Jeff Gordon’s shot at his first victory of the season ended 52 laps into Sunday’s race after getting caught up in an accident on lap 5.
Casey Mears and Bobby Labonte made contact in turn 2 and the spinning Labonte collected Gordon, who started 29th. Neither man was injured.
“Bobby Labonte just lost it over there in turn 2,” Gordon said. “He just did one of those slow spins where I couldn’t tell which direction he was going to go, so I had to guess and I guessed the wrong way. I didn’t really have anywhere else to go.”
The 39th-place finish is the second straight outside the top 10 for Gordon, who entered the day 11th in the Sprint Cup standings but fell to 16th. He’s still seeking his first win of the season.
“I don’t want to see the team get down and I don’t want to see myself get down,” he said. “I have a lot of fight in me and so does this team. I’m looking forward to going to Sonoma.”
Gordon has five career Sprint Cup victories at the California road course.
