Jeff Gordon pits for fuel and tires early in Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500. Credit: Autostock

Gordon's chances to gain on Busch jump out of gear

HAMPTON, Ga. -- With point leader Kurt Busch already in the garage with a blown engine and the tragedy of a week ago still fresh in his mind, Jeff Gordon wanted desperately to take a bold step forward in his pursuit of a fifth NASCAR Nextel Cup title at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Unfortunately, fate and a broken rear end gear on lap 177 made that bold step forward a reluctant step back. The mechanical failure put Gordon 34th at the finish, 26 laps down, and dropped him from second to third in the points, 72 points behind Busch with three races left.

VIDEO Race tightens Points leader Kurt Busch loses his engine on Lap 53 Pit problems Sadler damages his steering and tranny after contact on pit road Transmission troubles Gordon develops gear problems on Lap 179 Engine problems Kenseth becomes second Roush driver to lose engine

"It was a rough day for us," a disappointed Gordon said, standing beside his ailing Chevrolet. "We were fighting a bad loose condition and it came out of nowhere. The car was nice and stuck, but it wedged into a major, major loose condition where I couldn't even hang onto it.

"I came into the pits, and when they dropped the jack, I just heard pieces breaking. I'll just pull for (teammate Jimmie Johnson)."

Robbie Loomis and his crew diagnosed the broken rear end gear and changed everything out in the garage area, sending Gordon back out 25 laps down.

Ironically, the broken rear end gear was what put Dale Earnhardt Jr. out of last week's race at Martinsville, and the Budweiser crew was worried about a similar occurrence this week.

Gordon railed at the lost opportunity.

"It seems like nothing is going our way," Gordon said. "I knew that Kurt had his problems but we weren't able to capitalize on them and can't for sure, now."

Jeff Gordon lost several laps while work was being done on his No. 24 Chevrolet. Credit: Autostock

In a Friday press conference, Gordon said that he had never been more focused on something in his life than winning the fifth title for the Hendrick Motorsports employees killed in last week's plane crash in Martinsville, Va.

Gordon was asked if he had any trouble focusing on the job at hand.

"You know, once you get in that race car, it becomes all about the team and the car," he said. "I was excited about getting in that car today, and coming out here and trying to win this race. I thought we did. We took off there at the beginning, we were pretty good but it started to go away pretty quickly and we couldn't get it back."

As it turned out, Gordon's support of his teammate-protege might have been the push needed to get Johnson his third straight victory. It also helped the Hendrick Motorsports team to heal the wounds of last week's tragic plane crash.