Late-race crash no surprise to Jeff Gordon

Jeff Gordon wasn't pleased with his finish in Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. But Gordeon didn't seem stunned to have ended up in a crash, either.

Gordon was battling Carl Edwards for the lead when Edwards bumped him and Gordon went spinning into the grass. No caution was thrown and Gordon limped his car back to pit road with all the tires flat.


As he was asked about the accident, Gordon said he couldn't discuss it in depth without seeing a replay and admitted that he could have been at fault.

What he wasn't, though, was surprised to see the accident happen.

"We had such an awesome night going," Gordon said. "I'm so excited about the way we ran, obviously disappointed with the way it finished. ... They were all laying back, we were all playing kind of cat and mouse on that last restart, you know on a green-white-checkered.

"We were going for the win, trying to get the momentum and the 99 [of Edwards] got a run and I went low to block him and he kept going low and I guess I must have come across the front bumper."

The racing was wild in the last 50 laps, as events at restrictor-plate tracks generally are. Perhaps that's why Gordon seemed generally accepting of his 30th-place finish.

"I knew it was just a matter of time before we got wrecked the way they were bump-drafting and getting pretty crazy out there," Gordon said. "I'm excited about the way we ran. We had a great opportunity to win the race. I have to look at the videos. It might have been my fault, I don't know."

Gordon remains sixth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings.