Daytona
Twin 125 – 2/15/01
Starting
Position – 10th
Finishing
Position – 23rd
The
Twin 125’s started innocently enough for Robby Gordon from the
10th position. He played a patient game early, sticking with the
high line and resisting the urge to step out and make moves. At
that point the high line and low line hadn’t really played themselves
out. But as the race progressed past the halfway point, Gordon
showed his colors and let the field know that his Kodak Chevy
was a contender. He ran as high as 3rd with only ten laps to go
following a fantastic charge to the front after a restart.
Gordon
looked to be in exactly the right position for the stretch run
drafting behind Dale Earnhardt and Steve Park. On lap 47, however,
Gordon began to slow. A puff of white smoke had exploded from
underneath his car, and with that smoke was the end of Gordon’s
race, his engine expired.
Despite
Gordon’s 23rd-place finish, his time in qualifying was good enough
to gain a starting spot in the Daytona 500 Sunday. Gordon will
start 41st.
Robby
Gordon quote:
"What
can you say? We had a good race going there until the end,"
said a dejected Gordon. "The car was great and it could have
won. When I was behind (Jeff) Gordon towards the end I thought
I was going to win – or at least be right there coming to the
last few laps. Everything was coming together from a strategy
point. That’s racing though, hopefully we don’t experience the
same thing Sunday. The guys did a great job in the pits. Each
time we pitted I came out ahead of cars. Aside from the engine,
I think we had a pretty good showing. At least we know now that
our car is capable of running up front."
Click
here for Robby Gordon 125 video snip – 1.3mb
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