Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon Put On Electric IROC Battle In Exhibition Event at Ten Tenths

Friday's IROC event, which was part of the Heritage Invitational at Ten Tenths Motor Club in Concord, North Carolina, may have technically been an exhibition event. However, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon clearly didn't get the memo.

In a thrilling battle, where the two NASCAR Cup Series legends swapped the lead numerous times over the course of the 12-lap event around the 1.7-mile road course, the two NASCAR Hall of Famers brought the sold-out crowd to their feet.

In the end, it was Busch, who crossed the finish line first, in his purple IROC Pontiac Firebird, but Gordon was right there on his heels, driving his silver IROC Firebird.

On the top step of the podium, after the race, Busch was in awe of how it felt like the clock had been turned back on Friday afternoon in the IROC exhibition race.

"It's amazing. Just the camaraderie and the fun that we all got to have. Just seeing all the cars on the track, all the colors, and the teamwork," Busch said. "Everyone, from IROC, Ray Evernham -- round of applause for Ray. He told me to get my car out from under a cover that it had been under for 20 years, and it's cool. It made us feel like kids again."

As Busch was locked in a hard-fought battle with Gordon, he had to reach into his old bag of tricks to pull off the win, as both drivers had sections of the course where they excelled.

"And like Jeff was saying, Jeff was strong on the fast rights and into the braking zone, and it was like old school, like who is quick and where? And then the track did grease over, so, it was like that old school fun of I've got to figure this out to bring home the [win]," Busch explained.

Did Gordon have anything else left in the tank?

"I think we put it all out there," Gordon admitted. "I mean, it was a great battle. I think our cars are pretty evenly matched. There were some places where he was stronger, other places where I was stronger. So, we were able to make some passes, and just couldn't hold it. But Kurt drove a great race, and all in all, what a spectacular day out here at Ten Tenths. Thank you all for coming out."

Gordon continued, "I think all of us as drivers are having a blast out here, driving these IROC cars, seeing all of our heroes out here on the track. But most of all, just seeing all of the crowd come out and the great weather. So, yeah, I couldn't be happier than to be on the podium, but [Kurt] right here deserved to win."

While Busch took the overall race win, it was third-place finisher Scott Pruett who took home the win in the Banjo chassis class. The field was divided into two classes: the IROC Firebird era cars and the cars prior to the Firebirds.

Tommy Kendall would come home with a fourth-place finish, ahead of Max Papis.

Bobby Labonte was the only driver who looked to be a threat to Busch and Gordon in this event, but shortly after getting around Gordon for the race lead, Labonte went for a spin.

Labonte would get back on track and would rebound for an eighth-place finish in the 18-car field, but it was a disappointment, as he flashed race-winning speed early in the event.

Photo: Ricky Martinez

IROC Exhibition Race Results