Gordon not happy with aerodynamics at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Can you believe Jeff Gordon is looking forward to the Car of Tomorrow on a 1.5-mile speedway?

Believe it.

"It was impossible to pass here, today," Gordon said. "I'm looking forward to seeing what this Car of Tomorrow does here, because the aero push was just horrible today -- the worst I've ever seen it."

Samsung 500 runner-up Matt Kenseth could only laugh when told of the statement, which Hendrick Motorsports' driver Gordon made on pit road at Texas Motor Speedway after battling a viciously pushing car to a fading fourth place.

"That's funny," said Kenseth, who was carrying his own share of disgust after being passed by Jeff Burton on the last lap to miss a chance to score twin weekend victories at Texas.

"But the only reason I was laughing during your question is, I was riding around in the truck with Gordon [during pre-race ceremonies] and he was telling me how much he hated the Car of Tomorrow, and everybody was listening to him and we were joking about it."

Gordon was ready for a switch even before he flat-sided his multi-hued Chevy in two separate smacks against TMS's unforgiving concrete. The final blow precipitated his fall from first to fourth over the race's final 17 laps.

"The problem was because I hit the wall," Gordon said. "It was a stupid mistake. We were awesome out front until I hit the wall, but behind cars it felt like it was not even the same racecar.

"I just came off of Turn 4, leading the race and just out of nowhere it took off, pushing on me. I certainly have to look at that and see if there's something I can do different next time. But it definitely pushed the right front fender in and then we were done from that point on."

Gordon couldn't even take any consolation from being in good company. His first encounter with the wall came earlier when he was hotly pursuing leader Kurt Busch's No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge.

"I got into the wall earlier, behind the 2 car," Gordon said of the inappropriate game of follow-the-leader -- literally. "He kind of brushed it and I went in after him. It was kind of a weird thing."

It was even weirder watching first Kenseth, and then Burton blow past the previously dominant Gordon.

The last man to pass Gordon was Mark Martin, who returned at Texas from a planned, two-race hiatus from the sport. From Gordon's perspective, Martin's triumphant return, which marked his fifth consecutive top-10 finish, definitely had its ups and downs.

"I had fun racing with him earlier," Gordon said through a wry grin. "But there wasn't much racing with him right there [at the end] because the fender was bent in.

"I wasn't racing anybody. I was just trying to hold on to as much as I possibly could. I'm just glad that we could finish in the top five." (Continued)