Jeff Gordon 'embarrassing' on restarts in NASCAR return at Indy

Gordon came out of retirement to rejoin Hendrick Motorsports while Earnhardt is sidelined to recover from concussion-like symptoms.

Set to race again this weekend at Pocono at least, Gordon moved from 21st to finish 13th at Indianapolis Motor Speedway but said he lost out badly at restarts in a race with seven caution periods.

"I got my butt kicked on those restarts," Gordon said. "It was embarrassing.

"While I will fill-in for Dale Jr - and I hope he's doing good - I needed a fill-in on restarts. It was pretty bad.

"Other than that, I thought it went really well.

"It took us a little while to get the balance right and the adjustments came to us, [crew chief Greg Ives] made an awesome pit call to come in early one time.

"And he called it right as I was going into Turn 4 and that made up a lot of spots for us, because we had a fast race car.

"We just couldn't get the track position. It was pretty tough to pass.

"But, I'm going to need some practice on restarts for Pocono anyway.

"On one hand I'm relieved that this is over and on the other hand I would have liked it to have gone a little bit better."

GORDON AND STEWART SHARE 'SPECIAL MOMENT'

Gordon finished two places behind Tony Stewart, who is completing his own NASCAR farewell tour in 2016, and the pair ran a lap of honour in tandem after the chequered flag.

"It meant a lot to me that he invited me to come and make that last lap with him," Gordon said.

"It was a special moment."

Stewart is a lifelong Indiana resident, a two-time Brickyard 400 winner and started the Indianapolis 500 from pole position earlier in his career.

"I knew when we got the chequered we just didn't want to come in just yet," he said.

"I wanted to run one more lap and Jeff was around us and before that last green run I told my spotter to go get his spotter and said after this thing is over, we need to go a lap around here together because most likely is the last time we'll both get a chance to do that.

"I couldn't think of a better guy to share that moment with than Jeff.

"That just ranks in the top three coolest moments of my 18 years in this series."