Jeff Gordon's Pit Road Mistakes Holding Him Back from Winning Races in 2015

When Jeff Gordon sought to point fingers after Sunday’s Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway after a disappointing 31st-place finish, he singled out one person.

He didn’t have to look far to find that offender—Gordon simply had to look in the mirror.

For the second time in five races, a pit road mistake cost Gordon greatly—and once again, that included a potential win.

But just like at Martinsville Speedway on March 29, it wasn’t his pit crew that made the pit road faux pas; it was Gordon himself.

Once again, the four-time Sprint Cup champ suffered from a malady that affects many of us: a lead foot.

And just like you or I get a ticket from police for speeding, Gordon was also penalized by NASCAR’s policing body when he came into the pits too hot on Lap 156, dropping him from 15th to 31st.

Had that not happened, Gordon may have been able to make a charge in the closing laps for what could have potentially been his first win of the 2015 season.

Instead, he wrecked on the final lap, and any hope of salvaging a decent finish disappeared in a flash.

Ugh! That’s so sad for a guy who led 47 of the race’s 188 laps, nearly one full quarter of the race.

But Gordon wasn’t your sympathy. He knows what happened—he did it himself.

And there was no gray area in this one.

Gordon’s infraction was fairly blatant: NASCAR clocked him as coming onto pit road 20 mph over the limit, according to Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president of racing operations, who put Gordon’s infraction out there for the world to see on social media.

You’ll have to look hard at the first tweet, but the proof is there: Gordon is indeed 20 mph over the limit.

Now, if you were 20 mph over the limit on a city street or freeway, let’s see you try to talk your way out of that one to a local police officer.

Gordon knew he did something wrong and admitted he was busted—although he did try to offer a logical excuse of sorts.

“Man, you have to get to pit road without locking up the tires up and not speeding,” Gordon said in a post-race media release from Chevrolet. “I thought I was plenty conservative there but the tires were worn out and I just carried too much speed to pit road and kind of locked the tires up.

“I was just speeding. I couldn't get the car slowed down. But, yes, after that issue on my part, then we were just in the back and trying to make our way to the front. We did a pretty good job making some spots up and we were going to see what happened that last lap. Then they started wrecking we avoided one of them, but couldn't avoid the second one.”

In a way, Sunday’s race was very similar to what happened to Gordon in the season-opening Daytona 500. In both races:

• Gordon started from the pole position.
• He had a decent run (Sunday’s mistake notwithstanding), leading 87 laps at Daytona and 47 on Sunday.
• He wound up being wrecked on the final lap, leaving him with a bittersweet finish (33rd at Daytona, 31st at Talladega).

Given the uncharacteristic mental mistakes Gordon has made this season, you can make a case that Gordon is too wrapped up in wanting to win his first race in his final Sprint Cup season. He wants to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and a win would put Gordon in the playoffs. 

Or is he being too easily distracted of late? Is his final season starting to weigh upon him and any hopes he has of wanting to do the best in every race so he can potentially leave the sport as a champ? Even without that win, Gordon is currently 13th in the standings and only four points clear of 10th place. 

Typically, when there are mistakes on pit road, it's the driver who chews out the pit crew or crew chief, not the other way around.

There’s no question Gordon has to be a bit more astute when it comes to not hurting his own cause.

After all, there have already been more than enough mistakes made by other drivers that have caught him in their web. He doesn't need to add any more of his own to the mix.

Follow me on Twitter @JerryBonkowski