Disappointing run for Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon at New Hampshire

LOUDON, N.H. – Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon had a strong car early in the Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but the team tuned itself out of the event and he wound up 15th.

“We just really struggled with the grip on the restarts,” Gordon said. “We’d lose three or four spots every restart and then we’d start not being able to gain it back. It just wasn’t a good day for us. It’s one we’ve just got to put behind us and go on.”

Gordon is 10th in the Chase For The Sprint Cup standings, 102 points behind leader Mark Martin.

“[The] 102 is a lot of points to make up,” Gordon said. “But you know, it could have been a lot worse. I said last week it’s damage control when you don’t have a good run. But we should have finished better than this.

“We didn’t. It wasn’t our day as far as tuning on the car and as far as pit stops and just a lot of things. So that’s why we finished where we did and all we can do it put it behind us now and go to Dover and try to rebound. When you get in a hole like this, it puts that much more pressure on you that you have to win.”