Gordon crashes out for first DNF

Gordon had made his way up to the top ten having started from 32nd on the grid. At the end of lap 61 he tried to pass Tony Raines, who had gotten sideways out of turn 4, but unfortunately got hit by the Hall Of Fame Racing driver, turning him into the inside grass and then the outside wall.

The #24 Chevrolet got airborne after being collected head-on by the Red Bull Toyota of AJ Allmendinger, whose car sustained heavy damage in the impact. Jeff Burton was also involved in the incident and was forced to pit for repairs to the left front corner of his #31 Chevrolet.

Gordon, who still leads the championship thanks to the big points gap he had coming into this weekend's race, was in good spirits as he walked out of the care centre following what looked as a frightening wreck.

"Honestly I'm fine, it looked a lot worse than it really was," said Gordon. "The impact really wasn't that severe. Nasty angle. I got hit by the #84 just as I hit the wall and I got airborne. It's just a shame for my guys because the car was incredible.

"We drove from the back to the front. I was having a blast 'cause the car was just unbelievable. Tony Raines got loose coming off from turn four. I had nowhere to go. I tried to go to the inside and he just clipped me and turned me into the outside wall.

"It's unfortunate. This is going to be that one bad race that we've been looking for," Gordon concluded.

AJ Allmendinger also walked away unscathed from the crash. He had been involved in an incident with Gordon's teammate Jimmie Johnson a couple of laps before, which caused a major pile up involving thirteen cars.

"I saw Tony [Raines] spin," Allmendinger said about his accident with Gordon. "I just saw it all in front of me, what was going to happen. I'd seen him get loose in the middle of the corner and I knew where he was going, so I missed him.

"Unfortunately, Jeff was in the grass trying to miss him, came back up and we hit pretty good. It was hard but luckily wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. It actually didn't bend much on the car."

Gordon's accident marks the continuation of a bad-luck streak for him at Lowe's Motor Speedway. This is the third consecutive DNF for the four-time Nextel Cup Champion in the Coca-Cola 600 and also the fifth consecutive time that he fails to finish a points race at the 1.5-mile oval.