Event
Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Carolina Dodge
Dealers 400/March 16, 2003
Venue: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
Robby Gordon’s NASCAR Winston Cup Performance History
at Darlington Raceway
Date
|
Start
|
Finish
|
Laps
Completed/
Total Laps
|
Status
|
Money
|
9/1/02
|
22
|
17
|
367/367
|
Running
|
$90,556
|
3/17/02
|
28
|
34
|
249/293
|
Running
|
64,321
|
3/18/01
|
38
|
29
|
288/293
|
Running
|
33,140
|
3/19/00
|
40
|
28
|
289/293
|
Running
|
25,095
|
8/31/97
|
34
|
22
|
363/367
|
Running
|
25,305
|
3/23/97
|
38
|
34
|
232/293
|
Accident
|
17,185
|
TOTALS Avg. Start: 33.3 Avg. Finish:
27.3 Laps: 1,788/1,906 Money: $255,602
NASCAR Winston Cup Points Position: 17th
NOTES:
- This Week’s Race Car (chassis No. 99) was
last run at Phoenix last November. It since has been reconfigured
in the 2003 Chevrolet Monte Carlo body style. Gordon also
raced the car at Atlanta and Richmond during the second half of
the 2002 season.
- The Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 will be broadcast
live on FOX and MRN on Sunday, March 16th at 1 p.m.
EST. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday, March 14th
at 3:05 p.m. EST.
ROBBY GORDON QUOTES:
“Darlington doesn’t have anything in
common with any other track except for maybe Rockingham due to the
tire wear at both tracks. It’s the toughest track considering
how far the tires fall off after one or more laps. The new tires
at Darlington have so much more grip than older tires. Plus, we
run an entirely different line on the track at Darlington than we
do anywhere else. The best groove is right up against the wall,
especially in turns one and two — not the most comfortable place
to be. It’s a very narrow track so it’s hard to stay
that close to the wall without brushing it. We never make a point
to go to any other track and run right up against the wall like
we do at Darlington.
“Last year we had a really good race car
but I got into the wall about four times. I didn’t wreck but
leaned on the wall too hard too many times. So this year, the Cingular
team is making some modifications to the race car like putting some
wood in the right-side door so that if I do get into the wall, it
doesn’t knock the toe out of the car. But who hasn’t come
out of there without a ‘Darlington stripe?’ Just look
at the wall at the end of practice one day and you’ll see how
difficult it is to stay off the wall at Darlington.
“You have to drive Darlington so reservedly.
You can’t ‘hotrod’ around the track all day — maybe
just for the first lap. You really have to finesse Darlington and
roll the throttle nice and slow to take care of your tires. It’s
been that way for years. I’m still fairly new at that but
I’m catching on and learning to run Darlington more successfully.
“Running well at Darlington takes a lot
of patience. I really worked hard last season on learning patience
for places like Darlington. If you’re not patient, you’ll
end up with the right side of your car smashed in or your tires
bald in a couple of laps. Darlington is murder on those Goodyear
tires. Rockingham is the only track close to Darlington in this
department and both tracks can kill a new set of tires in a couple
of laps. We’ll try to conserve the tires all day because they
get gobbled up fast. A lot of drivers talk about wanting to win
Darlington because it’s such a storied, historical race track.
I’d like to win at Darlington just to prove to everyone that
I do have the patience to survive there. They don’t call it
the ‘Lady in Black’ for nothing. Darlington is a narrow,
rough and old race track. It’s pretty nerve-wracking to run
400 miles at Darlington. One lap takes enough concentration, let
alone 293 of them.”
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