Martinsville struggle may define Gordon's year

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Following a dismal outing in Sunday's Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Jeff Gordon may effectively be eliminated from championship contention.

	Jeff Gordon suffered several setbacks at Martinsville on Sunday. Credit: Autostock

Gordon finished 36th, dropping him 291 points behind championship points leader Tony Stewart. Just four weeks ago, after a victory at Kansas Speedway, Gordon was just 109 points out of the lead.

"It's disappointing," Gordon said. "We want to be a factor for the championship. We know that every race is critical. We're not even going to talk about points for the rest of the season, we're just going to go out there and do everything we can to win races."

Gordon qualified second for Sunday's affair and was running in the top 10 when Geoffrey Bodine spun in Turn 4 to bring out the day's third caution. The leaders pitted, and the No. 24 crew got Gordon in and out in rapid manner.

However, the lug nuts on the left rear wheel were not fully tightened, forcing Gordon to re-pit. He restarted 36th.

Then, on lap 133, Gordon got together with Bobby Labonte, spinning Labonte's No. 18 Pontiac around in Turn 4. Gordon stayed out to regain track position lost from the pit problem, and moved up to third when the race restarted on lap 138.

OLD DOMINION 500 Kurt Busch celebrates his second Winston Cup victory. Play video Jeff Gordon makes contact with the outside wall. Play video Johnny Benson finishes second at Martinsville. Play video  •  Results  •  Standings

He remained in the top five until the halfway point, when he was forced to pit out of sequence with a significant right-front tire rub. The DuPont team was forced to pull out the right front fender on both sides and change all four tires, resulting in a lengthy 30.39-second pit stop.

"We had that (lug nut) problem in the pits and came back from that, which was great; got our track position back and just had a super car," Gordon said. "I got on the outside, my car wasn't very good on the outside, and some guys got by me on the inside.

"I was just waiting to get back down and (Jeff) Burton came off the corner -- I don't know if he got loose or what -- he just turned sideways and turned right into me, put me in the wall, and from then on our day was pretty much done. We were three laps down and just riding around out there."

As Gordon eased onto the track following that stop on lap 255, the caution flew yet again. He returned to the track in 42nd position, three laps down. By the time the race restated on lap 262, Gordon was four laps down.

Gordon re-pitted on lap 267 when the day's ninth caution flew for debris in turn 1. By the time the checkered flag flew, he'd worked his way back to 36th position, three laps down.