HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- On Lap 208 of Sunday night's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, crew chief Steve Letarte ordered up a gas-only pit stop for the No. 24 Chevrolet driven by Jeff Gordon.

It was a gamble Letarte felt worth taking.

"We came here to try to win this race," Letarte told Gordon. "This is our only shot to win it."

“

There are just moments of greatness that are there; it's just we can't ever seem to pull it all together. That's where we know we've got to get better, and that's where we'll focus in the offseason.

”

JEFF GORDON

When he returned to the track, Gordon was in 18th position. But virtually all the cars in front of him were going to have to stop one more time for gas before conclusion of the race, or so Gordon and Letarte thought.

"The 29 [Chevy driven by Kevin Harvick] is the only person we're racing on fuel," Letarte told Gordon.

The pair was willing to gamble because it was Gordon's final chance to keep alive a streak that he began in 1994 when, driving only his second full-time season in what is now the Sprint Cup Series, he won the first two races of his career. Gordon entered Sunday night knowing his streak of 14 consecutive seasons with two or more victories already was gone, but he was determined to try to keep a streak of at least one or more alive.

Alas, it was not to be. The gamble proved worthwhile, netting Gordon a fourth-place finish. But he was passed on the track by Harvick and the No. 26 Ford driven by Jamie McMurray even after making the gas-only gambit. The No. 99 Ford driven by eventual race winner Carl Edwards never did come in for more fuel, surprising everyone.

Thus, Gordon heads into this offseason with the same career wins total that he entered the season with nine months ago -- 81, which ranks sixth on the all-time list.

"When the green-flag runs started, my car was just really, really tight in traffic. And I just couldn't pass the lapped cars," Gordon said. "Harvick was able to make a move on me. It just took forever for my car to come in. Once it got in clean air, I was awesome. But it was too late by then, and then the 26 had gotten by me halfway into that run for the same reasons. (Continued)