Driver of No. 24 was trying to avoid spinning Clint Bowyer
RELATED: Gordon says goodbye to the Brickyard
Jeff Gordon ran into trouble on Lap 50 in his final appearance as a full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Gordon damaged the left-front side of his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet when he hit the wall at the 2.5-mile superspeedway while trying to avoid a spinning Clint Bowyer.
Gordon made light contact with teammate Kasey Kahne‘s No. 5 Chevrolet as he veered right to avoid Bowyer.
The driver of the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 15 Toyota was racing alongside Kevin Harvick when his car appeared to get loose and went into a spin.
“I was underneath Kasey Kahne and we were just racing for position,” Gordon said. “I saw (Clint) Bowyer get sideways. I don’t know what caused it. Me and Kasey were trying to check up to avoid it. I don’t know if he got loose or we just both got loose together. Then I just lost control and got in the wall.”
Gordon, a five-time winner at Indianapolis who spent time racing as a teenager while living in Pittsboro, Indiana, went to pit road twice to get significant repairs. The second time, NBCSN reported that the crew had to cut away part of the left-front fender to prevent it from rubbing the tire, and he was penalized for speeding on pit road.
RELATED: Gordon goes home to Pittsboro
Gordon returned to the track but, by Lap 66, was scored five laps down. The NASCAR tower asked Gordon to pick up his speed as he was having trouble meeting the minimum 58.11-second lap required of cars in the race. When Gordon couldn’t meet the speed, he brought the No. 24 to the garage.
“Yeah, we’re never going to give up,” Gordon said. “We got back out there as fast as we could. The splitter was too torn up on the front and creating lift. The car didn’t have any front downforce and was pushing bad. We’re probably going to cut the nose off, put a new nose on and get back out there.”
Gordon got back out on the track eventually and was scored 42nd in his final run at the Brickyard.