No. 7 Valvoline Dodge Atlanta Preview

Robby Gordon will race the No. 7 Dodge with Valvoline sponsorship this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. A hard crash resulting from a cut tire left Gordon with a 42nd place finish Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Gordon’s appeal of a 100-point penalty, $100,000 fine and six race crew chief suspension NASCAR assessed after failing a pre-practice inspection at Daytona will be heard Wednesday in Charlotte.

DRIVER ROBBY GORDON QUOTES:

ATLANTA – “We are going to carry the Valvoline sponsorship this weekend to help out Gillett Evernham Motorsports. This is pretty cool. I saw on one of the online auction sites someone was auctioning off the Valvoline driving suit I wore in the off road days. It was going for $500! Maybe I should have saved a couple.”

“Valvoline was also a sponsor in my open wheel cars as well. They are one of the sponsors that have always supported racing no matter which form. It’s been 100 years under the hood for Valvoline.”

SEASON SO FAR – “We have had some highs and lows and the season is only three races old. But that’s the sport for you these days. The thing I look at is how well we have run. We had a great run at Daytona, decent at California and we were getting better as the race progressed in Vegas. We weren’t the only ones to have issues at Vegas. So I am pretty positive of where our team is at the moment. I think we would be 21st in points without the penalty. I’m ready to get all this off the track stuff behind us and just go racing. I’ve said before and I will keep repeating it, our team is going to get better and better each race.”

POINTS – “We’re going to make our appeal Wednesday. Yes, I’m confident we are going to get our points back. I think when the commissioners hear what we have to say they will agree the penalty imposed on our single car team is way too harsh for something others have admitted was their mistake. This team didn’t try to get anything by NASCAR and there was no cheating. It was a clerical mistake and to jeopardize our team’s future over something like this is really sad. All we want is justice and to get back to just worrying about making our cars go faster.”

APPEARANCES – He will appear at his souvenir trailer on Sunday morning at 10:30 am to sign autographs.

NOTES Atlanta Motor Speedway • In 14 starts, Gordon has completed 4,427 of 4,480 laps. He owns an average finish of 25.1 and an average start of 20.2. He has led 43 laps. His best finish of 14th came in 1997 – Gordon’s first visit to Atlanta - when he also won the pole.

2008 Season • Gordon recorded his second highest career best finish of eighth in the Daytona 500. • Gordon has a marketing, manufacturing and technical services agreement with Gillett Evernham Motorsports. • Gordon switched to Dodge days before the Daytona 500.

Career • Gordon owns three NASCAR Sprint Cup victories: o Loudon on Nov. 23, 2001 o Infineon on June 22, 2003 o Watkins Glen Aug. 10, 2003 • Gordon’s NASCAR only pole came at Atlanta on March 7, 1997. • Gordon owns one Nationwide Series victory at Richmond on Sept. 10, 2004 • In the CART Series, Gordon made 106 starts posting wins at Phoenix and Detroit plus four poles. • In his ten starts in the Indianapolis 500, Gordon owns five top-10 finishes. • In 2005, Gordon became first American to win a stage in the Dakar Rally. Gordon also scored his second victory during the 16 day event. • In 272 starts, Gordon has posted 14 top-5 finishes and 35 top-10 finishes. Gordon has led 464 laps and driven 71,379 laps in his Sprint Cup career covering over 96,170 miles. He has finished on the lead lap 85 times. He owns a career average start of 26.1 and an average finish of 24.8.