TALLADEGA, Ala. – On the heels of six consecutive top-10 finishes, Jeff Gordon’s weekend at Talladega Superspeedway got off to a stellar start.
His third pole position of the season set him up for success at Talladega, and he used it to his advantage. He led 47 laps in the race – third behind only Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the event – and still found himself in the top five with less than 50 laps remaining.
But a penalty on pit road during a green-flag pit stop pushed Gordon back to 31st with less than 30 laps remaining.
“I thought I was plenty conservative there but the tires were worn out and I just carried too much speed to pit road and kind of locked the tires up -- I was just speeding,” Gordon explained. “I couldn't get the car slowed down.”
Still, he continued to battle and was teetering on the edge of a top-20 finish when he was caught up in a last-lap incident that ultimately resulted in a 31st-place finish for the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS.
“After that issue on my part, then we were just in the back and trying to make our way to the front,” he said. “We did a pretty good job making some spots up and we were going to see what happened that last lap. Then they started wrecking -- we avoided one of them, but couldn't avoid the second one.”
Even with the result, Gordon left the race feeling positive about the performance of his car and the rest of the organization.
All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers led multiple laps during the race, combining to lead a total of 167 of the 188 laps.
And Gordon’s teammates Earnhardt and Johnson gave the organization a one-two finish.
“We had an awesome Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet,” said Gordon, who noted that he believed he had a top-10 car "for sure."
“Hats off to Dale Jr. and that whole team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Boy, we had amazing cars this weekend.”