Gordon started 9th and fell to 13th before the first caution for Sam Hornish's spin on lap 3. He slipped back to 15th on lap 10, just before Hornish's second spin of the night. He held 15th until a caution period for rain on lap 35. Gordon gained two spots on pit road and restarted in 13th place on lap 44. He took 11th from David Ragan on lap 50 as the handling began coming in. Four laps later, he took 9th from Ryan Newman with a pass coming off turn four. Newman re-assumed the 9th spot on lap 83, as Clint Bowyer also took a position from Gordon sending him back to 11th.

Green flag pit stops came at lap 95 with Gordon taking four tires. He fell back to 13th battling handling issues in race traffic. A caution for Kyle Busch's spin in turn four slowed the field on lap 119. Gordon changed two tires and departed pit road with the lead. Gordon led the field thru the next caution period when Juan Pablo Montoya spun on lap 164. Gordon opted for four tires and fell to 2nd after Denny Hamlin won the race off of pit road. Gordon took the lead from Hamlin within a lap of the restart, and led until a debris caution on lap 189. Gordon lost two spots on pit road after taking two tires and restarted behind Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson. Gordon fell back on the restart and dropped to 4th on lap 204 after Kasey Kahne passed. He fell to 5th on lap 243 when Bowyer passed.

Gordon came in for a four-tire pit stop under he green flag on lap 246, and ran in 5th when the stops cycled through the field. On lap 285, he pulled to the inside on the backstretch and let Kurt Busch and Joey Logano pass, which dropped him to 7th place. Max Papis' blown engine on lap 291 brought the caution flag out, and the lead lap cars came to pit road. Gordon opted for two tires and departed in 3rd place. He passed Kahne on the restart before a caution flag for Carl Edwards' blown engine. That allowed Gordon to line up alongside Johnson for the restart with 18 laps to go. Gordon took the lead with 15 laps to go, but lost the top spot to Johnson two laps later. Gordon then fell to 4th with 10 to go. He held off Joey Logano on the final lap to finish in 4th. Johnson pulled away for his 3rd win in the last 4 races. Simply unstoppable X4.

Gordon started 10th and used the outside line to his advantage on the opening lap to move up to 8th. By lap 8, he gained two more spots and ran in 6th place. Gordon moved into the top-5 on lap 21 with a pass on Greg Biffle coming off turn four. He brushed the wall on lap 30, before coming in for a green flag pit stop 10 laps later.

Gordon ran 4th when the pit stop sequence cycled through. However, he lost the position to Denny Hamlin before the 50-lap mark. As the run progressed, Gordon re-assumed the 4th spot from Hamlin. The first caution came at lap 65 for Jamie McMurray's cut tire. Gordon came onto pit road in 4th held the position. He dropped back on the restart before rallying back to 3rd on lap 75. Two laps later, Jimmie Johnson passed to send Gordon back to 4th. On lap 79, he dropped to 5th, and slipped to 6th after Kevin Harvick went by on lap 81. A caution for Ryan Newman's cut tire brought the field to pit road on lap 84. Gordon lost two spots on pit road and departed in 8th position.

He worked through race traffic and moved back into the top-5 on lap 90. At the 100-lap mark, he passed Mark Martin to take back the 4th position. A debris caution on lap 117 brought the leaders to pit road, where Gordon moved up two spots. He restarted in 2nd place on lap 121 alongside Denny Hamlin. He fell to 3rd as Johnson passed within two laps of the restart. Gordon dropped to 4th on lap 130 as Juan Pablo Montoya went by. He took 3rd from Hamlin on lap 145. Gordon stayed out during a pit sequence to lead a lap -- the first lap he led in the Chase. However, after the pit stop he slipped back to 4th while voicing his displeasure with the tires on the car. A debris caution on lap 183 brought the leaders to pit road, where Gordon made a mistake and slid through the pit box -- thus slowing the time. He departed pit road in 6th place.

On the restart, Montoya and Hamlin made contact with Hamlin hitting the inside wall and sending him to the garage. Gordon moved to 4th with 54 laps to go, but ran distantly behind Johnson and Montoya. Gordon took 3rd from Martin on lap 215, before pitting under green with 25 laps to go. Gordon ran 2nd to Johnson after the pit stop sequence cycled through. A debris caution with 15 laps to go slowed the field and set up a restart with Johnson and Gordon alongside each other. Gordon started on the inside and took the lead on the backstretch. Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne spun on the frontstretch, bringing out the caution with 11 laps to go. The restart came with 7 laps to go with Gordon on the outside. Johnson took the lead from his teammate coming off turn four before a wreck in turn 1 collected six cars, including Jeff Burton, AJ Allmendinger, Marcos Ambrose, Reed Sorensen, Kasey Kahne, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. The final restart came with 3 laps to go with Johnson pulling away from Gordon for his 45th career victory. Gordon's 2nd place effort was his 8th runner-up finish of the season.

JG post-race comments

"I didn't think we were a second place car, so we were pretty happy about finishing second. We had a good pit stop and some good restarts there and were able to get ourselves action into the lead but couldn't maintain it. My car just didn't work good on the outside, especially early in the runs. So we kind of gave up that lane to the 48. You know, once you give up that lane to him, he was so good up there, you're going to lose the lead. So we did, and we've got to be happy with second, that was a good day for us."

Q: Jimmie said he was actually nervous out there sitting on turn four during the red flag. Thought he might not have enough laps to on pull that out. Curious what you were feeling and thinking at that point?
"He chose the inside lane, there was a lot of Speedy Dry up there. Up there in the outside lane I got a perfect restart, and I was right down on the outside of his door. I was hanging right with him, and as soon as we hit that, I slid up and he was able to put the power down a lot better than I was. And I just fell in behind him. I knew at that point we were done.

Q: I know you said you had a great run. You didn't expect that. Is there any frustration that you still lose points to Jimmie Johnson?
"Well, there are still some tracks in there that can change that all in one lap. So, you know, I mean right now we can only do our best. When we get to Homestead or finish out in Homestead, if you're best isn't good enough, then you work harder over the off season and see what you can do to improve it for next season. But right now the only frustration I have is the first two races that we've had, we didn't get the finishes that I felt like we were capable of, especially at New Hampshire. So we're definitely behind. But we made gains on a lot of guys. Got ourselves in the fifth now. So we're doing what we need to do in my opinion. You know, if it takes a third place average finish over ten races, then, no, we're not going to win it this year. You know, we've already gotten a 15th place finish. We've just got to keep battling, and keep trying to get wins and Top 5's and the last couple of weeks have gone really well, and I'm proud of those efforts, even though we have finished second."

Q: Is it bittersweet?
"Well, the only thing to me that's bittersweet is that we finished second, and I felt like we were like in a second class category. That's the only thing that bothers me a little bit. We're just not good enough. We're good, but we're not good enough. We're doing everything we can to be good enough, but it's just not there. So we've got to search and find something. We've got to be better than that. I feel like Charlotte's a good track for us, and I'm looking forward to going there. And hopefully we can make up the ground that we're lacking. Maybe it's just in the set up. Maybe we've got to look at our cars a little bit more. I mean, it's our teammate, but they're in another category. We saw it at Dover, and we certainly saw it here."

Q: The last 12 chase races going back part way through last season, Jimmie's won five. So nearly half of the last 12. Is that surprising or is that almost expected because you know of his ability, his equipment, and what he has? I mean, obviously, 10% winning percentage among drivers would seem to be fantastic, but he's almost hitting 50% here?
"Yeah, they have something magical about the final ten races. You know, these ten tracks really suit them. They do an incredible job. What else can you say? They're the best out there. They've won the last three championships. They're going to be hard to beat for this one. Really, unless they make a mistake, I don't see how they lose it."

Q: Do you feel is there a certain tradition points wise? You've had success at Charlotte, you've had success at Martinsville, do you need to be in a certain place going into Talladega?
"I would like to get back to our winning ways at Martinsville. I feel like we've definitely gotten beat there the last several times by Jimmie and Denny. And I feel like we're capable of winning there. What our focus is just winning at each track that we go to. Next week is Charlotte, and I don't even know after that. Martinsville. And we're going to go there. One week at a time, we just focus. We prepare far in advance, but right now we just think about it a week in advance, and go in there and give it everything we've got. I mean, that's what we've done the last two weeks we've finished second. You know, I'm pretty happy with those results. We can't control what the other guys do. We can only control what we do."

Q: Can you characterize any differences between this chase and others you've been in before, in particularly the intensity that seems to be added with the late race double file restarts like we saw today?
"No doubt the double file restarts are adding a lot of excitement and intensity. Had we not had those double file restarts you might not have seen any lead changes there towards the end. So it was exciting to see some lead changes and be a part of that. We're seeing that everywhere we go. So I definitely say that that's a change from what I've seen in the past. But I've never seen any Chase really go the same way. I mean, the last three finished the same way, but there's all kinds of different ways to win it. What happens within that Chase is different each and every week and each and every year, and I can't really go into specifics because there's never been two alike in my opinion."

Q: Do you see any tracks throughout the remainder of the year where the double file restarts may have as great an impact as they had at this track?
"Every weekend, you know. In two weeks at Martinsville, the outside lane is not the preferred lane. So guys that are on the inside lane, it's going to be big. You can see a freight train of guys. What that does is builds frustration for the guys on the outside trying to get down on the inside, and that's when you start seeing contact and crashes and things happening. Charlotte is going to be intense just like we've seen on the double file restarts there for the All Star event. It gets pretty crazy. So I think it's every weekend. Every track. There is no one that is any more or less than the other, except for maybe Talladega. I think Talladega, we're already double file there anyway most of the time, so it's not going to be that big of a deal there?"

Q: Primarily this track is probably the biggest difference compared to last year where Jimmie just ran away with it?
"From where I was looking, he ran away with it today (laughing). So I didn't see a big difference. The only thing I saw was Juan Pablo Montoya. He's really stepped it up, man. Those guys whatever they're doing, it's working. He's fast. He at least gave the 48 a run for his money. We played around with him on the restarts, but really had nothing for him. At least Juan had something for him at times. Other than that, I don't see anybody that could have touched him the last couple of times he's been here this time of the year."