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Jeff Gordon finishes a season-best 6th in what's likely the final race of his Cup career
Jeff Gordon got his best finish of 2016 in his last race of 2016. And likely his career.
Gordon finished sixth Sunday at Martinsville in his final substitute appearance for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Gordon has driven eight races for Junior in 2016 as Junior continues to rehab from a concussion sustained over the summer.
Gordon, 45, said he felt he could have finished a bit higher too.
“Well I would rather have won,” Gordon said. “I felt like we had a fourth or fifth place car the run before that so I always wanted to get the most out of it. I was a little disappointed it didn’t take off there at the last yellow, but very proud of this team, proud of my performance. Best finish I’ve had in this car.”
The four-time champion was called out of retirement at Indianapolis to drive for Junior, who was sidelined indefinitely at the time. As Earnhardt’s absence stretched on, Gordon continued to drive the No. 88 on a part-time basis with Alex Bowman, who is finishing the season in the car.
Sunday was Gordon’s 805th career start and came approximately a year after his last win. Gordon won the fall Martinsville race in 2015 to advance to the final round of the Chase.
Gordon said Friday that Sunday was likely going to be his final Sprint Cup start, but to “never say never.” And while Gordon’s career is likely coming to an end, Junior is still eyeing the 2017 Daytona 500 as his return to the Cup Series. He’s missed 15 races so far in 2016.
“We are doing all our photoshoots and everything with anticipation of our sponsors marketing me as the driver of the No. 88 car,” Junior said. “I think that is perfectly on track and a reasonable goal to be in the car and be competing in Daytona. We can’t sort of sit and wait. We’ve got to make a decision … we are moving forward with the plan to be in the car and I don’t see anything that says that is not going to happen.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
