ROBBY GORDON HEADS TO LAS VEGAS FOR ROUND THREE ON THE WINSTON CUP CIRCUIT - THE CARSDIRECT.COM 400.
3 March 2000
Las Vegas, Nevada. (March 3, 2000) Robby Gordon comes to Las Vegas
this weekend with an interesting agenda. While the Las Vegas Motor
Speedway is a site Gordon has never raced a Winston Cup car, he has raced Craftsman
SuperTruck and Indy Racing League events at the 1.5 mile tri-oval. Gordon
led 60 laps of the first race ever run on this track in 1996's IRL event.
He led convincingly for the first half until a wheel bearing forced him to
miss 21 laps. That same year and only weeks apart, Gordon finished 6th in
a wild SuperTruck race won by Jack Sprague.
"That seems like an eternity ago," said Gordon, who had two days of
testing at the Las Vegas Speedway before this year's Daytona 500. "That
truck race in '96 was insane. Mike Skinner, Jack Sprague, Ernie Irvan and
I raced all day at the front. Towards the end, I thought we had a shot at
pulling it off, but as I remember, Skinner bumped me, we both spun and I
had to work back from the rear with only 10 or 15 laps left to finish sixth.
It was a lot of fun, I like this track."
Gordon hopes this weekend brings a better fortune and is already
feeling more comfortable with his team and life on the Winston Cup circuit.
"I'm excited about this weekend, we did get an opportunity to test here
in February, so we won't be as blind as we were going to Rockingham. I
know my way around this track, I've raced here before and all those things make
it easier for us to get up to speed. Last weekend at the Rock was one of
those races where everyone on the team was learning, myself included.
Looking back, I'm glad we soldiered through it and left with points, not
to mention experience."
Gordon will start this weekend's event with the same Menards Ford
Taurus he raced in Rockingham, a car he believes is the best car in the Team
Gordon fleet. Turning that car around after the damage it sustained last Sunday
was an all-out effort for everyone, but according to Gordon it's every bit
worth it.
"As a driver, you have cars that you know are better than others, most
times after driving only a few laps," explained Gordon, whose initial
shakedown of the car last week in Atlanta convinced him it's the best of
the bunch. "This car has the best balance of any of the cars we own right
now. I could tell immediately after driving it in Atlanta, I knew I
wanted it to survive Rockingham and make this trip - which it did, barely!
"We've got ten cars completely built right now. As we move along and
have the ability to spend more time, they continue to get better. We have
a car that just got out of the paint-booth this week, which will be our
primary car for Atlanta, and it's fantastic. It's the first we've built
from the ground up and I can't wait to see how it feels."
To date, Team Gordon ranks 25th in the NASCAR Winston Cup standings with
finishes of 18th at Daytona and 38th at Rockingham. In both races Gordon
qualified in the top-25.
"I know Robby will tell you otherwise, but I'm pleased with the fact that
we're in the top-25 right now," said Mike Held, co-owner of Team Gordon.
"Last weekend was tough, but this series isn't easy. Most of us that know
Robby know he never gives in and that he's like a sponge around a race
car. He's going to take everything he learned and store it away for the next
time.
"For example, Dale Jarrett, who was pitted next to us, came in for a stop
and parked his car diagonally in the stall , making it difficult for Robby
to get out. Actually, he did it twice, Robby was furious! But as we
laughed about it the next day, I said, "Hey, you were nine laps down
because of a broken pulley. Jarrett's leading the points - don't be upset, some
day we'll be doing that to someone else. Just jot it down and learn from it."
Robby just smiled and said, "You're right, it's pretty smart isn't it!"
Practice begins Friday at the Speedway with pole qualifying to follow that
afternoon. As a new team, it's vital in the first four races of the year
to qualify and finish races as high as possible. Provisional starts are
awarded in those first four races only to those with points from last
season, of which Gordon obviously has none. Starting week number five in
Darlington, South Carolina, all provisionals will be based on 2000 points.