Gordon's title hopes over after Talladega mess

Jeff Gordon needed to finish somewhere in the top five, with Jimmie Johnson encountering major issues, in order to hold a shot at a title. The opposite happened, and now Gordon's "Drive for Five" will come up short once more.

Gordon did everything right on Sunday in the Amp Energy 500. He hung up near the front for most of the race. He led laps and was in the top five inside of ten to go. Even Jimmie Johnson was doing his part, as a botched strategy saw him stuck near 30th with fewer than five laps remaining. Everything was playing into Gordon's hand...until Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart touched, sending Stewart into the wall, and Newman spinning and flipping off of Kevin Harvick's nose.

Close on fuel to begin with, the resultant green-white-checker saw Gordon, among several others, run out of fuel. The subsequent pit stop put Gordon deep in the field, where he was swept up in the second "big one" after Brad Keselowski was bumped into Kurt Busch. When the dust settled, Gordon was credited, for the time being at least, with 20th.

And Johnson? With chaos surrounding him every way he turned, somehow the No. 48 car missed both wrecks and didn't run out of fuel, allowing Johnson to come home in sixth after spending the entire race lower than 30th.

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