INDIANAPOLIS – Jeff Gordon’s final Brickyard 400 wasn’t kind to the driver of the No. 24 3M Chevrolet SS.
Just 50 laps into the event, a competitor spun out just in front of Gordon. As he looked to check up and avoid contact, he got loose and made contact with the wall.
“We were just racing there on a restart,” Gordon explained. “I was side-by-side with Kasey Kahne and I saw the No. 15 get sideways and was just trying to avoid him and we both kind of got loose. I got loose. The car came around and it was just everything I could do to try to recover and not hit the No. 15. And then it spun around and got into the outside wall and tore up the nose."
Gordon visited pit road, and the No. 24 crew worked quickly to get him back on the track just three laps behind the leaders.
However, Gordon ultimately had to head to the garage area for more repairs.
"We're never going to give up,” Gordon said from the garage. “We got back out there as fast as we could, but the splitter is too torn up on the front, it's really creating lift and the car just didn't have any front downforce. It was pushing really bad. We're probably just going to cut the nose off, put a new nose on it and get back out there."
Gordon was able to return to the track for a restart with 36 laps remaining and found himself in 43rd.
But the driver of the No. 24 Chevy SS kept pushing and was able to pass one competitor to take home a 42nd-place finish.
“It’s unfortunate for our 3M Chevrolet,” he said. “It’s not the way we want our day to go here. We didn’t start out fantastic, but we really made some gains on the first pit stop. I feel like we were going to continue to make gains and work our way to the front. But we’ll never know now.”
Still, Gordon wouldn't let the day dampen his feelings for his career at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"I tell you what, from the first time I came here all the way through last year and even this year the fans have been amazing, the experiences have been amazing, the wins -- everything has been incredible and I feel so fortunate to have just gotten an opportunity to race here," he said. "Certainly to have five wins here is just unbelievable as well.”