Chevy Notes - Robby Gordon press conference in Dover

Chevy Advance Notes and Quotes

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup

MBNA America 400 

Dover International Speedway

Sept. 24, 2004

 

Richard Childress Racing has announced that Robby Gordon has been placed
on probation for the remainder of the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season.
Gordon discussed the situation with the media at Dover International
Speedway on Saturday morning.

 

"I wish I was here in different circumstances talking about good things
instead of bad things. What happened last weekend obviously I'm sorry
for. I'm more sorry to Tony Stewart and Jeremy Mayfield putting them
behind the eight ball leading into this ten race championship. I hope
they have an opportunity to climb back up into the championship. I'm
sorry we got to this situation. I didn't intend for it to be this at
all."

 

(DO YOU THINK THIS SITUATION WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THE SAME ATTENTION IF
THIS WASN'T A PART OF THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?)  "I think this
has gotten the attention it's gotten for other reasons besides just even
the on-track issue. No, if it wasn't so tight in a ten race chase it
probably wouldn't of had the attention it has. All of us on the outside
are under a lot of pressure trying to do the best job we can for our
sponsors to get the performance we can week in and week out. We had
really a good race car. I was able to pass nine cars in the first 16
laps and I felt I got wrecked on purpose. That's what led to the
situations that continued to pile on from there."

 

(HAVE YOU SPOKEN TO GREG BIFFLE?) "Actually I did talk to Greg. I ran
into Greg coming back from dinner last night. I did go to Tony's bus.
Unfortunately I have not spoke with Tony or Jeremy. I've been to both
their buses. I did leave the country on Sunday night from Boston. I did
talk to Greg Biffle and his comment was "does this mean that I don't get
to go to Grandma's with you on Christmas?" Between me and Greg there is
no issue because he knows what he did and he knows what I did. I
consider Greg not only a fierce competitor but a good friend of mine. We
have a lot of fun racing each other. We do take it serious. We do
understand that both of us have great sponsors on our cars and that we
represent more than just us as race car drivers as well. It happened."

 

(HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO WATCH WHAT YOU SAY ON THE RADIO?) "Well I regret
obviously saying I was going to wreck him on the radio. But I am a man
of my word. If I tell you I'm going to do something most of the time I
do it. I think if RC (Richard Childress) would of heard me say that on
the radio, he would of obviously got on the radio and advised otherwise
like he has in the past. It happened. The biggest thing I'm sorry about
it happening is collecting Jeremy and Tony. The deal with Greg is a deal
with Greg."

 

(WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON WHAT HAPPENED POST-RACE WITH THE MEDIA?) "I liked
your article on the front page. It was really good. As far as post-race,
nothing happened in post-race. I have read what Jim Utter and others
have posted and I consider Claire B. Lang a good friend of mine. I did
not push Claire B. Lang after the race. Did I give somebody the finger
sign? Yes. Was it to all the media? No. It was to one individual. I
didn't even think anybody would really see it. I tried to do it as
discreet as possible but it happened."

 

(WHAT WAS YOUR INITIAL REACTION AFTER SEEING THAT TONY STEWART AND
JEREMEY MAYFIELD WERE INVOLVED?) "That's why I was so mad after the
race. I wasn't mad because I sat there and drove a wrecked race car
around for 270 laps. It was the fact that I had to think about those two
guys and I know that they were in this race for the Championship and I
had affected their championship race. That's really why I didn't want to
talk after the race because I didn't want to say the wrong thing.
Unfortunately I don't say anything and I get the wrong thing out. I
guess it would have been just easier to say sorry for wrecking Tony and
Jeremy. I didn't know what to say at that point to be honest with you."

 

(IS EVERYONE THAT WROTE THAT YOU PUSHED CLAIRE B. LANG WRONG?) "Yeah.
How do I say this? Clair has been a friend and supporter of mine for a
long time. Have any of you seen her husband? He's a pretty big guy. The
last thing I'm going to do is push Claire B."

 

(COULD YOU HAVE UNINTENTIONALLY MOVED CLAIRE B. LANG?) "If as she was
walking with her report, I'm 200 pounds and Claire's all of 110, if she
got moved a little bit, it was not an intentional shove. Obviously you
guys would know. You've seen situations with me in the past. You guys
would know if I shoved somebody. If I bumped into ya, I apologize.
Obviously it was not intentional. It was directed at the media and I
said "not right now" and I meant it to everybody because I knew the
situation and the way it was going to explode and it happened just like
I thought it would."

 


(ON PROBATION WILL YOU RACE DIFFERENTLY? WILL YOU BE AWARE OF OTHER
CHASE CONTENDERS?) "It's hard to race careful. Being a racer, I'm
aggressive and I can control my race car. Will I be careful around Chase
contenders? Obviously, but at the same time I'm even more in the
situation where I have to perform. The best that could happen is us win
the race this weekend and this would be old news and we'd be on to
something else. From my side it's important to have performance on the
race track as well. We're sitting here 22nd in the Championship, very
easily we could be back inside the 15 maybe as far up as 13th. About two
weeks ago we could have won California. Three weeks ago we could have
won Watkins Glen. Four weeks ago we were running third with a few laps
to go in Indianapolis and we ran a flat and all the sudden I'm the worst
driver out here in the series. It's amazing the way things change in
such a short period of time."

(WILL THIS HAMPER YOUR ABILITY TO RACE?)" It will hamper my ability.
Obviously I have a lot of respect for Richard and will see what kind of
probation or what kind of pressure he wants to put on me but I will try
to do to the best of my ability to race people as clean as possible. At
the same time I don't have a deal for next year and I have to perform.
It's a catch 22; you're in between a rock and a hard spot."


 

(SO YOU DON'T HAVE A DEAL FOR NEXT YEAR?) "I don't have a deal for next
year. I could very easily be back with RCR. I've had a good run there.
We've won three points races and one non-points race.  We've had some
good performance. Our 31 car has been performing well. We just don't
have the results. If you look at the race mid-way through at the end
something weird will happen. We're either real loose or we're pitting
and a caution will come out or something has held us from results. I
believe we have a good race team and we have a good thing going on. Time
will tell."

 

(ARE YOU ON PROBATION WITH NASCAR?) "I just had a conversation with Mike
Helton and he didn't say any of the sort. He said my punishment I
received last weekend for being two laps held should have been
embarrassing enough to be what it is."

 

(DO YOU WORRY ABOUT YOUR ON-TRACK ACTIONS AFFECTING YOUR REPUTATION WITH
OTHER DRIVERS?) "I've obviously read some of their comments as well. I'm
sure it does. I respect what they have to say but I think they also know
I can drive the wheels off the race car. I try to do the best job I
can."

 

(ON THE SITUATION IN REGARDS TO THE CHASE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "If I
didn't say it over the radio I could go and lie to everybody and say
"hey, I didn't mean to do it." But obviously everybody knows I did. What
I'm disappointed in is that two other guys got caught up in this melee
was not their fault. They were innocent by-standers in this situation.
This kind of thing happens. It's happened this year. I can name three
instances where top-ten drivers had similar circumstances but it wasn't
in this race for the Championship. Now it is and obviously the eyes are
on it. This ten race format is getting the attention that it obviously
deserves but at the same time I'm wasn't supposed to be in this
attention. I was supposed to be a spoiler and try to win a race here and
there. That's what our job is for the next nine races."

 

(HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT RICHARD CHILDRESS PUTTING YOU ON PROBATION?)
"It's pretty big. When we're right here in contract re-negotiating time
that's not only big at RCR and other places as well. I'll just have to
mind my Ps and Qs and try to do the best job I can like I have over the
last couple of years. I've worked really hard with the media and the
fans by making myself accessible and trying to make my way here in
NASCAR and the Cup Series and I'll just try to do the best job I can."