speed track that was under threat from the clouds but the Hendrick teammates had other ideas in mind.
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Gordon began the race from fifth place and Johnson from 17th. For a large part of the race, there were no signs that a grueling battle was about to begin between the icons.
Johnson struggled much with a loose car and almost went a lap down. A timely caution and a red flag that followed, courtesy of rain, helped him stay in contention, but he still had a mountain to climb.
The red flag wiped the slate clean for every driver on the field. Gordon restarted fourth with 70 laps to go and quickly took the lead. Johnson wasn’t very far behind from there on.
Both drivers came to the pits for repair with around 40 laps to go and what transpired post that mark formed the crux of the battle. Notably, Gordon later called them “the best 40 laps of my career.”
Gordon’s car struggled much on the long runs and had a hard time keeping Johnson behind. He had a two-second lead with 20 laps to go. However, with 10 to go, Johnson had found his way back to the No. 24’s bumper. The final sprint was a clean and fast bout between the two skilled drivers. The Car of Tomorrow added to the drama heavily sliding into and out of corners.
How Gordon ultimately managed to clinch victory
Both drivers were pushing their cars beyond what they were capable of on paper. Gordon had chosen the high line and it paid off. He did not count on victory until Johnson made the slightest of errors in the final lap and slid coming off Turn 4. This gave the four-time champion all the advantage he needed and he cruised to victory lane. Johnson finished second.
Alan Gustafson’s words to the press relayed the emotion of every person who’d watched the race live. He said, “That race was insane. One of the drivers came up to me on pit road afterward and said, ‘That was like watching Greek mythology. That was like two gods throwing lightning bolts at each other.’ I thought that was a pretty good analogy of what happened.”
Gordon won 93 races in his Cup Series career. But the win No. 85 that came in Atlanta remains one of his best performances ever for the sole reason that he’d been able to best his prodigy in battle.
