Daytona 500 – February 20, 2000

Daytona Beach, FL – Team Gordon makes its first appearance as a NASCAR Winston Cup team. Robby Gordon rolls out for practice in the TurtleWax/Ingersoll Rand Ford Taurus.

After a frustrating qualifying where Gordon wound up 32nd, he was able to race his way into the 500 with a solid 9th-place finish in the star-studded Twin-125 event. Gordon’s starting position for the Daytona 500 was locked in at 17th.

In the early stages of the race, Gordon kept looking for the low line in the draft, a line he used frequently and with success in the 125 race. In the 500, however, that line dried up repeatedly sending Gordon backwards. Midway through the event, Gordon began to find patience following Terry Labonte through the field and putting himself in position to challenge for the win with 40 laps to go. Running 5th and in the lead pack at that time, Gordon was strong. But with 10 laps left on a restart, he was caught out in the draft and sucked backwards. He eventually finished 18th.

Starting position – 17th

Finishing position – 17th (running)

Laps – 200/200