Napa Auto Parts 500 Race Notes/Quotes – Atlanta

Robby Gordon finished 27th in Team Gordon’s final event of the 2000 season. Starting 33rd, Gordon drove his TurtleWax/Menards Ford steady all race, running as high as second. Gordon flirted with a top-15 finish, but a late race gamble to pit and take on two tires instead four turned into a bad decision. The car became too loose to mount any type of charge. Regardless, Gordon’s final race before moving to the Morgan-McClure Kodak team for 2001 was viewed as a success. The weekend began with two blown motors, and since happy hour was rained out, Gordon started the race with only four laps worth of practice. Two of those laps coming on qualifying attempts.

Robby on the race – “It’s hard to run all day and be satisfied with finishing 27th. This car though, if you take out the two road course cars was the best car we’ve had all year. The guys did a great job. We had no practice Friday and Saturday, but in the few laps I did get in we were able to adjust enough to get in the show. Mark (Tutor) said it best during first part of the race when he said, ‘this is our happy hour – don’t anyone get discouraged here.’

“We pulled a rubber out of the right side on the first stop and that helped the car out a ton. It was tight the entire first stint and I couldn’t do anything with it. But once it loosened up it was the best car out there in the corners. Unfortunately, we weren’t the best on the straights and I was getting beaten leaving the corners. We hung in though. Had we not taken two tires at the end which was a decision we all made to try and gain some track position, we might have been a top-20 car instead of a top-30 car. It’s a tough sport here at NASCAR, I’m proud of what we accomplished. All season we came to the track with less than a loaded gun and even with that had our moments.”

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