Jeff Gordon: “Frustrating. I thought we were going to be a lot better than that, I’ll admit”

Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont/Nicorette Monte Carlo SS finished ninth in the USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

With his ninth-place finish, Jeff Gordon continued to hold his points lead with a 303-point advantage over second-place Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Monte Carlo SS, who finished 17th. Jeff Gordon and nine other Team Chevy drivers sit among the top-12 in the driver points standings.

Jeff Gordon, NO. 24 DUPONT / NICORETTE MONTE CARLO SS:

HOW WAS YOUR DAY?

“Frustrating. I thought we were going to be a lot better than that, I’ll admit. When we dropped the green I was hoping we were going to be kind of like we were last year and march our way to the front. But we never did. And we just really struggled getting the balance on the car and getting the grip that we needed and we were pretty much a ninth or 10th place car other than that time we got track position. If we could have played that pit strategy perfect, we probably could have had a top five just based on track position, but we needed to work on the car a little bit and that got us a little bit behind.

“I was happy there at the end because we gained spots, you know, and we were going forward. We made a good call there the last stop by putting four tires on. But our car got tight there at the end and we had been loose all day. So yeah, I’m frustrated. “

WHAT DO YOU ANTICIPATE OUT OF TONY STEWART NOW THAT HE’S GOTTEN HIS FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON?

“He’s been strong all year. They just haven’t gotten the wins. And now he’s got the wins. I never doubted him a bit. I feel like no matter what, that guy is a threat for the championship whether they’ve won races or not. And those last 10 (races) you know that team is going to step it up and by getting them a win, that’s just going to give them some momentum. Right now, we’re leading the points but we’ve got to be better, for sure. “

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