Event Preview Fact Sheet

Event/Date:       GFS Marketplace 400/Aug. 17, 2003

Venue:  Michigan International Speedway

Robby Gordon’s NASCAR Winston Cup Performance History at Michigan International Speedway

                                                                        Laps Completed/

Date                 Start                 Finish                Total Laps                      Status               Money

6/15/03             19                     22                     199/200                        Running             $79,427
8/18/02             5                      21                     200/200                        Running                74,046
6/16/02             35                     33                     197/200                        Running               67,646
8/20/00             43                     34                     177/200                        Accident               22,080
6/11/00             25                     28                     193/194                        Running               23,840
8/17/97             29                     17                     200/200                        Running               29,665
6/19/94             38                     38                     69/200                          Running                 7,965

TOTALS      Avg. Start: 27.7      Avg. Finish: 27.57      Laps: 1,235/1,394                     Money: $304,669

NASCAR Winston Cup Points Position:  10th

NOTES:

This Week’s Race Car (chassis No. 103) recently finished sixth in the Brickyard 400 and was run earlier this year at Las Vegas, Martinsville and Michigan
Cingular Wireless will donate to both the FDNY and Special Olympics $50,000 as a result of Gordon’s win Sunday at Watkins Glen
Gordon is back in California this week finishing up some business at his office/shop
Gordon finished runner-up in the July 1997 IROC race at Michigan after starting from the 11th position.  He also finished fourth in the Aug. 1996 IROC race at Michigan.
Gordon has four CART Series starts at Michigan and finished eighth in the July 1996 CART race at Michigan
The GFS Marketplace 400 will be broadcast live on NBC at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 17.  Qualifying is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET on Friday, Aug. 15.

ROBBY GORDON QUOTES:

On Watkins Glen:

"Well, we came and tested, and it wasn’t this car that we brought earlier, but a car just like it.  Hats off to everybody at RCR, all of the employees, not just the guys who come and help us on race day, but everybody that makes it happen.  I’ll be honest — I don’t think we had the best car today.  We just drove a good race with smart strategy, Kevin Hamlin made some good calls on pit lane.  The guys also had some excellent stops, and I just really appreciate it.  We’ve let this race slip away enough times here and we finally get to go to Victory Lane.  I knew where it was because I walked by it every time but couldn’t ever go in.

"It was really hard to pass during the race.  And I have to apologize to Boris Said.  I was kind of pushing him up the hill and when he went to shift the gears, I picked up his rear tires.  I’m really sorry about that.  I didn’t mean to spin him, I was just trying to push us both faster down the straightaway so we could catch the guys in front of us, but that’s probably the only mistake I made all day long.

“I’m real happy that the Cingular team is finally back in the top 10 in points again.  Obviously we’ve got a lot of the season left, but we’re coming to some race tracks that we’re really good at.   Obviously we like road courses, but I also look forward to Bristol, Richmond and tracks like that if we can stay out of trouble.  We’ll be good there as well, so hopefully we can pull this thing into Victory Lane again.”

On Michigan:     

“Michigan has a few different lines and not everyone runs the same line. The line we run this weekend will depend on what the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet is capable of doing.  That will give us a car that can set up and pass other cars, or drive deep into the corner when needed, or back off the gas early and get down to the bottom of the track to pass the other guys.  There are many opportunities to pass at Michigan but you’ve got to have the car capable of doing it or you just play ‘follow-the-leader’ for 400 miles.

“Horsepower is going to be very important this weekend at Michigan. You’ve got to have enough ‘oomph’ in the motor to get you off those corners but at the same time, you don’t want to kill the motor and end up having to change it before the weekend ends, or worse, blow the motor during the race and end up with a bad finish.  I’m very confident in Spenny Clendenen and Danny Lawrence and all the guys in the RCR engine department because they’ve done a heck of a job this year. 

 “Michigan is a very smooth and wide track that usually lends itself to lots of three and four-wide racing during the day.  Guys do it in the turns and down the front straightaway.  There is a lot of track space at Michigan that is suitable for racing.  It’s not like a lot of tracks where you know better than to race on the high groove. 

“Another thing about Michigan is that the race often comes down to nothing but fuel mileage and who got the best fuel mileage and did the right things with it.  Michigan doesn’t usually have many caution periods, especially from about the halfway mark to the end of the race.  Especially since the race tends to go green for a long time, we’re always trying to figure out exactly how many laps we can go on fuel to hopefully put ourselves in contention to be up front in the end.  More often than not, if you don’t have good fuel mileage strategy at Michigan, you can’t win there.”