Jeff Gordon posted his 6th consecutive top-10 finish with an 8th place effort at Richmond. It's the first time since March 2009 that Gordon posted 6 straight top-10's. However, Gordon battled the handling on longer runs and was unable to seriously contend for the lead during the event. Kurt Busch scored his first win of the season and the 26th of his career to punch his ticket into the NASCAR Chase. Gordon tied Mark Martin with the most lead lap finishes (558) in NASCAR history.

After rain washed out the event on Saturday night, the drivers took the green flag shortly after 1pm/eastern on Sunday. Gordon started 11th and moved to 9th in the opening laps. He took 8th from Denny Hamlin on lap 13, and passed AJ Allmendinger for 7th on lap 25. He held the spot until the competition caution on lap 50. Pit stops followed with Gordon restarting in 7th place. He used the inside line to his advantage and took 6th from Matt Kenseth on lap 57. Gordon entered the top-5 with a move around Brad Keselowski on lap 60. Kenseth regouped to take a spot from Gordon lap 64. At the 100-lap mark, Clint Bowyer passed Gordon to send him back to 7th. He moved back into 6th with a pass on Joey Logano on lap 121. The next caution came on lap 128 following Joey Gase's wreck on the backstretch. Gordon exited pit road in 7th. He slipped to 8th after the restart, but a caution for Josh Wise's stalled car on lap 137 bunched the field for another restart. Gordon held 8th until the next caution on lap 163 for Wise's blown engine. Pit stops followed with Gordon gaining two spots to restart in 6th place. Kasey Kahne jumped to the outside line to take a spot from Gordon on lap 170.

Just prior to the halfway point, Jamie McMurray passed Gordon to send him to 8th. He fell to 10th on lap 221 when Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth went by. Gordon dropped to 11th after Dale Earnhardt Jr passed on lap 245. Chase Elliott passed Gordon on lap 253 to send him back to 12th. Gordon came to pit road for a green flag stop on lap 266 and cycled through in 16th place. A caution for Brett Moffitt's blown tire slowed the field on lap 268, which trapped Gordon a lap down. However, Gordon took the wave-around to get back on the lead lap. He restarted in 15th place on lap 278. Gordon quickly gained two spots, and took 12th from Earnhardt Jr on lap 290. He re-entered the top-10 after passing Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne. With 86 laps to go, he took 9th from Joey Logano. Ten laps later he took 8th from Martin Truex. A debris caution with 50 laps to go brought pit stops for the run to the finish.

Gordon gained two spots in the pits and exited pit road in 6th place. On the restart with 42 to go, Gordon moved around Brad Keselowski before Tony Stewart spun to bring out a caution with 40 to go. On the restart, Joey Logano dove under Gordon to take a spot before a caution for Jeb Burton's spin with 32 to go. With 18 to go, Kahne went by to send Gordon back to 7th place. Kenseth took a spot from Gordon with 13 to go. He crossed the finish line in 8th place.

JG's comments:
"It was a good day. We started off the race pretty decent. I felt like we just needed a couple of adjustments. We made some adjustments and the car just flip flopped on us. We just had a lot of inconsistency trying to figure out the tires. You make an adjustment and the tires go a different way. That second to last run we were really awesome. Got the car back kind of to where we started the race and we were flying up through there and got in the top 10. Had great pit stops on pit road all day, got ourselves into the fifth position there and then that restart was kind of crazy. Kurt Busch didn’t really go and Joey Logano got a good run and got inside of me and put us on the outside. I don’t know, we weren’t as good on that last run, but still a really solid eighth place finish.”

Jeff Gordon posted his best finish of the 2015 season with a 3rd place effort in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The event concluded more than 9 hours after its scheduled start time because of persistent rain in East Tennesee. Gordon finished behind race winner Matt Kenseth and runner-up Jimmie Johnson after battling back from 2 laps down. It was his 5th consecutive top-10 finish -- the first time Gordon has scored 5 straight top-10's since June 2010.

Steady rain delayed the start of the race by more than an hour. Jeff's children, Ella and Leo, gave the command for drivers to start engines just before 2:30 pm. Gordon started 23rd and moved to 19th within 10 laps. The first caution waved on lap 18 for a wreck involving Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. The crash moved Gordon up to 17th place and -- more importantly -- gave him an entry out of his pit box with Logano going several laps down. Rain picked up once again and the event was red flagged at 2:40 pm. After nearly four more hours of rain and subsequent track drying, the race resumed just before 7 pm.

Gordon restarted in 16th place on lap 35. He used the high line to his advantage and moved to 12th by lap 40. Gordon remained there as the competition caution slowed the field on lap 60. Pit stops followed with Gordon restarting in 14th after some drivers opted to stay out. Gordon advanced to 11th by lap 70, and entered the top-10 with a move around Sam Hornish on lap 77. At the 100-lap mark, Gordon ran 7th after passing his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. He took 6th from Greg Biffle on lap 133. The next caution came on lap 168 for dampness on the track. Pit stops ensued with Gordon restarting in 7th place.

Gordon dropped to 8th on lap 200 and radioed to his crew about a loose wheel. He came to pit road for a 4-tire change on lap 206. He rejoined the race in 29th place, 2 laps down. Gordon moved up to 25th place by lap 225, but remained 2 laps down. At the halfway point, Gordon ran in 23rd place, and was the first car 2 laps down. On fresher tires, Gordon passed race leader Kevin Harvick on lap 254 to get a lap back. However, Carl Edwards went by Gordon to put him 2 laps down just prior to a caution flag for passing rain on lap 262. Gordon took the wave around and moved to 19th place, 1 lap down. The rain picked up and the red flag was displayed just after 8 pm. The field went back under the yellow flag 20 minutes later. A caution for Kurt Busch's spin into Jimmie Johnson on lap 278 brought out the caution. Following a pit sto, Gordon moved up to 18th -- the first car one lap down.

Gordon got back on the lead lap when the caution waved on lap 311 when Johnson spun out Jeb Burton. In the melee, Kevin Harvick made contact with David Ragan, which eliminated both drivers from contention. Gordon restarted in 16th place on lap 325. The next caution waved on lap 344 for debris. Gordon came to pit road for tires and restarted in 16th place on lap 350. The next caution came on lap 367 when Landon Cassill drilled the wall head-on after contact from Kyle Larson. Gordon stayed on the track and restarted 12th after several cars pitted. On lap 382, Gordon used the high line to move up to 9th place. Two laps later, he advanced to 7th place and closed in on Carl Edwards for 6th. He moved to 6th place on lap 437 when Kyle Larson pitted from the race lead. One lap later, he moved around Edwards to take 5th place. Gordon took 4th from Jamie McMurray on lap 446, and two laps later passed Ryan Newman for 3rd. Edwards regrouped and took a spot from Gordon on lap 455. With 29 to go, McMurray cut a tire and a chain reaction wreck occurred in turn 4 as Josh Wise and Clint Bowyer piled in.

Gordon stayed out and moved up to 3rd place when Kurt Busch pitted from the lead. On the restart with 20 laps to go, Austin Dillon used the high line to take a spot from Gordon. A multi-car wreck with 17 to go brought the caution after Tony Stewart turned Kasey Kahne. Gordon lined up on the outside line for the restart with 9 laps to go. Gordon moved to 2nd place behind Matt Kenseth. Edwards lost control underneath Gordon and hit the wall. Kurt Busch drilled the back of Edwards, and the melee collected Paul Menard and Justin Allagaier. On the green/white/checkered restart, Gordon lined up on the inside of Kenseth. Johnson was able to get past Gordon on the restart. Gordon crossed the line in 3rd place, his best effort of the 2015 season.