Event Preview Fact Sheet

Event/Date:            Samsung/Radio Shack 500/March 30, 2003

Venue:            Texas Motor Speedway

Robby Gordon’s NASCAR Winston Cup Performance History at Texas Motor Speedway

TOTALS:                Avg. Start: 29                Avg. Finish: 37.5         Laps:  410/668        Money:  $123,536

NASCAR Winston Cup Points Position: 20^th

NOTES:

• This Week’s Race Car (chassis No. 90) was last run at Atlanta this year.  Gordon also raced this car at Homestead and to an eighth-place finish in the 2002 Brickyard 400.  Kevin Harvick raced it in last season’s The Winston and the Coca-Cola 600.
• Jason Fowler, rear-tire carrier for the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, is recovering from a left index finger injury suffered during a pit stop Sunday at Bristol.  Fowler sustained a torn nerve, torn tendons and a chipped bone in his left index finger while working on torn sheet metal during a pit stop.  Doctors at the Bristol Regional Medical Center repaired the severed nerve and tendons and removed the bone chip Sunday night and released Fowler.  Fowler is expected to carry tires Sunday at Texas.
• Gordon is scheduled to sign autographs Saturday, March 29 from 5:15-6:15 p.m. at the Chevy Thunder Days FanFest at Sundance Square in Fort Worth
• Gordon’s teammate Kevin Harvick tested at Texas Motor Speedway March 18 and 19
• The Samsung/Radio Shack 500 will be broadcast live on FOX and PRN on Sunday, March 30 at 1 p.m. EST.  Qualifying is scheduled for Friday, March 28 at 4:05 p.m. EST.

ROBBY GORDON QUOTES:

“Last time we raced at Texas was disappointing for the Cingular team. Texas wasn’t too kind to us.  We had a really fast car in practice but then we went for it in qualifying and shortened up the rear end of the car a bit with a little help from the wall.  Then we blew the right-front tire in the race and put that car in the wall, also.  It was a disappointing weekend but I think we’ll be pretty good this year when we roll back out.  My teammate Kevin Harvick tested at Texas last week and I’m looking forward to going back there and putting some of that information to use.  We’ll also probably use some information we gained at Atlanta and Las Vegas this year.

 “I’ve only raced at Texas twice but you learn quickly what a fast track it is.  It’s considered an intermediate track but it’s almost like a superspeedway.  Texas is definitely one of the fastest tracks on the circuit.  Going into turn one at Texas Motor Speedway is an extremely fast, few seconds.  We’re off the throttle a little more at Texas than at Las Vegas because it’s a faster track.

“Coming down the long back straightaway, the track opens up in turn four but for some reason the wall doesn’t let you open up like you do at Vegas.  It makes you keep turning the car down so you can get farther around the corner before the track opens up.  The corners at Texas are pretty narrow and the straightaways fairly long so it’s an engine-killer of a track.  Fortunately, we haven’t had any problems with motors yet this year and I’m confident our engine department has everything under control.  We’ve just to take care of the motor and not run it into the ground in practice.

“Having a balanced car at Texas is the key to a good race day.  The Cingular Wireless Chevrolet has to be good and handle well when the throttle is wide-open.  When the car is off-balance, it puts more load on the tires and we all know how hard you can hit the wall at Texas — like I did twice last year.  The tires also take a beating at Texas because the corners are so narrow.”