It looked as if Jeff Gordon was on his way to his 300th career top-5 finish. He led 15 laps at Texas Motor Speedway, but was running behind Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr with under 30 laps to go. But he suddenly slowed with a tire problem and subsequently pulled behind the wall with a burnt wheel hub. Gordon posted a 38th place finish — his lowest since the 2012 Daytona 500.
Gordon started 8th and moved into the top-5 by lap 30. A debris caution on lap 35 brought the field to pit road. Gordon gained a spot on pit road and restarted in 4th place. He dropped a spot prior to the second caution for Ricky Stenhouse’s spin in turn 3. As the race neared the 70-lap mark, Gordon settled into 4th place. He took 3rd from Martin Truex just before the next caution waved on lap 81, which brought the field to pit road. Gordon gained a spot in the pits and restarted on the outside of the front row. However, the inside line powered by and Gordon dropped to 5th on lap 88. He regrouped and took 4th from Brian Vickers on lap 92 and moved around Matt Kenseth for 3rd on lap 98. After a round of green flag pit stops on lap 130, Gordon ran in 2nd place.
Gordon eventually tracked down Kyle Busch and took the race lead on lap 188. He made a green flag pit stop on lap 200 and returned to the race in 3rd place behind Martin Truex and Busch. He took the runner-up spot from Busch on lap 217. A caution at lap 222 brought the field to pit road with Gordon exiting in 2nd place. He fell to 3rd after the restart, but again began running down the leaders on the longer run. A caution with 54 to go came during a green flag pit stop sequence. Gordon had not yet pitted prior to the caution and restarted in 3rd place. However, the wheel issue forced him to the slow with 28 laps to go. It was his 2nd DNF in 7 races this season. He dropped to 15th in the series standings.
Turning point
A flat tire with 28 laps to go forced Gordon to slow on the track. Following the pit stop, he went to the garage with a wheel hub problem.
source: gordonline.com
Race Results [PDF]
Driver Standings [PDF]
In-Car Audio
MP3 Download
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[audio:http://www.scannerbytes.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Jeff-Gordon-2013-04-13-NRA-500-Texas.mp3]
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MP3 Download – with spotter chatter
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