Event
Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Aaron’s 499/April
6, 2003
Venue: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
Robby Gordon’s NASCAR Winston Cup Performance History
at Talladega Superspeedway
Date
|
Start
|
Finish
|
Laps
Completed/
Total Laps
|
Status
|
Money
|
10/6/02
|
20
|
12
|
188/188
|
Running
|
$80,121
|
4/21/02
|
2
|
33
|
176/188
|
Running
|
81,631
|
10/21/01
|
39
|
19
|
188/188
|
Running
|
77,949
|
4/16/00
|
34
|
37
|
136/188
|
Accident
|
34,015
|
7/25/93
|
14
|
42
|
55/188
|
Accident
|
17,665
|
TOTALS Avg. Start: 21.8
Avg. Finish: 28.6 Laps: 743/940
Money: $291,381
NASCAR Winston Cup Points Position: 19th
NOTES:
- This Week’s Race Car (chassis No. 94) was last run in the
Daytona 500. Gordon started third and finished sixth in the race.
He also won the Gatorade Twin 125 at Daytona with this car.
- The No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet will
carry a Special Olympics Team USA paint scheme this weekend in
support of Cingular’s fourth year of supporting Specials
Olympics. Cingular will donate to the organization $100 for each
lap Gordon completes, $1,000 for each lap he leads and $100,000
if he wins the race this weekend.
- Gordon practiced and qualified for the April
1997 Winston Cup race at Talladega but the event was postponed
until May 10 due to rain. He was unable to compete May 10 due
to his participation in the Indianapolis 500.
- The status of Jason Fowler, rear-tire carrier
for the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, for this weekend’s
race at Talladega is still undetermined. Fowler will attempt
to carry tires in pit stop practice this week and a decision about
his participation in Sunday’s event will be made at that
time. Fowler sat out last week’s race at Texas after suffering
a torn nerve, torn tendons and a chipped bone in his left index
finger during a pit stop at Bristol.
- The Aaron’s 499 will be broadcast live
on FOX and MRN on Sunday, April 6 at 1 p.m. EST. Qualifying is
scheduled for Friday, April 4 at 4:05 p.m. EST.
ROBBY
GORDON QUOTES:
“After our run at Daytona, I expect the
Cingular Wireless team to qualify in the top 10 and race competitively
this weekend at Talladega. We should have a car capable of winning
the race. I think we had a car capable of winning at Daytona but
it got tight for a while and we adjusted on it. Once we got it
all dialed in, we were as good as anyone. Unfortunately, it started
raining and we just didn’t get ourselves positioned back up
front. I think we’ve got our restrictor-plate program pretty
much figured out. We’re not as strong as the DEI cars but
we’ve got a pretty good grip on the plate races. I know that
our guys didn’t just settle for the good finishes, the Gatorade
Twin 125 win and Daytona 500 pole position we earned in February.
They got right back in there and worked their guts out on these
cars to make them even better and hopefully give us something that
can win the race.
“You’ve got to have a partner at Talladega
to do anything. I think Jeff Green, Kevin Harvick and I can work
together well again at Talladega and get the RCR cars to the front.
Kevin and I stuck together like glue for a while there in the Daytona
500 and Jeff and I worked together really well in the Gatorade Twin
125. I think we all do it again this weekend but with hopefully
first, second and third-place finishes. While having a buddy is
important, it’s also very important to have a fast race car.
If you have a fast car, you will have buddies all of a sudden. Everyone
wants to run with you if they think you’ve got a car to win
the race. Of course, the last couple of laps don’t count because
everyone will dump their buddy if it will get them into Victory
Lane. But I think that the Cingular team’s strong run at Daytona
should only help us at Talladega because everyone will anticipate
that we will be good again and will hopefully want to run with us
this weekend.
“I like the smaller fuel cells that NASCAR
has instituted at Daytona and Talladega. I think NASCAR could shake
things up a bit by mandating that everyone has to change four tires
each time they pit. That would make for an even more exciting race
for the fans and would put the race back in the hands of the pit
crews more. As it stands now, teams usually dive into the pits
and take two or no tires. Everybody can do that as fast as the
next guy but four tires and fuel are different and those stops separate
the good from the great pit crews. I think NASCAR wants to involve
the teams more in these races and that would just further that motive.
“Talladega is a little bigger
race track with longer straightaways than Daytona so the corners
aren’t quite as tight as they are at Daytona. The corners
are so large at Talladega that it feels like a faster track than
Daytona because we’re not scrubbing off as much speed going
through the corners. A lot of the set-up information can be applied
to both tracks. You have to lift off the throttle at Daytona when
the balance changes on the car. You don’t have to lift at
Talladega but if your car is really good, you shouldn’t have
to lift at Daytona, either.
Handling is so much more important at Daytona
than Talladega because of the size of the corners. At Talladega,
I just need to concentrate on getting the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
to run as fast as possible as safely as possibly. All the Richard
Childress Racing cars qualified well at Daytona and we learned some
things from Daytona that will hopefully help the Cingular team to
be better when we roll off the truck at Talladega.
“Talladega can be a turning point for the
Cingular Wireless team. We really need some good performances now
and the morale boost would be huge if we could finish in the top
five at Talladega. We’re really close to being in the top
15 and only about 65 points out of 10th. All the 10th
through 20th-place cars are right there together. But
we need some luck first or the absence of bad luck. Unfortunately,
a lot of times, Talladega can come down to nothing but pure luck.
You can have the best car, hands down, and then be left with nothing
but a little scrap of shredded sheet metal if someone plows into
you in the ‘big one.’ One of the most important things
at Talladega is surviving and being around for that last 10 laps
and trying to avoid that big wreck. It can be a nerve-wracking
race, to say the least. When you run inches from the next guy at
high speeds, it’s so easy for you to pick up some air and lose
control of your car and then collect the guys next to and behind
you. I love restrictor-plate racing but I hate the risks that come
with it.
“We’ve got to drive in the Cingular
rear-view mirror a bit to keep the other guys behind us. There
has been a lot of talk about blocking and blocking is scary for
all of the drivers. Unfortunately, to be competitive, you’ve
got to do it but you’ve got to be smart about how you do it.
We’re hoping the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet is good enough
so that we don’t have to block the other cars and can just
run out front by ourselves.”
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