At the outset of the Coca-Cola 600, Jeff Gordon struggled with handling, but he fully expected the handling on the #24 to be dialed in after nightfall. However, the car never performed to Gordon's expectations and finished 15th in his final start in NASCAR's longest race. At the front of the field, Carl Edwards scored his first win of the season and 24th of his career.

Gordon started 18th and worked his way into the top-15 by the end of lap 11. He ran 15th at the competition caution on lap 25. He restarted 13th on lap 30. Gordon took 11th from Jimmie Johnson on lap 36, but was unable to gain further ground. Paul Menard passed to take 11th on lap 64, and Greg Biffle sent Gordon back to 13th on lap 70. He came to pit road for a green flag stop on lap 78 and cycled through in 18th place after adjustments. The next caution waved on lap 90 for Jimmie Johnson's half spin in turn 4. Pit stops followed with Gordon restarting 21st on lap 94. He struggled on the restart and fell to 26th by lap 100. He steadily worked through traffic and ran in 21st place on lap 135. The Brd caution came on lap 136 for Justin Allagaier's wall contact. Pit stops followed with Gordon restarting in 19th place on lap 140. He picked up two spots after the restart to run 17th on lap 150. He came to pit road for a green flag stop on lap 188 and cycled through in 13th place. At the halfway point, Gordon ran in 14th place as dusk enveloped the track.

A caution for Trevor Bayne's wall contact on lap 230 brought the lead lap cars to pit road. A miscue on pit road resulted in Gordon coming back in to tighten lug nuts. He restarted in 17th place on lap 235 and gained one spot over the next 30 laps. The caution waved on lap 273 for Jimmie Johnson's crash off of turn 4. The caution allowed Gordon to make up a 20-second gap to the leader. Pit stops ensued with Gordon restarting in 15th place on lap 278. Ryan Blaney's engine expired on lap 281 to bring out another caution. Gordon stayed on the track while most of the lead lap cars pitted. He restarted in 8th place with 110 laps to go. Gordon moved to 7th on the restart, but fell to 9th at the 300-lap mark as Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski passed. He rebounded to take 8th from Matt Kenseth with 91 to go, albeit briefly as Kurt Busch passed two laps later. Kasey Kahne sent Gordon back to 10th with 85 to go. A caution with 72 to go for Michael Annett's spin brought the leaders to pit road. Gordon exited pit road in 11th place. However, he faded to 14th just a lap after the restart. A caution for Ricky Stenhouse's wall contact slowed the field with 64 to go. Gordon came to pit road for tires and restarted in 13th place.

With 40 to go, Gordon moved to 12th with a move around Austin Dillon. He advanced to 11th when Denny Hamlin pitted with a loose wheel. As drivers began pitting, Gordon moved into the top-5 with 20 laps to go. He ran 3rd behind Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle with 19 to go. Gordon came to pit road with 18 to go and opted for 2 tires. He cycled through in 16th place and finished the event in 15th.

Jeff Gordon's final start in the All-Star Race netted a 4th place finish. Gordon started 9th in the first segment of the event. He moved up to 6th place by the end of lap 3. He dropped to 7th when Kurt Busch went by on lap 11. He battled tight handling and took 6th from Greg Biffle at the end of the first segment. The drivers came to pit road with Gordon exiting in 7th place. On the restart, Gordon used the inside line to his advantage and moved to 4th place on lap 27. He took 3rd from Denny Hamlin on lap 29 where he closed the second segment of the event. The crew changed four tires and Gordon restarted in 7th place due to some drivers opting for two tires. The inside line struggled at the start of the third segment after Joey Logano and Jamie McMurray made contact. Gordon slipped to 8th on lap 52. He took 7th from McMurray on lap 56. Two laps later he took 6th from Matt Kenseth where he concluded the third segment. Gordon exited pit road in 8th place after taking four tires.

On the restart, he slipped to 10th before regrouping to take 9th on lap 79 from Joey Logano. Five laps later he took 8th from Kenseth. Gordon passed AJ Allmendinger to take 7th place on lap 89 where he finished the segment. The drivers came to pit road based on their average finish in the first 4 segments. Gordon came to pit road in 5th place based on the average finish. He exited pit road in 5th place for the restart of the final 10-lap segment.

On the restart, Gordon moved up to 4th behind Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, and Kurt Busch. As Hamlin pulled away to win, Gordon briefly battled with Kurt Busch for 3rd place before settling into 4th where he finished the event.

JG's comments
"Having Ingrid, the kids, my mom, and my dad there (pre-race) was amazing. That was a surprise to me. I asked my parents, 'Why are you guys here? I never see you at driver introductions.' So, that was special. Something I'll never forget. We had a really solid performance overall as a team. I'm really excited about that performance that we can take to next week's 600. I think our car is pretty good and we can make it a little better."

ON THE RACE
"Homestead will affect me a lot more as it probably will be my last race. It's awesome to see all the fans and all the things they did on the track. But as far as really putting it all in perspective – it sinking in that that was my last All-Star race – I wasn't thinking like that. I was focused in on the race. We were solid. I was pretty happy with the performance of the car. It's so hard to get that track position that you need. A couple of guys were able to make some moves and maneuver through. We made a few but not many. It was all about lining up on the inside. When we lined up on the inside a few times and made up some spots When we lined up on the outside we lost some. At the end we were on the inside (passing three cars) and had a decent average. We were decent and got a fourth-place finish for it."

Jeff Gordon posted a 4th place finish at Kansas Speedway which surely was not indicative of how the night seemed to be playing out. Gordon battled handling issues for most of the night, and at one point was less than a second from going a lap down. However, a well-timed caution flag kept him on the lead lap, and a late call to stay on the track during a caution period gave him the chance to post his 3rd top-5 in the last 4 races at Kansas.

Gordon started 11th and slipped to 14th on the first lap before regrouping to take 11th on lap 3. The first caution waved on lap 4 for JJ Yeley's spin. At the competition caution on lap 25, Gordon ran in 13th place. The crew changed 2 tires and Gordon restarted in 10th place. After dropping to 12th, he regrouped to enter the top-10 on lap 44. Gordon took a spot from Tony Stewart to move up to 8th, prior to Matt Kenseth passing to take 9th on lap 61. He battled handling issues and fell out of the top-10 on lap 70. Gordon came to pit road for a green flag stop on lap 80. Following stops he ran in 14th place as race leader Martin Truex closed within a second to put him a lap down. However, Jeb Burton's spin on lap 93 brought out the caution to keep Gordon on the lead lap. Pit stops followed with Gordon gaining 4 spots to restart in 10th place. Rain began falling and the race was red-flagged shortly after 8:30pm/eastern.

The race resumed after 11pm/eastern following rain and track drying. He ran between 7th-13th over the next 100 laps as the crew made adjustments during caution perods. With 79 to go, Gordon stayed out during a caution to move up to 4th for the restart. He took 3rd after the restart before a caution for Erik Jones' wall contact with 71 to go. He closed in on Kyle Larson for 2nd place before a caution for Denny Hamlin's cut tire with 60 to go. Pit stops followed with Gordon opting for two tires. However, a problem on the right front put him back in 11th place for the restart. Handling became an issue back in traffic as he fell to 13th with 45 to go. Gordon moved to 12th with 30 to go. He remained there until Ricky Stenhouse's wall contact brought out a caution with 11 laps to go. Gordon stayed on the track and restarted in 4th place with 6 to go. He held the spot and posted his 7th top-10 finish in the last 8 races.

JG's comments
"It was a really solid top-five finish there. I'm really proud of that. That was not easy. Track position meant so much and we had it and then we lost it and it was nice to get it back there at the end and get a decent restart and finish fourth."

Jeff Gordon led 47 laps at Talladega Superspeedway, but lost track position after a late race pit road penalty and wound up spinning on the final lap. His 31st place finish was his 3rd sub-30th place finish of the season. At the front of the field, Dale Earnhardt Jr scored his first win of the season to qualify for the Chase for the Championship. Gordon posted his 559th career lead lap finish, which moved him ahead of Mark Martin for the most lead lap finishes in NASCAR history.

Gordon started on the pole and led the first 3 laps before moving to the higher line. He got shuffled back to 6th place by lap 5. He regrouped and moved to 2nd behind Dale Earnhardt Jr on lap 15. One lap later he pulled to the inside to regain the top spot. The first caution waved on lap 19 when Brian Scott spun and collected Michael Waltrip in turn 1. Gordon came to pit road for two tires and held the top spot. On the restart, Jimmie Johnson gave Gordon a drafting push on the outside line to keep the race lead. The next caution waved on lap 47 when Trevor Bayne spun on the backstretch and collected a dozen cars in the melee including Joey Logano, David Ragan, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson, Landon Cassill, Greg Biffle, and Danica Patrick. The race was red-flagged for 10 minutes to allow for track cleanup. Pit stops followed with Gordon opting for four tires. He restarted in 5th place on lap 52. He slipped to 7th in the middle line prior to a debris caution on lap 56. On the restart, he moved to the inside line and drafted up to 2nd place behind race leader Jimmie Johnson on lap 62. However, he had dropped to 10th in the draft by lap 68. He hooked up with Tony Stewart in a draft to move to 7th place on lap 85.

On lap 90, he moved to the outside line behind Stewart and advanced to 5th. The next caution came on lap 92 for Brendan Gaughan's wall contact. Pit stops followed with Gordon exiting pit road with the lead after accelerating from the first pit box. Johnson took the lead on lap 98 with help from Dale Earnhardt Jr. He slipped to 8th as the outside line powered past. On lap 101, he moved to the middle line and drafted up to 4th place behind Earnhardt Jr. Drafting help from Carl Edwards thrust Gordon to 2nd place on lap 108. He re-assumed the race lead on lap 112 with a move around Earnhardt Jr. A debris caution slowed the field on lap 115. Gordon held the lead through pit stops and led until 65 to go when Earnhardt Jr took the lead with drafting help from Brad Keselowski. After fading to 12th place, he regrouped and locked into a draft with Johnson on the outside line. He moved to 7th place with 55 laps to go, and ran 4th two laps later. With 50 to go, he ran in 4th in a single line behind Earnhardt Jr, Tony Stewart, and Ryan Blaney. However, he was shuffled out of line and dropped to 17th with 45 laps to go. He then locked into a draft with Sam Hornish and moved up to 11th with 40 to go. Gordon re-entered the top-10 behind Johnson with 33 to go. Gordon came to pit road with 32 to go just prior to a caution for Austin Dillon's mishap in the tri-oval. However, Gordon received a speeding penalty for too fast entering pit road.

Gordon restarted in 31st place with 26 laps to go. He used the middle line to his advantage and moved to 22nd within a lap of the restart. With 20 to go, he ran in 17th place on the inside line. The field eventually ran in a single line with Gordon in 23rd place with 15 to go. On the final lap, he spun exiting turn 2 and finished in 31st place. Gordon has just 1 top-10 finish in the last 8 races at Talladega.

JG's comments:
"You have to get to pit road without locking the tires up or speeding. I thought I was plenty conservative there, but the tires are pretty worn out and I just carried too much speed to pit road. I kind of locked the tires up and I was speeding, I couldn't get the car slowed down. We had an awesome car. We got shuffled back there a little bit. Hats off to Dale Jr and that whole team, and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We had amazing cars this weekend. But Dale Jr, you could tell, he was driving super aggressive and you knew he wanted to win this race bad. I certainly know all the fans are enjoying the show, they love to see Dale Jr win this race. But, after that [pit road] issue on my part, we were just in the back trying to make our way to the front. We did a pretty good job of making some spots up. We were going to kind of wait and see what happened on that last lap. Then they started wrecking, We avoided one of them, but we couldn't avoid the second one."