Brickyard 400 Preview
As a reporter, there are many traditions you may hold onto that aren't "around" anymore. Such as The World 600, Firecracker 400, and Southern 500. While these races are still around, either by a different date, or different name, you hold onto them. For me, Indianapolis will always hold the Brickyard 400. Technically it's the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard. But that's a shame to hear the name of this track degraded by company marketing. Now, moving on to my actual purpose this afternoon.
As the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series comes off of the rare off weekend, teams will prepare to tackle the famed 2.5 mile brick shaped speedway that is Indianapolis. Teams tested the speedway in July, with Robby Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr being the fastest on each day of testing. While still looking for his first career win at Indy, Gordon knows the track very well; “Indy is a pretty special place for me. It just has a lot of history, and over the years I’ve competed there in so many different cars that I always look forward to coming back and getting a shot at going to Victory Lane. It would definitely be one of the top accomplishments of my career.” Gordon once ran out of fuel while leading the Indianapolis 500 on the final lap, thus resulting in a heartbreaking, yet impressive 4th place finish.
“I’m pretty psyched about our chances this weekend. We came here and tested and both cars ran pretty well. I think we ended up third fastest in testing. We kind of put all our eggs in one basket with the car we chose and hopefully our gamble will payoff for Menards, Johns Manville and all of our other sponsors," said Gordon. Johns Manville will share primary sponsor duties with Menards this weekend on the #7 Chevy. After a hard charging run in Pocono 2 weeks ago, Robby and crew will try to top their season best finish of 10th on Sunday.
Look for Chassis #107 to be underneath Robby this weekend. This chassis was also the primary back in May at Richmond, where a sure top 10 was ruined after hard contact with the wall. Chassis #110 is backup, and hopefully won't see any action on the track.
After a 4th consecutive top 20 finish, Gordon and his team have closed the gap on 20th in points. If the run at Infineon hadn't been thwarted with a broken tie rod, we could be looking at 6 straight top 20 runs for Robby Gordon Motorsports. Robby is now just 68 points out of 25th, and 20 points is only 202 points ahead. As it has been mentioned many times, the team's goal is for a top 20 finish in points, which is still attainable. A top 10 this weekend would result in the 3rd top 10 of Robby's career in NASCAR at Indianapolis.
Gordon has completed all but 2 laps in NASCAR competition at the 2.5 mile speedway. He also also never finished lower than 30th in his 6 starts. In 2003 Gordon came home 6th, which was important because he helped teammate Kevin Harvick get away from the pack and win his first career race at the Brickyard.
Stay tuned for updates on this weekend, as well as what could be a huge press conference concerning Robert Yates Racing and driver David Gilliland.
As the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series comes off of the rare off weekend, teams will prepare to tackle the famed 2.5 mile brick shaped speedway that is Indianapolis. Teams tested the speedway in July, with Robby Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr being the fastest on each day of testing. While still looking for his first career win at Indy, Gordon knows the track very well; “Indy is a pretty special place for me. It just has a lot of history, and over the years I’ve competed there in so many different cars that I always look forward to coming back and getting a shot at going to Victory Lane. It would definitely be one of the top accomplishments of my career.” Gordon once ran out of fuel while leading the Indianapolis 500 on the final lap, thus resulting in a heartbreaking, yet impressive 4th place finish.
“I’m pretty psyched about our chances this weekend. We came here and tested and both cars ran pretty well. I think we ended up third fastest in testing. We kind of put all our eggs in one basket with the car we chose and hopefully our gamble will payoff for Menards, Johns Manville and all of our other sponsors," said Gordon. Johns Manville will share primary sponsor duties with Menards this weekend on the #7 Chevy. After a hard charging run in Pocono 2 weeks ago, Robby and crew will try to top their season best finish of 10th on Sunday.
Look for Chassis #107 to be underneath Robby this weekend. This chassis was also the primary back in May at Richmond, where a sure top 10 was ruined after hard contact with the wall. Chassis #110 is backup, and hopefully won't see any action on the track.
After a 4th consecutive top 20 finish, Gordon and his team have closed the gap on 20th in points. If the run at Infineon hadn't been thwarted with a broken tie rod, we could be looking at 6 straight top 20 runs for Robby Gordon Motorsports. Robby is now just 68 points out of 25th, and 20 points is only 202 points ahead. As it has been mentioned many times, the team's goal is for a top 20 finish in points, which is still attainable. A top 10 this weekend would result in the 3rd top 10 of Robby's career in NASCAR at Indianapolis.
Gordon has completed all but 2 laps in NASCAR competition at the 2.5 mile speedway. He also also never finished lower than 30th in his 6 starts. In 2003 Gordon came home 6th, which was important because he helped teammate Kevin Harvick get away from the pack and win his first career race at the Brickyard.
Stay tuned for updates on this weekend, as well as what could be a huge press conference concerning Robert Yates Racing and driver David Gilliland.