Recap
Jeff Gordon started third and remained on the inside line behind Casey Mears for the first 10 laps. After slipping to 9th place, Gordon moved to the outside line in a draft behind Elliott Sadler. On lap 16, Sadler got loose and Gordon drafted behind Dave Blaney in 7th place. However, with his water temperature rising in traffic, Gordon dropped back to 14th place on lap 25 and drafted with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne.

Gordon moved to the inside behind Kurt Busch at the halfway point. He was unable to run as the pusher in the draft due to the water temperature spiking. Gordon pulled to the high line on lap 35 and entered the top-10. Gordon came to pit road on lap 41 for right side tires and fuel. Following the stops, Gordon ran distantly behind the lead drafting pack in 9th place. He took 8th from Ryan Newman with 9 laps to go. Gordon came across the line in 8th place and will start 16th in Sunday's Daytona 500.

Turning point
After Gordon's water temperature spiked before the halfway point in the traffic, the day became an exercise in survival as Gordon brought the car home in one piece. The temperature issue on a warm day was not unexpected and likely would have been helped if Gordon could have led the draft. However, due to his position in traffic, he was unable to do so.

JG's comments
"It wasn't a lot of fun for us. We really struggled keeping the temperatures down. Once we got hot we just really were along for the ride. You know, it looked like the guys up front did gas and go's. We have to look at that as well. It just wasn't' the day we were hoping for, but we have a fast race car."

Recap
Jeff Gordon started 14th and locked into a draft behind Jeff Burton for the first 6 laps. Gordon ran 3-wide and moved to 10th on lap 7. A melee in turn two collected 9 cars, with Gordon making light contact with Matt Kenseth in front of him and Juan Pablo Montoya along side while diving low to avoid major damage. A tire rub on the left side was fixed on pit road during the caution period. Gordon restarted in 15th place and moved into the top-10 by following Kurt Busch. However, Busch moved to the center line on lap 16 and Gordon stayed on the low line to hook up with Joey Logano. On lap 17, Gordon moved to the center and drafted with Jimmie Johnson. A drafting push from his Hendrick Motorsports teammate thrust Gordon back into the top-10 on lap 21. Gordon locked into a draft with Kyle Busch before moving ahead into 3rd place two laps later. He finished the opening 25-lap segment in 2nd place behind Jamie McMurray.

After repairs to the left side of the car during the 10-minute break, Gordon restarted on the outside of the front row to begin the final 50-lap segment. Gordon was pushed to the lead by Kyle Busch when the green flag waved. He led two laps before being shuffled out of the lead pack. He slipped to 13th before a caution for Clint Bowyer's spin with 44 laps to go. Gordon came to pit road for a two-tire change and restarted 13th. He drafted behind Johnson and moved back into the top-10 with 38 laps to go. After Johnson moved low, Gordon was without a drafting partner, but received a push from Joey Logano to hold his spot in the top-10. Gordon then worked behind Martin Truex on the high line and moved into the top-5. When Truex went low, Gordon stayed up high to push Jamie McMurray to the lead. With 33 to go, Gordon got caught in the middle line and dropped through the pack before Kurt Busch helped with a draft. He steadily worked back to the leaders and got a drafting push from Dale Earnhardt Jr to take the lead. After leading for 2 laps, the pair was overtaken before re-grouping with 26 to go. Gordon led again before being shuffled deeper in the pack with 24 to go. He lined up behind Earnhardt Jr in 7th place with 21 laps to go. With 20 laps to go, he avoided a multi-car wreck coming off turn two and advanced to 4th on the track. Gordon stayed on track and restarted in the lead with 14 to go. With drafting help from Johnson directly behind him, Gordon was able to pull out to the race lead. He remained there in single-file formation until Kyle Busch moved by with 4 laps to go. With 2 to go, Tony Stewart moved into the lead with a push from McMurray. Gordon drafted behind Busch entering turn 3. After a nudge from Gordon, Busch got loose on the inside line. Gordon drifted up the track and was turned sideways by Kurt Busch's car. He hit the outside wall at a dangerous head-on angle, before being clipped by Johnson's car. Gordon's Chevrolet turned on its side for nearly 1000 feet before flipping end-over-end 3 times. Gordon climbed out of the destroyed Chevrolet unscathed.

Turning point
After avoiding two major wrecks, Gordon was unable to escape a third incident with 2 laps to go. It was the first time his car flipped over in a NASCAR Cup series race in his 20-year career. Make no mistake - Hendrick Motorsports builds fast cars. But, even more important than that, they build safe cars.

*JG led more laps in the 2012 Bud Shootout than he had in the previous 7 Shootout events combined.

JG's comments

“It was just getting down to the end of the race and it was time to go. Me and Jimmie were looking good there. We knew those guys were coming, and once Kyle got in front of me, I was just trying to keep Jimmie on me and trying to stay with Kyle. Every time I got to Kyle’s bumper, he just started getting so sideways, like he was a lot tonight. And I thought he was going to wreck. I saw him start to spin, so I went wide, not knowing someone had gotten to my outside. That got me into those guys and into the wall and along for a ride. And then Kyle wins the race, so it was a pretty wild and crazy way to get it all started. It was certainly an exciting finish, but not the way our [team] wants to get the 2012 season started. It was a wild night. Our car was really strong and we kept working our way up to the front so I was really happy about that. We had ourselves in a good position with Jimmie (Johnson) behind us. And then the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) got a run and got in front of us and I was on his bumper. Every time I got to him and was pushing him he started getting out of control and we got into (Turn) 3 and he started to lose it. I went to go around him and two guys were on the outside of me and I collected them and turned me into the wall and then I was just along for the ride."

WHAT WAS THE RIDE LIKE GOING UPSIDE DOWN AND ROLLING AND FINISHING ON YOUR ROOFTOP?
"Yeah, this was not how I wanted to start the 2012 season; I've never been upside down in one of these cars. The hit to the wall was much harder than the rest of it. The roll was pretty soft and pretty easy. The protection we have inside of these cars is amazing because I didn’t even hardly feel any of it. The toughest part is when you're laying upside down and you can't get out of the car. The roof was caved-in a little bit and that was no fun."

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE MIXTURE OF THE TANDEM RACING AND PACK RACING OUT THERE TONIGHT?
"It's pretty wild and crazy but I mean I like this better than what we had last year, definitely. We all knew that we were going to be hooking-up and doing the tandem drafting toward the end of the race and there's no real stopping that. It's now just about not overheating. At the beginning of the race, I was really concerned because we were over-heating and I wasn't even pushing anybody. So as we got a little bit closer to the front and started being a little smarter with it, it was working out fine. I was having a great time. My car was awesome. We were where we needed to be to win this race. So, this was unfortunate what happened."

CAN YOU BELIEVE KYLE BUSCH AND THE DRIVING HE WAS DOING? DID YOU SEE THOSE TWO SLIDE-JOBS HE HAD?
"I was joking with somebody. I said he was the one wrecking and I was trying to avoid and I was the one who ended-up wrecking and he wins the race (laughs)."

THE CAR ROLLED THREE TIMES. ARE YOU OKAY? WHAT HAPPENED?
"I am fine. The safety of these cars is unbelievable. That is the first time I have been upside down in 19 or 20 years. I am glad it ended the way that it did with a nice soft rollover. It was great racing out there tonight. A wild finish and we were in a position to have a shot at winning this thing. That is what I feel bad about. Our car was really strong. I had Jimmie Johnson pushing me; we were looking good then those guys came up there and Kyle (Busch) got in front of me. I was staying with him, but he was wagging all over the place. I thought he was going to wreck so I went wide and collected a couple of guys on the outside of me. I'm sorry to those guys and it turned me into the wall, then Kyle (Busch) ends up winning the race. It was a pretty exciting way to start off 2012, but not the way we wanted to start it off."

TELL US AGAIN WHAT HAPPENED
"We were just getting down to the end of the race and it was time to go. Me and Jimmie (Johnson) were looking good there. We knew those guys were coming and once Kyle (Busch) got in front of me, I was just trying to keep Jimmie on me and try to stay with Kyle. Every time I got to Kyle's bumper, he just started getting so sideways like he was a lot tonight. I thought he was going to wreck. I saw him start to spin, so I went to go wide, not knowing that somebody had gotten to my outside. That turned me into those guys and into the wall. And along for a ride, we went. And then Kyle ends up winning the race. So it was a pretty wild and crazy way to get it all started. It was certainly an exciting finish to the race and so I’m excited about that."

THERE WERE SO MANY CRASHES TONIGHT; EVEN MORE THAN WOULD BE EXPECTED FOR THE BUDWEISER SHOOTOUT. WHAT IS GOING ON?
"Well, the difference now is that we’re still bump-drafting. We just can’t do it for long periods of time. So now we’re doing it in packs. And so you get on the straightaway. You push a little bit. And once the tires get a little bit of heat in them and we have less downforce, so the cars are moving around a lot. So you’ve got to be real careful with how you push and when you push and it's definitely going to take some patience. But I was having a blast out there. Our car was awesome. We had a car that could win this race and so that’s got me excited about tomorrow for next week."

Jeff Gordon/DuPont 20th anniversary special paint scheme