The Bay Area is having a rough go of it in the 2012 Daytona 500. Early on, A.J. Allmendinger got into a tough pit row accident when he hit Ryan Newman. Now, three-time Daytona 500 champion Jeff Gordon is headed to the garage after he blew his engine. That would seem to end his chances at winning his fourth Daytona 500.

Gordon started the race in the No. 16 position but had climbed into the top ten following a couple of accidents. He took a brief lead when the front of the pack went into pit row, but he quickly lost that lead after one lap when he made his own pit stop. The FOX analysts said that Gordon was not particularly pleased with his car through the first third of the race as he felt it was not quite fast enough. Now that won't really matter as his night appears to be done.

Here is a gif of flames shooting out from Jeff Gordon's #24 car as his engine blows on Lap 81.

via assets.sbnation.com