FT. WORTH, Tex. - It's safe to say Jeff Gordon and his family won't be taking any vacations in Texas anytime soon.
Gordon's winless streak at Texas Motor Speedway remained intact in Sunday's Samsung 500 when the four-time champion suffered only the second last place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career.
The No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet was off from the minute the team rolled it off the hauler on Friday and Gordon struggled all weekend long.
Everything came to a lowpoint on Sunday when Gordon hit the fourth turn wall on lap 110 and was handed the 43rd-place finish.
“Today was about trying to find a problem we’ve been dealing with all weekend long with just not having the handling and comfort there for me,” Gordon said. “We’ve tried every setup we can find, but none of them seem to work.”
The day extended Gordon's terrible resume at Texas, one of two tracks where he's never won a Cup race.
"I just don't think I have ever been very good at Texas, that is why we have never won here,” said Gordon, whose other career 43rd-place finish came at Texas in 1999. “But we have had our moments, when the car has been really good. But you know what, when the car off, I am lost here. I mean, I haven't felt this lost since my rookie year at a race track. We have been struggling here. I know Jimmie and some of these guys have gone through some weeks, it is frustrating. We just have to try and figure it out."
The finish dropped Gordon out of the top 12 in the series point standings to 14th, one last bit of bad news for Gordon's Texas weekend.
"Yes, it is just a bad day gone worse for our team,” Gordon said. “I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't. We are just really, really bad and I lost control of the car and I was hanging on just every single lap.”
