FORT WORTH, Texas - What does Jeff Gordon have to do to win a race?
For one, he has to avoid hitting the wall while leading, which is what he did at Texas Motor Speedway during Sunday's Samsung 500.
Gordon was leading the race with 20 laps to go when he bounced off the wall exiting Turn 4. Three laps later, Matt Kenseth passed him for the lead, and Gordon soon dropped two more positions to finish fourth.
So after leading 173 laps, the most of any driver, Gordon had to settle for his fifth top-five finish of the season.
"Coming out of Turn 4 it kinda took off, started pushing on me," Gordon said. "Certainly have to look at that and see if there's something I can do different next time. But it definitely pushed right up [against the wall], and we were done from that point on."
Gordon has finished second three times this season - including a side-by-side finish with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville - third once and now fourth once. He's without a victory, though he remains atop the Nextel Cup point standings.
But none of that matters to Gordon, who was looking to win at Texas for the first time and notch his 76th career victory - and tie himself with Dale Earnhardt for sixth place in NASCAR's all-time list.
"It was a stupid mistake," Gordon said of hitting the wall. "I got into the wall earlier, behind [Kurt Busch]. He kind of brushed it, and I went in after him. It was kind of a weird thing.
"We were just going along, it felt good - the ... team did such an incredible job. We've got such an awesome crew, and I'm so excited about it. To have an opportunity to win here felt good, but I feel that I gave one away here."
For one, he has to avoid hitting the wall while leading, which is what he did at Texas Motor Speedway during Sunday's Samsung 500.
Gordon was leading the race with 20 laps to go when he bounced off the wall exiting Turn 4. Three laps later, Matt Kenseth passed him for the lead, and Gordon soon dropped two more positions to finish fourth.
So after leading 173 laps, the most of any driver, Gordon had to settle for his fifth top-five finish of the season.
"Coming out of Turn 4 it kinda took off, started pushing on me," Gordon said. "Certainly have to look at that and see if there's something I can do different next time. But it definitely pushed right up [against the wall], and we were done from that point on."
Gordon has finished second three times this season - including a side-by-side finish with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville - third once and now fourth once. He's without a victory, though he remains atop the Nextel Cup point standings.
But none of that matters to Gordon, who was looking to win at Texas for the first time and notch his 76th career victory - and tie himself with Dale Earnhardt for sixth place in NASCAR's all-time list.
"It was a stupid mistake," Gordon said of hitting the wall. "I got into the wall earlier, behind [Kurt Busch]. He kind of brushed it, and I went in after him. It was kind of a weird thing.
"We were just going along, it felt good - the ... team did such an incredible job. We've got such an awesome crew, and I'm so excited about it. To have an opportunity to win here felt good, but I feel that I gave one away here."
