Event
Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Chevy
Rock & Roll 400/Sept. 6, 2003
Venue: Richmond (Va.) International Raceway
Robby Gordon’s NASCAR Winston
Cup Performance History at Richmond International Raceway
|
Date
|
Start
|
Finish
|
Laps Completed/
Total Laps
|
Status
|
Money
|
|
05/03/03
|
33
|
4
|
393/393
|
Running
|
$101,212
|
|
09/07/02
|
11
|
28
|
397/400
|
Running
|
66,686
|
|
05/04/02
|
37
|
34
|
309/400
|
Accident
|
66,081
|
|
09/09/00
|
DNQ
|
|
|
|
|
|
05/06/00
|
36
|
37
|
282/400
|
Brakes
|
23,350
|
|
09/06/97
|
4
|
42
|
7/400
|
Engine
|
22,185
|
|
03/02/97
|
24
|
28
|
396/400
|
Running
|
21,215
|
|
02/24/91
|
35
|
26
|
288/400
|
Running
|
3,525
|
TOTALS Avg.
Start: 25.7
Avg. Finish: 28.4 Laps: 2,172/2,793 Money: $304,254
NASCAR Winston Cup Points Position:
12th
NOTES:
- This Week’s Race Car (chassis No. 99) finished fourth
in the May race at Richmond, after Gordon came back from
three laps down. The car also ran at four other tracks this
year, including Darlington in March, Charlotte, Pocono and New Hampshire, where Gordon scored another
top-five finish.
- Gordon is on vacation this week
in the Bahamas
- Trapt, the new alternative rock band
sensation, will be featured on the No. 31 Cingular Wireless
Chevrolet in a special paint scheme at Richmond as part of the Chevy Rock &
Roll 400. The weekend
will be highlighted by pre-race events and trackside musical
performances by Trapt, accompanied by Gordon.
- Gordon and Trapt are scheduled to sign autographs at Gordon’s
merchandise trailer outside Richmond International Raceway from
3
p.m.
to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6.
- The
Chevy Rock & Roll 400 will be broadcast live on TNT and
MRN Saturday, Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m. EST. Qualifying is scheduled
for Friday, Sept. 5 at 3:05 p.m. EST
ROBBY GORDON QUOTES:
“It
was great for the Cingular team to come from three laps down to
finish fourth at Richmond in May. I couldn’t even touch the gas in the opening
laps because the car was so loose.
We pitted under green and lost three laps, and realized
we had a cut tire causing the loose condition.
But the car was soon awesome — the fastest car on the
track by far. But we couldn’t go anywhere because we
were three laps down. But
we were patient and kept our nose clean and made up those laps
one by one.
“We
knew something was wrong when we took the green flag that night
because the Cingular car was terribly loose.
Somehow, we managed to gain a few positions because the
car was so good but had no choice but to pit under green on lap
21. We took four fresh
tires and realized we had a cut tire that caused the handling
problem. It was pretty
frustrating because we were so strong and were faced with the
43rd position and three laps down.
But we had the best car of the night and were running lap
times faster than anybody else. As the night went on, we were strong enough
to make up all three of our laps and take the lead with about
100 laps remaining, although we were on older tires than anyone
else. But another car with fresher tires finally passed us but
we held our own to finish in fourth after the race was called
due to rain.
“I’ve
had some good races at Richmond but it
never seems to be an uneventful night for me. I always end up
getting run over by someone or something.
Last year in the first race, we were really good but ended
up having a piece of debris shoot through the windshield and dash.
We lost a lot of spots repairing that.
In the September race, we again were very good and ran
in the top 10 for a good while before NASCAR black-flagged us
and we had to pit under green due to an engine problem late in
the race. I was a bit confused
over that deal because we were definitely maintaining the minimum
speed. Like I said, it’s
always something at Richmond.
“I think the Cingular Wireless team can do just
as well this time around as we did in May, but hopefully, we won’t
have a major problem to deal with. We
have a handle on our short-track program lately and have a good
package at those tracks. I’d put Richmond in the
same league as Martinsville, Bristol and Loudon
except that Richmond is a smoother
track — it’s kind of a mix of those tracks. The Cingular Wireless Chevy has handled well
at those tracks lately and I think Richmond will be
good to us. We’ve
just got to concentrate on making the car rotate well through
the corner without being loose on entry.
“Brakes are so important at Richmond and braking
in Winston Cup racing is totally different than it is in the CART
Series. In CART, you can
drive the car into the corner as hard as you want, hit the brakes
and then turn the thing. Winston
Cup cars like to roll into the corner.
I think we’ve got a good program and we’ll hopefully
qualify and race well.”
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