After a couple of lackluster weeks for Jeff Gordon and the “Rainbow Warriors,” the No. 24 crew of Hendrick Motorsports put one together in the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past Sunday.

After dominating the field for much of the race many Hardcore Race Fans thought he may have wound up with the win, but an unfortunate decision late in the race cost them the victory.

During a yellow flag period on lap 229, Gordon and much of the field came in for a final pit stop. Crew Chief Steve Letarte made the call to take two tires and get back on the track. Teammate and eventual winner, Jimmie Johnson, collected four fresh tires on the restart.

“Well, you know, if we won the race we'd look like geniuses, Steve would have. The fact that we lost the race, now Chad (Knaus) looks like a genius. That's how it goes sometimes. When you're leading, that's the toughest position to be in, to make that call.” Gordon went on, “Shoot, we were thinking for a split second to stay out. If we'd have done that, I think we would have finished 10th.”

Had he had taken four tires like his teammate Gordon stated, “I had no doubt in my mind we could hold him off with four tires.”

Despite losing the triumph, Gordon remains happy that he and his team were able to show their capabilities with a strong performance on Sunday.

“Well, obviously it was a great day for us, dominating performance,” Gordon noted. “The car was awesome, everything was good. Very disappointed to get beat by a two  versus four tire stop.”

Gordon added, “We came here to win. You know, we knew we were going to have to take chances and risks, and we did throughout the day, and it paid off for us. I think we just thought more people would take two tires. It just didn't work out.”

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