Gordon upset at himself after win disappears

LOUDON, N.H. -- His teammate and buddy was celebrating in Victory Lane a few hundred feet away from him, but Jeff Gordon was hardly in a festive mood after the New England 300.

Gordon led five times for 133 laps Sunday and was gunning for his fourth victory at New Hampshire International Speedway.

But it all came apart late in the race. The racing gods weren't with him. The team's strategy betrayed him.

And Gordon had no one to blame but himself.

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"I'm happy for Jimmie (Johnson), but I'm just so devastated in our own performance right now," Gordon said. "I'll celebrate with him and talk with him later. But right now I'm just completely drained from the devastation."

Gordon looked well on his way to winning and cutting into Matt Kenseth's points lead, but he had to pit for fuel with 65 laps to go. Gordon decided to change four tires, but the move backfired. Instead of moving through the field, Gordon barely inched forward and ended up finishing 24th.

	Gordon remained second in the Winston Cup standings, but he lost major ground to Matt Kenseth. Credit: Autostock

"It's not the points, it's not that," Gordon said. "It's just that we had the car to either win or finish in the top five. I just wanted to put pressure on these guys. I wanted to put the heat on them.

"I want to lead laps, I want to battle for wins. We were doing that today, and it went all to hell."

Gordon got control of the race on lap 208, when he and Ricky Craven decided not to pit under caution. He easily pulled away from the field but would have to stop again for fuel.

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"We weren't going to win the race no matter what," Gordon said. "Our strategy - the cautions didn't fall right for us. I made a call on pit road to put four tires on when I saw everybody was staying out because I knew we weren't going to win. I just wanted to give us the best chance to give us as many positions as possible."

But Gordon said that was a mistake.

"It was a late call, and those tires had the pressures up on them a little bit," Gordon said. "I don't know if the tires just killed it or something broke. I really don't know what happened. I'm completely in shock right now.

"It was probably one of the best cars I've ever driven. At the end, I was just holding on to stay on the lead lap."

That's what bugged him the most.

"When you get a car that's that good out front, you're going to drive away," Gordon said. "But even in traffic, we were really good. We were able to pass and drive by guys. It was an amazing car. I don't know what happened there. It just went away."