Before Sunday's race, picking a Gordon to win would have been a safe bet. Unfortunately, both Jeff Gordon & Robby Gordon were never a factor.
Jeff Gordon has always been known as a good road-course driver, but after Sunday's 29th-place finish he wondered if "we've lost that magic that we had at one time."
Gordon has won four Cup races at Watkins Glen International, a total matched only by Tony Stewart, and he has five victories at Sonoma, Calif., on the only other road course in the series. But he hasn't won at the Glen since 2001, or at Sonoma since 2006.
Gordon, who started sixth on Sunday, said his No. 24 Chevrolet wasn't handling well, and at one point he lost radio communication with his crew. Race officials finally black-flagged him to get him to come in for a pit stop.
"It's about as frustrating as you can get as a team, as a driver," Jeff Gordon said.
And Robby Gordon had issues also.
With two of his three wins on road courses, including here in 2003, Robby Gordon came into Sunday's race as someone to watch despite starting 31st.
Turns out if you wanted to see him, you'd have to be looking toward the end of the field. Gordon ran a lap down a good chunk of the race and needed a free pass to get back on the lead lap late in the race.
Gordon avoided trouble in the big crash and went on to finish 27th, his worst Cup showing here since a 40th in 2001.
After the conclusion of the race, Robby stopped in front of his hauler, threw his steering wheel on the dash, exited his car and went straight inside his hauler.
Fuel mileage has been a huge problem for Robby racing the COT at road courses.
Last year at Infenion, Robby dominated the event until he was forced to pit for fuel in the final laps and finished 16th. This year at Infenion, Robby had a strong car again, but ran out of fuel before the first pit stop and finished a disappointing 36th.
During Sunday's race Robby went a lap down early trying to play a pit strategy with fuel and possibility of rain showers. The rain never came, but a caution did shortly after Robby had pitted. That decision left Robby a lap down for most of the race and unable to gain positions despite having one of the fastest cars on the track. At road courses lapped cars restart at the rear of the field. The only way to gain a lap back is when a caution comes out and the first car a lap down receives the free pass.