NASCAR Cup Series

Engine failure knocks out Gordon

Published Feb. 27, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Jeff Gordon, a four-time NASCAR Cup champ and six-time Daytona winner – including three 500s, experienced a catastrophic failure on Lap 81 while running in the top five.

“There has been so much reliability testing that if we had seen some high temps or some high water pressure, then I would have kind of expected some of this to happen,” Gordon said. “But, I was actually seeing some surprising low temps and low pressures. I don't know, maybe something was off there.”

When Gordon’s engine expired, he apologized to NASCAR on the radio for dumping oil on the track – which prompted the fourth caution on the night. Gordon also explained to crew chief Alan Gustafson that there was no warning on his gauges that a problem existed.

"You're racing out there, but in order to actually make a big move to get to the lead, you have to push,” Gordon said. “Then you do take a risk of getting the temps up. It just wasn't time to do that. But, we were in a great position. Great pit stop there.

"This is not the way we wanted to start the season or the Daytona 500. So we'll go on to Phoenix."