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CUP: Robby Gordon Slides Into Third
Written by: Tom Jensen   
05/25/2009
Charlotte, NC
 
Don’t look for any apologies out of Robby Gordon about his third-place finish in Monday’s rain-delayed, rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic) » More Photos

UPDATE: During post-race inspection, NASCAR confiscated Gordon's rear-end housing and took it back to its R&D Center in Concord, N.C., for further evaluation.

When you’re a David battling the Goliaths of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, you take your good finishes anyway you can get them.

So don’t be looking for any apologies out of Robby Gordon about his third-place finish in Monday’s rain-delayed and rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

When what turned out to be the final caution of the race flew on Lap 221, only three cars stayed on track while the rest pitted — David Reutimann, Ryan Newman and Gordon and his No. 7 Jim Beam-sponsored Toyota Camry. And that’s how they finished, giving Gordon his first top-five finish since a fifth-place at Watkins Glen International in 2007, and his best result since he was runner-up on the WGI road course in 2005.

That made for a huge result for owner/driver Gordon, who came into Lowe’s Motor Speedway with a best prior 2009 result being a 15th in Las Vegas in March.

“For me this is a momentum builder for us,” said Gordon, who has soldered on as a true independent in a series increasing dominated by mega teams. “I think we've had some decent runs. We finished 15th at Richmond a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately we got caught out early at Darlington. How do you say it? Success breeds success. We've been focusing really hard on our race cars. Another clean race car we get to bring home. That will help us as far as building up ammunition to go to the race track with.”

Gordon said his decision to stay out late in the race was a pretty easy one to make. “We were sitting there 20th or 21st, and … it's like, ‘Ok, well, if we pit, we're going to come back out 21st or something like that. If we stay out, we got an opportunity to finish in the top five,’” said Gordon. “Didn't know how many people were going to stay out. Obviously, Ryan's crew was on their game, so was Reutimann’s, on theirs. We were probably a 15th place car.”

And the truth of it is, with the new-generation Sprint Cup cars, passing is at a premium on 1.5-mile tracks, which makes pit strategy ever more critical.

“When you start back in the back, it's just hard to pass,” said Gordon.

For him, though, the rains worked in his favor. “It's unfortunate Mother Nature didn't cooperate,”
Gordon said. “They obviously tried to dry it time and time again. I didn't think it would get called this early. But at the same time we've got to have cars back at the racetrack next Friday. We are here in Charlotte, but it is Monday, it's not a Sunday race. It's going to be a short week already for our guys.”

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE RESULTS: COCA-COLA 600 AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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