Jeff Gordon Just Misses Late Win

The Jeff Gordon of old was back for a few laps Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway -- but even that wasn't enough to stop the competition's worst nightmare.

Lined up side-by-side coming off of turn four, Gordon sat to the outside of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson as the field took its final restart of the night with 17 laps to go. As was the case with the previous two restarts that had quickly turned to cautions in the back of the pack, nearly everyone expected Johnson to have the advantage as made the left-hand arc into turn 1.

But the No. 24, with a full head of a steam, wasn't ready to let Johnson take the lead so easily.

Gordon ran side-by-side with Johnson for the next lap and at the flagstand, Johnson narrowly held the lead. Gordon wasn't done.

Circling through turn 3, Gordon, on the outside, pinched Johnson down low just enough for Johnson's rear end to wiggle up the track -- shooting Gordon to the top spot again as they passed the start/finish line with 15 to go with Johnson in close pursuit.

Gordon, who had already led twice earlier in the evening and finished with a 3rd-most total of 64 laps led, proceeded to hold the lead after another circuit around the 1.5-mile track was complete. It was becoming evident, though, that Gordon was going to need some incredible luck or other intervention to keep the lead as Johnson began to line up again right on Gordon's bumper.

Not only was Johnson's car dominant compared to Gordon's, but crew chief Steve Letarte put just two fresh tires on Gordon's car during the final pit stop in an effort to gain track position. The goal succeeded as Gordon came in to the pits fading to the back of the top-10 and came out third.

Johnson, though, had four fresh tires and the difference in grip between the two Hendrick cars was evident as Gordon turned into turn 3 on lap 320. Gordon's car slid towards the wall while Johnson stuck to the bottom and motored by to take the lead for the fifth and final time.

Gordon's chances at winning -- something that would have brought Gordon closer to Johnson by at least 15 points in the Chase for the Sprint Cup -- were gone as he continued a slide to an eventual fourth-place finish. Such a finish is likely better than one he would have garnered by grabbing four tires on the last pit stop instead.

"We put two tires on and that was a great call by Steve (Letarte)," said Gordon. "I think Steve called this race perfectly tonight and we gave it a shot."

But Gordon didn't think a "shot" meant contending for a race win -- or making a pass of Johnson in the late stages.

"I couldn't even believe I got the lead on the restart and was able to get by Jimmie when he got loose and we were racing really hard," said Gordon.

The moment turning out to be to good to be true wasn't surprising, though.

"I knew it was just a matter of time before my two tires would give up and it did," said Gordon, referring to when he slid up the track as Johnson went by.

Despite Johnson's complete domination, Gordon's team has easily been one of the best in the past few weeks. After a disappointing 15th-place run at Loudon, Gordon has carried an average finish of 3.5 in the last four races -- just off Johnson's astounding 3rd-place average in that same span. The big difference, though, has been race wins.

Gordon did all he could to grab one of those away from Johnson on Saturday at LMS, but Johnson still reigned when the burnout smoke cleared. Sure, it was impressive to see Gordon fighting for yet another win, but you get the picture that even that won't be enough -- yet again.