Jeff Gordon's busy Sunday ends with disappointing Coke 600 finish
Jeff Gordon's double-duty extravaganza ended on a disappointing note Sunday night after 400 long laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where the four-time Sprint Cup champion finished 15th in the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
Track position -- or lack of it -- and fuel mileage hurt Gordon in the 600, which was won by Carl Edwards of Joe Gibbs Racing.
Earlier in the day, Gordon drove a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 pace car to start the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500 before flying back to Charlotte for the Sprint Cup event.
Gordon started NASCAR's longest race in 18th-place in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and at the 100-lap mark -- one-quarter distance -- he had slid back to 26th place, with handling issues.
Once the sun began to set, Gordon's car improved, moving to 17th on Lap 150 and was 14th at the halfway point.
Under caution on Lap 233, Gordon had to make a second pit stop after his crew didn't get all the lugs tight during the previous stop a lap earlier. But because by this point there were only 17 cars on the lead lap, Gordon didn't have to restart deep in the field.
After teammate Jimmie Johnson crashed on Lap 273, Gordon picked up a spot on pit road, moving up to 15th when the green flag flew on Lap 279.
On Lap 282, Ryan Blaney lost an engine and during the ensuing caution, Gordon stayed out while others pitted, moving him up to eighth.
But after a Michael Annett spin and caution, Gordon was back to 11th on Lap 330, only to fall back to 14th with 50 laps to go because he pitted when a lot of the leaders didn't.
"I never could get track position," he said. "We got it one time and held on to it OK and, I have no idea what sequence of events happened there at the end for us to finish 15th. That was a lot of darn work for us to finish 15th."
