Gordon's night ends with broken camshaft

RICHMOND, Va. -- - Just as it appeared Jeff Gordon had a good chance to close the gap or surpass Sterling Marlin for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series point lead --- it faded just as fast.

Some 45 laps after Marlin was involved in a lap 10 wreck in his No. 40 Dodge, Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet slowed out of Turn 4 and coasted around the .750-mile oval of Richmond International Raceway onto pit road. Gordon trailed Marlin by 91 points coming into the race.

	Jeff Gordon's crew tried to get the No. 24 car back out on the track. It never happened.

After losing power and making the stop, the crew lifted the hood before pulling it behind the wall where Gordon said the problem was discovered.

"We're finished," he said. "We broke a camshaft. It says a lot about the engine department and the support and everybody on this team after what we went through yesterday.

"It just hasn't been a good weekend for us. The way this car was running tonight we were coming through the field, though."

The four-time champion came into Richmond with back-to-back wins.

However, with Mark Martin finishing sixth and Jimmie Johnson 13th, Gordon unofficially fell two spots to fourth. Martin is now in second, nine points behind leader Sterling Marlin, and Johnson is third, 72 behindt.