Gordon reflects on final Daytona 500 of his career

Gordon, a three-time winner of the race, dominated the first half of the 57th running of the event, leading more than 75 of the first 100 laps and 87 in all here on a sun-drenched day.

But the multi-car incident relegated the four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion to a 33rd-place finish, his worst since a 40th-place run in 2012.

“I’m not going to miss those final laps,” Gordon told members of the media on pit road afterward. “That was just crazy, but (I) certainly would have liked to have had a shot to win.

“If you are over there in Victory Lane it is awesome and you enjoy it. If you are not in Victory Lane, you are like, ‘oh gosh, when is that next restrictor-plate race?'”

Gordon, who will turn over his well-known No. 24 to youngster Chase Elliott in 2016 to focus on other matters, is scheduled to make just three more starts on the plate tracks. The good news is that 32 others remain where the horsepower-robbing plates aren’t a factor.

In a race that was won for the first time by Team Penske’s Joey Logano, Gordon rallied from lost track position to pull within striking distance in the final 10 laps. But the unusual nature of racing at Daytona, where 200-mph packs of cars often edge forward or drift back depending on the draft, found Gordon 13th when the field roared across the start/finish line with the white flag in the air.

On the backstretch, contact with Austin Dillon sent his car spinning, and six others were caught up in the melee.

“The bottom line was not as organized and then we stacked them in the middle of (Turns) 1 and 2,” Gordon said. “The outside line formed and (I) got a little bit of a run. At that point everybody is just trying to shuffle and take (his or her) momentum and do something with it.

Hooked up with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne, Gordon had begun to muscle his way forward. Getting the lead seemed unlikely, but a top-five wasn’t out of the question.

“Then they started wrecking, or somebody hit me, I don’t know,” he said.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson said the outside lane “got kind of squirrelly and got into me.

“And then the guy behind me just turned me sideways,” he said. “It’s nobody’s fault. We were just racing hard.”

The crash brought out the yellow flag, sealing Logano’s win, with defending series champion Kevin Harvick second and defending race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. third.

Over in the garage, Gordon’s crew had begun the task of loading the damaged entry back into the transporter for the trip home to its shop in Concord, North Carolina. Fans milled about, shouting the occasional words of encouragement.

“Win at Atlanta (next week’s stop), please 24,” one shouted to the team.

Meanwhile, Gordon soaked it all in, a final Daytona 500 come to an end.

“It is disappointing, because things were going so well,” he said, “especially that first half. That first half was amazing. I was enjoying that moment very, very much – just being out front, being in control of the race. I felt like we were just doing everything perfectly.

“That one restart I chose the outside (lane) and that line just didn’t go. From that point on, we were just playing catch-up.”

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