A sprint to the finish

But on June 12, just minutes into the first practice prior to the LifeLock 400 Sprint Cup race, the engine aboard Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet took its last breath. The expiration of the 850-horsepower block forced the team to squeeze its replacement under the hood for the rest of practice and qualifying.

NASCAR rules regarding engine changes are absolute. Gordon, powered by his backup, could have smoked the rest of the field and sat on the pole after qualifying, and his starting spot on Sunday would still be the same.

Back of the pack.

So this was the team’s directive come race day: blast through traffic to the front in 200 laps.

A challenging task? Certainly. An impossibility? When you’re a top-flight team, you’re expected to shrug off such adversity and make your car better so that when a last-lap shootout takes place, you’re peaking at the right time.

“There is,’’ Gordon acknowledged after practice when asked if there was pressure on him to climb the leaderboard. “But I feel like there is always a lot of pressure on anybody on this team to step up and do their part. I’m just one of those guys. We all make mistakes, including myself, and you have to support everybody on the team when it happens. Then you have to go out there and do your best not to overdrive, panic, or anything like that, and slowly but surely work our way back to the front.’’

Darian Grubb, crew chief of Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet, insists, like just about everybody in his profession, on proper homework.

Every Monday following a race, Grubb huddles at the Stewart-Haas Racing shop in Kannapolis, N.C., with the organization’s leadership: Stewart; director of competition Bobby Hutchens; technical director Matt Borland; and Tony Gibson, the crew chief of the No. 39 car.

“We talk about the weekend, about the racecars, and any issues we might have, then we talk about solutions for all those things to make sure we get them implemented for the next week,’’ Grubb said. “We go into full preparation for that week’s race - things to expect, things we’re going to try, even what air pressure we’re going to start with. Everybody’s focused on their jobs.’’

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, teams continue to prepare while also looking several weeks ahead. For example, Gordon was one of several drivers (Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne were others) who participated in a Goodyear tire test June 16 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will take place July 26.

Thursdays are travel days, with teams moving from their shops in the greater Charlotte area to the tracks. There, they’ll meet up with the haulers that transported their racecars and prepare for Friday, where two critical events take place that can define the weekend: practice and qualifying.

“Basically all hands on deck,’’ Grubb said. “Everyone comes in and everybody has a job to do. We get the transporter unloaded, get the garage set up, get the tool boxes set up, have our entire work area organized, get all our tires from Goodyear, and go through tech. Then there’s a two-hour window where you’re doing your little treatments to get ready for practice - fluff-and-buff things.’’

Once the cars clear tech and hit the track, each crew chief determines practice strategy. Some teams prefer long runs in race trim to see how the car might perform on Sunday.

“We always start in race trim just to try to build a foundation,’’ Gibson said. “We get the driver comfortable with the racetrack and the car. We make sure nothing’s stupid with the car and nothing’s doing anything weird. We progress from there. We try and make small changes so that we don’t get so far out of the box that we can’t come back to where we were. We always have a list of things. A guideline that we try and go by. If the car’s loose, we have four or five things we want to try. If the car’s tight, we have a list of four or five things we can fix. We try and put our heads together and come up with that list, then not get too crazy off that list and get so far out of whack by grabbing at things.’’

Others like to run the car with a qualifying setup to see what they might need to improve on. Whatever the approach, the bottom line is clear: practice counts.

“The biggest thing is to utilize practice time in the best way that you can,’’ said Kurt Busch. “With limited testing this year, when we show up at all these racetracks, I feel the best procedure is to knock out a few odds-and-ends items that you wouldn’t normally run at a specific racetrack like Michigan. We’ll try this or try that, then settle into our normal changes that we would work on with our Dodge and try to get the car dialed in on the low lane, try get it dialed in on the high lane. There’s so many lanes to choose from at this racetrack that they handle differently. You’re keeping an overall perspective on how to work through practice, trying to finesse different changes - the big ones at the beginning, then the smaller ones toward the end of practice, then fine-tune it. Then as the race progresses, the track rubbers in and the low lane isn’t preferred, but you have to go down there to make some passes and make sure that your car runs on long runs because it seems like fuel mileage always pops up here in Michigan. Finally, with the double-file restarts, you’re always going to have to pay attention how quick your car takes off on fresh tires because you’re going to be stacked side-by-side with guys that you’re racing for position instead of having lapped cars down there.’’

In qualifying, Brian Vickers smoked the field by clocking a fast lap of 189.110 miles per hour. Gordon was 27th (186.229 m.p.h.), while Mark Martin turned a so-so lap at 185.854 m.p.h. (32d).

There were only three cautions all day, allowing Johnson to take advantage of clean air and stretch out his lead on his chasers. Gordon, meanwhile, shook off the engine change and picked off cars every few laps to put the No. 24 back in position to challenge for a top-10 finish.

During the third and final yellow flag, brought out when David Stremme spun and bashed his car into the infield wall, Johnson held the lead going into the pits. But when Greg Biffle pulled his Ford into his stall, the No. 16 team, poised on the edge of the wall, exploded onto pit road to execute the four-tire change. The crew members hit all their marks. The tires came off and fresh Goodyears went on with machine-like efficiency. And as soon as Biffle pulled away, the team knew it had done its best. As Johnson motored by their stall, a crew member waved at the No. 48, knowing that Biffle would be in the lead once the race went green again.

Biffle and Johnson were poised for a last-lap sprint for the checkered flag. But on the final lap, Johnson ran out of gas. Several seconds later, Biffle’s tank also ran dry. Martin, who had been feathering the accelerator to avoid a similar fate, charged ahead and grabbed the checkered flag.

And Gordon? The driver who had started the race in the back enjoyed good pit stops. Crew chief Steve Letarte made the right adjustments to keep the car right on the edge - loose, but not so loose that Gordon felt out of control. The Chevrolet with the new engine finished second.

“I thought the pit stops were good,’’ Gordon said. “The car drove really well. We were able to get up to the top 15 or 20 fairly easily. The car was driving good. I was very happy with that. From that point on, it became very, very challenging. We had to work on the car. We never quite got it just right. You know, top-five is something I’m going to be very happy with. Second, I’m even happier.’’

Sprint Cup race
What: Lenox Industrial Tools 301
When: Sunday, 1:30 p.m.
Where: New Hampshire Speedway, Loudon
TV: TNT

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com.