Event/Date: Nov. 9, 2003
Venue: Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 North Carolina Speedway

Money: $403,467

NASCAR Winston Cup Points Position: 16th

NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car (chassis No. 105) was last run at Charlotte in October, Bristol in March and Rockingham in February
Gordon returned to California Sunday following the Phoenix race and will be in Las Vegas Tuesday and Wednesday for appearances at the SEMA and AAPEX shows
The Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 will be broadcast live on NBC and MRN on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 1:00 p.m. EST. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 7 at 3:05 p.m. EST.

ROBBY GORDON QUOTES:
"Rockingham is a very difficult track because the tires go away after about 10 laps and we have to show a lot of patience and save our car as much as possible. If we have the car to win, we’ll go for it when the time comes. But if we don’t, we’ll do our best to keep the car in one piece and not give up any more points.

"The Cingular Wireless team struggled at Rockingham in February, like most of the Chevrolet teams did. In fact, the highest-finishing Chevy was eighth. The weather was rainy all weekend and we didn’t get much practice time to see how our new Chevy bodies would handle on a downforce track. We were tight most of the race and struggled with our shocks. The guys managed to loosen up the car during the second half of the race and we started running some of the fastest laps on the track but were already a lap down by that time and couldn’t get back through all the heavy traffic to get it back.

"Although the Cingular team hasn’t had a banner second half of the season, this has been my most successful year in NASCAR, by far. We finished in the 20th position last year but didn’t run nearly as well as we have this season. Unfortunately, we haven’t had the best of luck since the summer and haven’t finished in the top 10 much. We really should have had about 15 top-10 finishes at this point. We were still racing inside the top 10 in points with about 15 races to go but the second half of the season hit us hard. We lost a wing and spiraled down. But we’re working well together and trying to get back up. The problem in this business is that we’re judged on a weekly basis. We sign yearly contracts but we are evaluated on a weekly basis and we haven’t had many good weeks lately.

"The Cingular pit crew has really picked it up the second half of the season. I just wish we had the finishes and luck to help them out because we should have had a shot at winning a couple of additional races. But we’re not wrecking every weekend. We’re really not wrecking at all, at least the couple we’ve been in haven’t been our fault. We’re getting smarter but seem to have been going in a circle for a while lately."