 |
 |
 |
|
FT. WORTH, Texas -- Jeff Gordon's drive for a fifth Sprint Cup Series title is in reverse.
|
|
| Jeff Gordon: 'We can't keep going like we have been or we will be in trouble.' (Getty Images) |
After battling an ill-handling car in the first 100 laps of the Samsung 500, Gordon first found himself a lap down and then into the Turn-4 wall on Lap 110, an incident that turned his day from racing to testing.
"All we can do is go back out there and try to learn some things as we turn laps," a dejected Gordon said as he watched his crew try and repair his battered car. "I don't ever remember us being so far off as we were this weekend."
Sunday's turn of events continued Gordon's struggles at Texas, one of only two tracks where he has not scored a Sprint Cup Series win.
Gordon fully admits he needs to have a competitive car in order to have any chance at breaking that Texas bad streak because of his inability to figure out the track as a driver.
"If the car isn't pretty close at this racetrack, I am terrible," Gordon said. "I can't get around this racetrack, I don't know what it is. Today to be off like we were and as slow as we were, the harder it was to drive.
"I just don't think I have ever been very good here at Texas, that is why we have never won here. I mean, I haven't felt this lost since my rookie year at a racetrack."
About the only solace Gordon could find was that his teammate, Jimmie Johnson, was equally lost at the Las Vegas race in March, but has somehow seemed to turn around his struggles at intermediate tracks with the new Sprint Cup car.
"We saw the No. 48 go through this at Las Vegas with their troubles but we haven't sensed anything like that until we got here and have been way off," Gordon said. "We have to find it because we can't go through a year like this."
The Texas debacle was the latest in a string of problems that have plagued the No. 24 team this year. While Gordon does have three top-five finishes to his credit in the first seven races, he also has three outside the top 35.
That trio of poor finishes includes mechanical troubles at Daytona, his Texas problems and the massive accident at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which Gordon still calls the hardest hit he has ever taken in a racecar.
But Gordon is hoping that incident results in a positive if more tracks improve their safety measures and install a SAFER Barrier on the inside as well as outside walls.
