A tiff with a teammate wasn’t Gordon’s biggest frustration. On Lap 93, he fell off the pace with engine troubles and eventually retired in 28th place.
Gordon fell one spot to 16th in the Cup standings, 30 points behind Ryan Newman in the battle for the second of two wild-card berths in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Likewise, teammate Jimmie Johnson blew his engine while leading, five laps from the checkered flag, and finished 27th. Tony Stewart, also with a Hendrick engine under the hood, was first to experience motor issues and finished 32nd.
Stewart’s crew and Hendrick engine tuners tried to repair the problem but were unsuccessful. Stewart completed 109 of 201 laps before falling out of the race.
“It’s something that is not a norm, for sure,” Stewart said. “I appreciate everybody at the Hendrick engine department. We had three different engine tuners down there trying to get it fixed for us. It wasn’t for a lack of effort.Â
“It’s uncommon to have a problem like this. . . . Like I said, we have the best engine department in the world in my opinion. Definitely, in this series, they did everything they could do.”
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